“Macbeth” at the Harold Pinter Theatre – 18/10/24

A few minutes ago I wasn’t sure whether I’d ever mentioned my love of David Tennant on this blog but I’ve now done a keyword search and yes, I think I have mentioned it. So I probably don’t need to explain the frenzied hitting of the refresh key back in April that got me tickets to see the Timelord in the flesh. And not just tickets but Friday night tickets, which was ideal. I’m not saying the seats were ideal but I didn’t have to empty the bank account to get them.

I mean, they were steep and there wasn’t a lot of legroom. We had to climb a lot of stairs to get to them and there was only one toilet cubicle in the Ladies’ when we got there. Luckily the other middle-aged women who’d come to see DT were all very efficient when it came to toilet trips and we worked together to make sure everyone got a turn before curtain up. Not that there was a curtain – that’s more metaphorical. Maybe I should have said “before headphones on” as that was the true start of the play – the Wyrd Sisters cackling and whispering into our ears. You might think that having to wear headphones at the theatre is a bit of a gimmick and you’d be right. But I’m up for trying out a gimmick now and then and this was an interesting one.

The play is 1 hour 50 straight through with no interval – hence all the last-minute toilet trips for the middle-aged DT fans. That might sound like a long time to wear headphones for but it goes relatively quickly and it’s a small theatre so you can take them off and still more or less hear the dialogue if you need a quick break from them. As for the effect on us middle-aged women of David Tennant being able to whisper into our ears…..well, let’s not speculate on that.

The minimal set – one large square, a bowl of water and a glassed off area behind the stage – did suggest that this was going to be somewhat highbrow. I know some people would consider all Shakespeare to be highbrow but we watch a lot of Shakespeare and it mostly isn’t. But if this production was going to be both gimmicky and highbrow, was it going to even be enjoyable?

I can’t believe you even paused on that thought. It’s David Tennant. I’ve been known to rewind his banking ads to listen to them again because I would enjoy hearing that man read anything at all. And I should point out that this trip was a whole-family endeavour rather than just one woman’s crazed need to be close to the Timelord. Roo and Nathan both admire David Tennant because his CV is so packed with geekery – not just “Doctor Who” but also “Harry Potter”, “Good Omens” and even a voiceover role in “Star Wars”. So he’s probably one of Reuben’s favourite actors and Roo needs to revise Macbeth for his GCSE mocks so this was all for his benefit too. Eva needs no persuasion to come along to anything Shakespearean and she’s a DT fans for all the reasons above but also his “Duck Tales” work. Oh no, now I have that theme song stuck in my head.

I realise I’m over-justifying but I don’t want you to think that I dragged my kids along to this kicking and screaming. They were complicit in the DT-stalking. We’ll talk about the actual stalking later but let’s focus on the production itself for a while.

Because weirdly this did not just feature one man. The cast was small but there was a lot of multi-roleing which occasionally confused me. Lady Macbeth was played by Cush Jumbo, who gave the role the intensity and depth it needs. She and Macbeth seem to have a passionate relationship at the start, which gives credibility to the idea that she can persuade him to kill. It only occurred to me while watching this version that the Macbeths’ plot is entirely ludicrous. Macbeth becomes Thane of Cawdor – as predicted by the witches – and then decides that he needs to move on to the next stage of the prophecy pretty much the same day. Yes, there is a golden opportunity to kill Duncan while he’s at their house but also Macbeth makes a good point about how that isn’t really great hosting etiquette. The Banquo’s children part of the prophecy looks far ahead into the future as it talks about a line of kings….so who’s to say that the witches didn’t intend for Macbeth’s kingship to also take place in the future? Maybe once Duncan died of natural causes, Macbeth would have become king anyway. I know there are some pesky sons in the way but a quick Google suggests that Scottish kings of the time were elected rather than hereditary anyway.

But I guess Shakespeare didn’t have Google. And he didn’t worry about people nitpicking his work 400 years later. I’ve tried to nitpick Shakespeare before and it’s a futile endeavour.

Anyway, for dramatic purposes, Macbeth does listen to his controlling wife and chaos ensues. It would be a very short play if he’d decided to just let the prophecy happen in its own good time.

Before any killing can be done, however, there is a raucous party to be had. I haven’t yet mentioned that the production had a live Celtic band behind the glass panel and there’s no more striking moment than when they strike up in full-on drunken ceilidh mode. Then it cuts out for a few moments while the Macbeths contemplate their next move and then it’s back in full volume. The headphones really make you aware of all these changes in mood and it’s a bit of a rollercoaster ride. There’s dancing with pretty much the full cast and everything seems joyful on the surface but there’s a very dark undertone. The undertone quickly becomes the overtone, as the deed is done and Lady Macbeth covers for her husband’s incompetence. It’s all very intense and dramatic and just as you feel overwhelmed with the horror of what they’ve done, the lights come on and the tone shifts abruptly.

Again, this is an idea of Shakespeare’s that is beyond reproach but the insertion of a comedy night porter scene right after the murder is both genius and brain-hurting. This production’s version of that scene takes you right out of the play – the porter staggers about the audience making jokes about Donald Trump and Oasis and breaking the fourth wall. There are some genuine big laughs to be had in this segment and it acts almost as an interval where there is none. It might be jarring but it’s much needed – if you spent the entire time as tense as you are in the first section, you would leave the theatre as a nervous wreck. The porter guides the audience through some “Knock Knock” jokes and then slips easily back into the original text and pretty soon we’re back in the world of misty murder.

So, a few words about the performances. I’ve already mentioned Cush Jumbo but I guess you want to know a bit more about the guy who plays her husband as well, right? Well, he is excellent as Macbeth. Personable enough that you’re almost rooting for him but also channelling that scary villain energy we saw in “Jessica Jones”. And he has that authentic Scottish accent and realllly suits a kilt.

Now, enough about him. Let’s talk about the supporting cast – Noof Ousellam as the heroic Macduff, all righteous anger and grief. Benny Young as the stately Duncan but also doubling up as the Doctor, observing Lady Macbeth through the glass with the gravitas that gives the madness scene such depth. Ros Watt as a naive and desperate Malcolm – played very young in this case but it really works as Malcolm seems both unprepared and prepared to take the throne. Cal MacAninch as everyone’s favourite gone-too-soon character, Banquo. Really, there’s no need for him to be murdered and he’s played as a very likeable character up to that point, which makes it even more brutal. Rona Morison as that other unnecessary victim – Lady Macduff – and, again, she’s played very sympathetically which makes the audience uneasy because they know what’s coming. The lights go out as she dies but you can hear her screaming still, which is most unnerving. Jatinder Singh Randhawa as the aforementioned porter – excellently bawdy in his key scene but also propping up the rest of the show by playing a number of other roles as well. Moyo Akandé as the loyal Ross, putting in a solid performance and sensitively delivering the news to Macduff in a scene that feels tricky to play. Shakespeare again saw the opportunity for some oddly-timed comedy by having Ross say “they were well at peace” before revealing how final that peace was. Given the lack of logic in that piece of dialogue, it was very well played and very emotional. I’m not sure why things were swapped around so that Cush Jumbo had the scene with Lady Macduff that I think Ross is meant to…it wasn’t clear whether Cush Jumbo was playing Lady Macbeth here or a different character but it seemed odd that she might be playing this bit when she should have been descending into madness. I did say that multi-roleing confused me. On that note, Brian James O’Sullivan was another hardworking actor who filled multiple roles, including the one that Reuben apparently likes to play in class – “Murderer”. All the supporting cast switched roles seamlessly and became ensemble or dinner guests when needed so the entirety of the compact cast were on stage for much of the show. I’m not sure which child actor we saw but they also bore a lot of responsibility for playing multiple children throughout the story and they did extremely well.

The time flew by quite quickly considering there was no interval and the ending built up quite dramatically. It’s always a treat to watch the descent into madness and Cush Jumbo handled it magnificently, with more control than hysteria and never straying from her previous character while also showing us a woman lost. Her final blowing out of her light was poignant as light and dark were used to great effect throughout. The final fight between Macbeth and the army of Macduff was visceral and there was some wonderful tension when it came down to the last two standing. It was hard not to root for Macbeth because, as previously discussed, he was very charismatic. But as he lay dead on the stage, not moving for ages, a sense of righting the wrongs pervaded. You know he has to die and deserves to die but oof, it feels like a waste.

Happily, that’s all just theatrics and David Tennant proved himself to be alive and well at the stage door after the show. Yes, we did the stage door thing for once and yes, it did feel a bit stalky but we were in good company – the whole pavement was packed with people who wanted autographs or photos or just to be in his presence for a moment. We hadn’t brought anything to sign but did get close enough to get a couple of fuzzy pictures. To his credit, he greeted the crowd with a cheery “Hello there!” and signed everything that was held out to him. I hope I never hear anything bad about that man because honestly, he seems like such a good human being as well as a handsome one. But hey, I thought the same about a certain Britpop singer and that broke my heart a bit when some news came out.

I do feel a bit bad for the rest of the cast who probably had to wait until the DT-Mania died down before they could leave. They all gave excellent performances as well but probably don’t have quite the same reception as the celeb actor. But then they’re probably acutely aware of that when signing up for anything which potentially has a bit of stunt casting to it.

But in this case, the stunt worked! The celeb was a good fit for the role, the gimmicky aspect of the production actually made it a really interesting and unusual experience and the whole thing worked together to deliver something new, which is admirable for a 400-year-old text. I think this run is almost entirely sold out but if it ever gets another revival, it’s well worth scrambling for tickets for. You might even get a glance of the man himself.

No disclaimer needed as I paid for tickets but all opinions remain honest and my own. Except the borderline creepy opinions which I’ll say are someone else’s.