Macbeth [Open Air Production]

Brownsea Open Air Theatre [BOAT] Brownsea Open Air Theatre, Brownsea Island, Poole Harbour 

KD Johnson  24 July 2024

There is normally nothing more pleasant than a ferry trip from Poole Quay across to Brownsea Island in late July but tonight it was cold and drizzling. However, the action of ‘The Scottish Play’ tonight was far from cold and miserable – although the weather continued to try and put a damper on it – hopefully the weather will improve by the next performance.

Director, Chaz Davenport, states in the programme’s ‘Word from the Director’:

“Shakespeare wrote the witches into the fabric of the story of Macbeth as a device to enhance the manipulation of Macbeth and to activate his dark desires and ambition”

His production elevates the roles of the witches beyond that of prescient soothsayers, on stage for a couple of scenes only, to those of ‘deae ex machina * ’ – involved, as malevolent spirits, throughout the tragic events themselves. To this end there are not just three physical witches but there are avatars of each of those witches, astral projections if you like, which are present at every significant scene in the lives of the eponymous anti‑hero, his wife and their victims. These avatars are invisible and intangible to the characters on stage but their sinister presence is evident to the audience – often accompanied by sound effects.

The witch-avatars (billed in the programme as ‘Dancing Witches’) also provide a device in which they surround some character or group of characters – there is an associated sound effect and those characters are then frozen and isolated which allows cross-cutting to some other action or monologue. The need for the theatrical convention, in which it is assumed that XYZ cannot hear that ABC is planning to kill them, is thereby removed – as XYZ is frozen while ABC outlines their plans.

In my view both aspects of these witch-avatars work – but what do you think?

Marie Bushell, Philippa Hendy and Lucy Palmer excel as the ‘physical’ witches – including their cackling and screaming intimidation of the audience as we come in – while Sue Mills, Victoria Turvey‑Neave and Portia Turvey‑Neave provide their counterpart ‘avatars’. Makeup for both the witches and the ghosts/spectres deserves commendation but I can’t find anyone to credit in the programme.

The lead actors are well cast and both Macbeth (Brian Woolton) and Lady Macbeth (Belinda Harward) transition convincingly from good to evil under the malevolent influence of those ‘secret, black, and midnight hags’. Unfortunately, I think the baroque perception of the inevitable progress of fate and the transient (candle) futility of life, expounded in the ‘tomorrow and tomorrow’ speech, gets somewhat lost in Brian’s version – but not everyone will agree.

Sam Goodman plays a great role as Macduff; as do Martha Jenkins, as Lady Macduff, and Robin Burns and Spike Palmer as their tragically ill-fated ‘pretty chickens’. I don’t recall their appearance before Act IV in the original text so perhaps their earlier appearance is an example of artistic licence – both the boys do well.

Beau Gater impresses as Malcolm, particularly in the long scene with Macduff where he pretends that he would be a tyrant as king. I hope to see more of him in future – although I note that the witch-avatars seem to claim him as their own at the close.

Banquo is well represented by Jay Knox in both life and death. Are those some kind of contact lenses making the eyes look so eery – or is it just makeup? The witch-avatars lead the ghost onto the stage, which I thought was another good usage.

We have seen much of Stuart Glossop in recent years on Brownsea and he really brings the little-known part of Ross to life in several scenes.

The static set is, as usual, simple but atmospheric and multi-functional – the anonymous castle towers can be Inverness, Forres or Dunsinane but they are differentiated by their illuminated symbology. The Dunsinane logos in Act V are very reminiscent of Pictish carvings which I have seen. I like the ‘hellmouth’ cauldron which opens in the stage platform and the various ingredients of the potion revealed by the witches.

The lighting is mostly subtle.  Moving the start of the production forward by half an hour has affected what can be accomplished, as much of the play is in daylight, however the moving gobo effect of Birnam Wood coming towards the castle in Act V is particularly effective – although by this time it is almost dark and maybe more could have been accomplished in the first half with a later start.

Effects from the impressive sound system in the BOAT setup enhance the action and are particularly active here with the witches and their avatars. As usual there are bird calls, which I am never sure are from the speakers or from the many real birds on the island. There is, however, one fanfare that comes to an abrupt end towards the end of the first half and that could be better handled.

BOAT have accumulated an impressive array of weaponry over their 60 years and the fight scenes in this production, choreographed by Richard Batt and Peter Beebee, are among the best and probably the most aggressive that I have seen. I haven’t seen the bucklers (small shields) before – the use of those, both defensively and offensively, is innovative.

The production closes with the announcement that the 2025 production will be The Winter’s Tale but, given the current disposition of the National Trust against future productions on the island, it remains to be seen how and where that will be performed.

There are no tickets available for the remaining performances of The Scottish Play between now and August 9th (contingency August 10th) but, for those of you who have tickets, I hope that you enjoy the show and will continue to support amateur theatre in Dorset.

* Feminine plural of the more familiar ‘Deus ex machina’