Film noir. Intrigue, suspense, guns, cars, darkness, saxophone
music. Witches in bins? Shakespearean knock knock jokes? Stories from the
audience? Why not? This is the Pantaloons, after all.
Their take on Macbeth
(which visited Eastbourne’s Underground Theatre on 17/10/15) incorporated all
of the above and much more in a tight, dramatic and inventive production.
I particularly liked the witches. Three puppets in a bin,
like some kind of sinister Sesame Street,
lit from beneath and swaying and cackling in the darkness. Brilliant.
The light (or lack of it) and sound throughout was really
effective – atmospheric, suspenseful, and at times used for comic effect. The
film noir homages, the shadows, the way many of Macbeth’s soliloquies were
delivered in semi-darkness in the midst of the audience – all these combined to
create a much darker show (literally and metaphorically) than we’re used to
from the Pantaloons.
And it was great. There were some pretty powerful moments –
from Macbeth (Chris Smart), Lady Macbeth (Alex Rivers), Macduff (Neil
Jennings), and Malcolm (Hannah Ellis) as our narrator.
I heard several audience members afterwards comment on the
dexterity with which the cast switched between drama and comedy. There’s not a
huge amount of comedy in Macbeth, but
the Pantaloons drew out and made the most of what there is. Kelly Griffiths, in
particular, struck up a great rapport with the audience as the Porter: getting
members of the audience to tell stories of strange goings-on and riffing on
these; telling jokes; encouraging us to join in as guests at the banquet. The
audience always becomes part of the play at a Pantaloons show, and Macbeth was no exception.
A packed house at the Underground Theatre all left the place
buzzing and saying how much they’d enjoyed it. The cast may have sung about the
curse of Macbeth, but luckily the
curse didn’t seem to be in evidence on the night.
The Pantaloons are on tour with Macbeth until the end of
November – see their website www.thepantaloons.co.uk
for full tour details.
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