In the traditions and superstitions of the theater, Macbeth is known simply as “the Scottish play.” To refer to it by name would be, for some never-explained reason, bad luck. Yet, as far as oblique references, this one provides a fairly apt summary of the sense of the play. At its heart, it is a Scottish drama, a story deeply tied to the British isles, with images of Celtic witchcraft, and the shade of England looming as both a potential escape and possible enemy.
All of this background makes Shakespeare Theatre’s production of Macbeth a curious staging. Rather than placing the drama in medieval Scotland, the ambitious warrior and his conniving wife are instead in contemporary Africa, a setting with overtones of Qaddafi’s Libya.
The production stretches the limits of gender-blind casting, replacing King Duncan with Queen Duncan (Petronia Paley), turning several sons into daughters, and replacing the witches with three covert operatives of “wealthy interests” wearing dark glasses. Although still called the sisters, two of the three are men. Overall, the effect is to diminish the role of Lady Macbeth, who no longer seems so wickedly ambitious when plotting to kill a queen, nor as “unsexed” when surrounded by female soldiers.
Shakespeare Theatre consistently produces productions with a strong, yet subtle performances, and a deep attention to detail. Macbeth is no exception. As played by Jessie J. Perez and Nicole Salter, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are not only ambitious, they desire in profoundly carnal way. In just a few brief scenes, the pair establishes that this couple lusts not just for power, but for each other. When Lady Macbeth appears sleepwalking, wearing only her own guilt, the imagery is striking.
The scene between Lady Macduff (Nilanjana Bose) and her child (generally a son, here replaced with a daughter) (Trinity Sky Deabreu) is touching and sweet, capturing in just a few moments, the peace that Macbeth’s ambition has shattered. Moments later, Macbeth’s murderers will arrive.
Part of the trouble of the production may be the extent to which it tries to develop a coherent contemporary critique on top of the play itself. It isn’t enough for the witches to be replaced by covert operatives recording the murders on their cell phones and sending messages via secret radios, Hecate, the goddess who is generally evoke without appearing, must come to provide orders in a Russian accent. Some of the mystery of them as inexplicably and independently wicked is lost.
The power of Shakespeare’s language is such that, even in an uncertain setting, the lines alone can carry the drama. As the play progresses, it seems to grow into the setting, becoming more comfortable with its contemporary location, At the same time, setting the drama in Africa emphasizes the instability of that region, which continues to be governed by warlords as Scotland was in Macbeth’s day.
For director Liesl Tommy, the African location was a political decision. For the viewer, it is also an interpretative one. Tommy’s approach stresses the politics of the drama, which are certainly present in the play’s text. However, the focus on the politics diminishes the fatal character flaws—ambition, paranoia, imprudence—that bring Macbeth to the throne and, in the end cast him down from it.
