Theatre Babel: Macbeth
文︰Jonathan Mok | 上載日期︰2008年12月29日 | 文章類別︰眾聲喧嘩

 

節目︰Macbeth »
主辦︰Bank of Scotland
演出單位︰Stylus Productions »
地點︰Shouson Theatre, Hong Kong Arts Centre
日期︰30/4 - 4/5/2008
城市︰Hong Kong »
藝術類別︰戲劇 »

The tragic Shakespeare's play Macbeth explored the conquest of power at all costs. The costs included causing instability to an empire and the murder of comrades. Finally, Macbeth became the Emperor of Scotland and lost the Kingdom finally to Macduff, who allowed Malcolm to be the King of Scotland.

 

The play forced upon other questions. Why did Macbeth place much confidence on prophecies? Are even people nowadays like them? Did Macbeth have the conscience? It looked he had struggles when he was at first planning the plot of murdering Banquo. Or was Lady Macduff right when she lamented that “Only would people doing bad things be glorified, but would good people suffer?” and “Who implemented justice?”

 

The Scottish Theatre Babel visited the city to perform Macbeth for the local viewers. Promoting itself as the theatre house of 'visually powerfully' and 'rich imagination' , the theatre house appeared to be unable to deliver what it promoted during the performance.

First was the design of the stage. Macbeth was supposed to be a bloody and murderous play. People were killed to stop blocking Macbeth's thirst for power. Feelings of terror and victimhood should be generated to engage the viewers. Sadly, the stage only had drops of red, instead of being covered by layers of the color.

 

The performance suffered from the simplification of stage design. When Banquo was returning back to the Palace for the banquet of Macbeth, he was assassinated. It was the right time to generate the feeling of sadness, injustice and horror through the music. However, the scene just ended when Banquo fell down on the stage.

 

It was bad that the Theatre Babel did not handle the play well. The demonstration of terror was expected. The first example was the murder of the King of Scotland by Macbeth. Instead of showing how Macbeth killed the King of Scotland, the actors only whispered and cried about the death of the Scottish King. Banquo and Malcolm themselves were unable to convey the feeling of anger and hopelessness.

 

Another example was when Lady Macduff and baby were about to be murdered, they only returned to the dressing room and screamed large enough for the viewers to hear. Since play purposely talked about the transformation of Macbeth into a bloody leader, why didn't the director arrange Lady Macduff and her baby to be “murdered” on stage?

 

On the whole, the Theatre Babel brought a disappointing performance to the viewers. The Threatre turned one of the well-known plays of Sharksphere into a nightmare. The performance ended up without substance.

 

 

本文章並不代表國際演藝評論家協會(香港分會)之立場;歡迎所評的劇團或劇作者回應,回應文章將置放於評論文章後。
本網站內一切內容之版權均屬國際演藝評論家協會(香港分會)及原作者所有,未經本會及/或原作者書面同意,不得轉載。

 

 

 

Jonathan Mok