Inside The Beautiful, Desolate World Of KCST's 'Macbeth'

Upper West Side NY

25 November, 2021

12:48 PM

Description

Columbia Daily Spectator BY SOPHIE CRAIG NOVEMBER 23, 2021 The witches loom above the new monarchs, like votive figures with their hands pried open. Bloodied and manic, the murderer sinks to the floor, surrounded by ghostly monuments to his crime. From Nov. 18 to 20, the King's Crown Shakespeare Troupe presented "Macbeth" in the Glicker-Milstein Theatre, staged by Madeleine George, BC '23, in her directorial debut. The production was also streamed online, with a separate viewing party to accommodate the enormous line of students winding past the stack of "Macbeth" tote bags and up the stairs. Starring Erik Larsson, CC '23, and Nina Dia, CC '25, as the murderous monarchs in what George considers Shakespeare's "most stable marriage," this brilliant interpretation is less of an 11th-century military thriller and more of an oppressive domestic tragedy. The black box theater was sparsely decorated with a leveled platform, rising and creaking like a set of wide stairs. Though less of a stylistic choice than a budgetary necessity, this minimalism amplified the actors' voices and sharpened their movements. The stairs also reiterated the shifting hierarchies in the play, as characters ascended to the throne room and descended into warfare—embodied by the grunts and metallic scrapes of choreographed sword fights. The austerity of the black box theater also contributed to the production's desolate atmosphere—particularly when doused in monochromatic light. Glowing green, these steps become the witches' jagged, supernatural landscape. Glowing red in the dark chambers of Inverness Castle, they seem to vanish altogether. The result is cinematic and deeply unnerving—the actors' legs disappear, leaving them to float around like polychromatic ghosts. "As [the Macbeths] unfetter themselves from their community through violence and compulsion, they sink into a winding and bottomless individualism. It's one of the most calamitous developments to watch … they reach for each other again and again, even in this darkness. They turn to look for the other, not knowing they are already gone," George wrote in her director's statement. The audience witnesses the reverberation of the Macbeths' descent through the lighting, designed by Bryley Beata Williams, CC '24. Her combination of total darkness and intermittent color serves to alienate the entire ensemble, transforming the theater into a house of mirrors. Meanwhile, Dia dazzles the audience with acidic one-liners and, eventually, with her brilliant, half-gasping delivery of Lady Macbeth's famous "Out, damned spot!" Hunched under the eyes of a doctor, Dia coughs out the words as if they were shards in her stomach. "I think it's really challenging—for everyone in the play, but especially [the Macbeths]—because everyone knows 'Macbeth.' Everyone knows 'out, out damned spot.' Everyone knows 'tomorrow and tomorrow.' And I think they both did such an amazing job of adding a real depth to it," George explained. On Saturday morning, George decided that Larsson should remove his clear mask to deliver his final "tomorrow and tomorrow" soliloquy. Moving upstage and out of the spotlight's glare, he speaks in a near whisper: "Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." No longer amplified by the plastic mask, his voice is quiet and clear but completely warped by grief. His eyes are red; he wears the most peaceful, terrifying smile. At this moment, Macbeth is neither in command of himself nor mid-panic. He is simply alone—as alone as if he had lost his footing and slipped from the world. Yet, what is spectacular about this soliloquy is that Larsson manages to bring the audience with him. Deputy Editor Sophie Craig can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow Spectator on Twitter @ColumbiaSpec. Founded in 1877, the Columbia Daily Spectator is the independent undergraduate newspaper of Columbia University, serving thousands of readers in Morningside Heights, West Harlem, and beyond. Read more at columbiaspectator.com and donate here.