Southwest Shakespeare Company's The Tragedy of Macbeth at Mountain View High School Auditorium
(out of 
)Mark S.P. Turvin
(home office) (602) 912-0117
I can be reached for comment via e-mail at: mspt@goldfishpublishers.com
Reviewed 1/21/00
(out of )In the battle of the two Macbeths occurring this month in the valley of the sun, Mesa's Southwest Shakespeare Company has landed an uncontested knockout punch and walked off with the crown of Scotland. This is a traditionally-styled production of William Shakespeare's cautionary tragedy that delivers in performances, oration, visuals and inventive direction. The cast of twenty six is at least solid, and in some cases, exceptional, bringing life to the nearly four hundred year old script and doing so with clarity and variety. The unit set, grand lighting, and the less flashy, but probably more period costuming aid in the production tremendously. Brett Bassett's well-paced direction adds flashes of brilliance, as in his use of a living cauldron during the Weird Sister's second sequence.
The enormous cast, including several children, are completely in the time of this piece, transporting us back to a barbaric Scotland where the light of good King Duncan has been eclipsed by Macbeth's growing power-lust. That trip is made all the more earnestly by the wonderful real-life man and wife Michael Daly and Jeannie Naughton, whose portrayal of Macbeth and his Lady are the most human, honest performances I have seen to date, either professionally or non-contract. Mr. Daly brings an unexpected initial gregarious and likable quality to Macbeth that makes all the more frightening his descent into madness. Ms. Naughton is full of life and sensuousness, a perfect counterbalance to her eventual deadening as a result of the deed she has pressed into action. These two actors propel the cast forward with their remarkable creations.
Great things come from Daniel J. Good as Banquo, Peter Good as the comic porter, Katherine Stewart, Jorden Kolding, and Meg Howell as the well-cast-against-type Weird Sisters, and Barbara McNally as the rarely performed "Chief Witch," Hecate. Daniel Good is full of bravado the equal to Macbeth, and is simply creepy during his ghost sequence. Peter Good's small-but-integral porter role is a great comic relief, while the three women and their evil leader throw themselves completely into their odd presentations.
Commendable performances are offered by real-life brothers Billy and Andy Gunn as King Duncan's children Malcolm and Donalbain, Marcus Smith as Maduff, and Trish Kiser in her small-but-integral role as Lady Macduff. Billy Gunn is good as the innocent Malcolm, and does a great delivery of his testing speech to Macduff. Mr. Smith is emotionally solid, and while his vocalizations are odd compared to the rest, his character never wavers. Ms. Kiser does a great job bringing across the tenacity and power of the down-to-earth wife to a thain.
Kudos go to the many youngsters in the show, including Jed Dougherty as Fleance, Tim Bradford as Young Siward, and Joey Dougherty and Haley Leavitt as Macduff's children. These young actors convincingly disprove the adage never to share the stage with children or animals.
While the rest of the ensemble is solid, there is one obvious miscasting that is annoying, but does little to bring down the production. As King Duncan, Jim Laudua is weak and effeminate, choices that are inexplicable in the context of the show. Fortunately, he is killed so early as to not effect the overall power of this evening.
Catherine Dressler has created a rustic, crumbling castle to serve as the setting to this tragedy, and the many levels and fluid movements help to keep this show running smoothly. Seemingly everyone's Resident Lighting Designer Michael Eddy has once again shown why he is everyone's choice, letting the mood of the piece dictate his lighting choices wonderfully. Dave Temby has done a great job with Gene Ganssle's musical compositions to create a filmic soundtrack to the proceedings. Lois Myer's costumes, while never offering a single expected kilt, has chosen instead to lean toward the styles of the crusades, which feels like the wrong choice, but may in fact be more historically accurate. David Barker, the only link between both current productions, has done a wonderful job again as Fight Choreographer, though this seemed less brutal than his other creation, save for one moment in the murder of Macduff's family.
Mr. Bassett must be commended for putting together so many actors and designers, and the resulting wonderful creation. His mixing of the classic with the occasional flashes of contemporary (save for the few modern speech patterns and physicalizations by the actors that crept into the performance), as well as his assurance of consistent diction, have made this a Macbeth worthy of a professional company.
Production Details:
The Tragedy of Macbeth by William
Shakespeare
Southwest
Shakespeare Company
Mountain View High School Auditorium, Mesa
(480) 644-2560
January 20th - February 5th, 2000