這是幫cambridgetheatrereview寫的第四篇review。寫的是Macbeth，兩三星期前才剛去看過ADC 的Macbeth，所以剛開始有一點不願意。而且Mumford Theatre是位於East Anglia University，是一個劍橋大學的學生幾乎不會去的地方。問一位同學要不要跟我一起參加時，他問我：演員是East Anglia的學生嗎？我說：不是。他回答：如果是他們的學生演的，那我不想去看。其實他說了我心裡的話。我已經很習慣去ADC，或是Cambridge Arts Theatre看表演了，說要去看劍橋這裡其它的大學的學生的表演，會覺得沒有什麼必要。但是演出的團體是一個專業的劇團，他們全英國各地演出，大約二十多場。
這一場Macbeth我給了四顆星。很開心我有決定去。
http://cambridgetheatrereview.com/reviews/event/TqfI-Lq4QeaVQVcowwOIBg
From the beginning, the play grips the audience with its sound effects and lighting. The set is simple: an eerie moon overlooking the stage, a fence of stony planks in the background with lightning bolt cracks that light up in evil red, and several stools of wooden blocks with differing heights to enable vertical movements on stage. Each witch has her own peculiar cackle and demeanor, and the audience glimpses the hidden world of the black arts. The change from scene to scene is efficient though not fully executed by the actors—the three witches throw off their russet cloaks, transformed into Scottish thanes, and the story flows on, though the audience’s mind is left behind. The performance has a cast of only seven actors, meaning some must take on as many as five roles.
Lady Macbeth, played by Sophie Brooke, the same actress that plays one of the witches, expertly fuses the two characters. As she reads Macbeth’s letter, she contemplates murderous thoughts and calls upon the spirits to assist her. Her twisted figure along with her twisted mind denote that of a witch. At the same time, the silhouette of a raven appears before the ominous moon. The audience’s eyes often flick to the moon as it at times has blood draped over it, at times becomes an eclipse, and at times turns blood red. Lady Macbeth retains her witch-like qualities throughout the play; as she persuades her husband to murder the king, her hands retracted into claws and her sweet words became as soothing as a serpent.
Macbeth, played by Joel Gorf, is equally riveting. One of the greatest difficulties in playing Macbeth is depicting him not just as a base villain but a valiant hero caught in the snares of his own ambition and his wife’s emasculating remarks, and Joel Gorf has played the villain hero magnificently. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are rivals and equals, their interaction tense and lustful like a dance move. However, the witches slithering in the background in many of the scenes in the first half, not found in the original Shakespeare, poses the question of whether Macbeth ever had the chance to fight the prophecies. The witches are out of sight but not out of mind in the second half, and Macbeth, Macduff, and Malcolm are left to fight their human battles.
The props are used creatively, which allows a rapid change of scenes. For example, the red curtain drawn sideways with four swords poked downwards function as the banquet table, and Banquo, killed in the previous scene and hidden behind a chair, conveniently appears as a ghost in the banquet scene. If only there were more actors so that the characters were more distinguishable or the costumes more strongly memorable (the killers, with their cloaks, looked oddly similar to the witches). Yet this is just a glitch compared to the powerful characters of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. The play, overall, is enjoyably chilling.
