By Julio Nakamurakare / Herald staff
THEATRE REVIEW
Macbeth is Shakespeare’s shortest play but one of his most violent, dealing with humankind’s ambition and quest for power. Shakespeare’s most oft-staged work, it is getting a new production directed by the talented playwright-director Javier Daulte, whose fringe and mainstream stagings have established his reputation as one of a royal threesome of Argentine theatremakers together with Rafael Spregelburd and Daniel Veronese.Given Daulte’s record as a director who would never shy away from innovation, his Macbeth, translated by Daniel Zamorano, raised huge expectations among theatremakers and cognoscenti, all of whom looked forward to an evening awash in magnificent surprises by way of acting, setting, choreography and overall production.
Macbeth’s main theme is universally acknowledged to be ambition and the ensuing destruction, to the point of murder and bloodshed, when unrestrained. The play’s motif finds its most powerful representation in Macbeth, a courageous Scottish general, and his scheming wife, who prods him to go against his inclination against evil deeds, even if he too deeply desires power and advancement.
Heeding the prophecies by three monstruous witches who predict that he will be thane of Cawdor and then king, never to be defeated by anyone born of woman, never to be dethroned until Dunsinane woods marches up to the castle, Macbeth embarks on a killing spree, proceeding against his better judgement as urged by his wife: he murders King Duncan in his sleep, with many more to follow, afterwards sinking in guilt and paranoia.
Daulte’s staging — choreographed by contemporary dancer Carlos Casella, set to music by Diego Vainer and lighting design by Gonzalo Córdova — is daringly modern and edgy in its visual design, which manages to convey the ominous fate awaiting Macbeth and his ambitious wife without resorting to foreboding images of Hell.
Right from the onset, this new production of Macbeth sets the stage for Daulte’s provocative if not always successful reworking of the Shakespearean tragedy, which he certainly knows inside out. His Macbeth, indeed, shifts the focus from the ever-present issue of ambition to the all-too-human but rarely explored theme of imagination — imagination of all the power and riches that may lay in store for us. In line with the Greek tradition, Macbeth’s path to ruin and self-destruction spurs the action forward while distilling the play’s essence and theme of unrestrained ambition as an unstoppable force with fateful consequences.
Daulte and Casella have come up with a beautiful reworking of the witches’ prophecy scene, with an all-male cast of bare-chested dancers thrusting themselves onto the proscenium and lying still under Córdova’s chiaroscuro, atmospheric lighting and Vainer’s suavely stirring music background.
The three witches, dressed in mid-1970s punk attire and wearing carefully negligé blond wigs, swirl and crawl up and down a set of postindustrial metal scaffolding structures, and their movements are meticulously orchestrated to have them converge on Macbeth’s way as he returns in triumph from the battlefield.
From this instrumental scene leading up to the climactic bloodshed, Daulte’s adaptation of Zamorano’s translation strictly follows and respects the backbone of Macbeth, even if the structure of his storytelling sometimes veers off the standardized plot for narrative impact. Mostly divested of period costumes and set against an ominously dark background, Daulte’s Macbeth presents us with temporal shifts and swinging character focus to convey his stated premise that it’s imagination rather than ambition what he wants to underline.
Whether successful or not in his endeavour, Daulte’s production of Macbeth is living proof of the contention that the higher your expectations, the higher your chances of disappointment. As skillfully played by actor Alberto Ajaka, Macbeth comes across as a soul lost in despair and regret, and Mónica Antonópulos’ Lady Macbeth, although adequate as the woman full of determination and thirst for power, pales by comparison with Ajaka’s mighty performance.
The vengeful Macduff, full of rage and all-too-eager to take justice in his own hands, gets a rather subdued, rigid portrayal by Luciano Cáceres, who seems at times to be repeating rather than delivering the character’s powerful lines.
Put together, the overall effect of this Macbeth is mellow and never overpowering, tame rather than sanguinary, and slow-moving rather than rushing the action, so to speak, towards its compelling, climactic, inexorable end.
WHERE & WHEN
Macbeth. Written by William Shakespeare. Translated by Daniel Zamorano, adapted and directed by Javier Daulte. With: Alberto Ajaka, Mónica Antonópulos, Luciano Cáceres , Agustín Rittano , Julieta Vallina , Alberto Suárez and cast. Choreography by Carlos Casella. Music by Diego Vainer. Lighting design by Gonzalo Córdova. Costume design by Mariana Polski. Set design by Alicia Leloutre. At Teatro San Martín / Sala Martín Coronado, Ave. Corrientes 1530. Wednesday to Sunday at 8.30pm. Tickets from $60 to $80.
Macbeth’s main theme is universally acknowledged to be ambition and the ensuing destruction, to the point of murder and bloodshed, when unrestrained. The play’s motif finds its most powerful representation in Macbeth, a courageous Scottish general, and his scheming wife, who prods him to go against his inclination against evil deeds, even if he too deeply desires power and advancement.
Heeding the prophecies by three monstruous witches who predict that he will be thane of Cawdor and then king, never to be defeated by anyone born of woman, never to be dethroned until Dunsinane woods marches up to the castle, Macbeth embarks on a killing spree, proceeding against his better judgement as urged by his wife: he murders King Duncan in his sleep, with many more to follow, afterwards sinking in guilt and paranoia.
Daulte’s staging — choreographed by contemporary dancer Carlos Casella, set to music by Diego Vainer and lighting design by Gonzalo Córdova — is daringly modern and edgy in its visual design, which manages to convey the ominous fate awaiting Macbeth and his ambitious wife without resorting to foreboding images of Hell.
Right from the onset, this new production of Macbeth sets the stage for Daulte’s provocative if not always successful reworking of the Shakespearean tragedy, which he certainly knows inside out. His Macbeth, indeed, shifts the focus from the ever-present issue of ambition to the all-too-human but rarely explored theme of imagination — imagination of all the power and riches that may lay in store for us. In line with the Greek tradition, Macbeth’s path to ruin and self-destruction spurs the action forward while distilling the play’s essence and theme of unrestrained ambition as an unstoppable force with fateful consequences.
Daulte and Casella have come up with a beautiful reworking of the witches’ prophecy scene, with an all-male cast of bare-chested dancers thrusting themselves onto the proscenium and lying still under Córdova’s chiaroscuro, atmospheric lighting and Vainer’s suavely stirring music background.
The three witches, dressed in mid-1970s punk attire and wearing carefully negligé blond wigs, swirl and crawl up and down a set of postindustrial metal scaffolding structures, and their movements are meticulously orchestrated to have them converge on Macbeth’s way as he returns in triumph from the battlefield.
From this instrumental scene leading up to the climactic bloodshed, Daulte’s adaptation of Zamorano’s translation strictly follows and respects the backbone of Macbeth, even if the structure of his storytelling sometimes veers off the standardized plot for narrative impact. Mostly divested of period costumes and set against an ominously dark background, Daulte’s Macbeth presents us with temporal shifts and swinging character focus to convey his stated premise that it’s imagination rather than ambition what he wants to underline.
Whether successful or not in his endeavour, Daulte’s production of Macbeth is living proof of the contention that the higher your expectations, the higher your chances of disappointment. As skillfully played by actor Alberto Ajaka, Macbeth comes across as a soul lost in despair and regret, and Mónica Antonópulos’ Lady Macbeth, although adequate as the woman full of determination and thirst for power, pales by comparison with Ajaka’s mighty performance.
The vengeful Macduff, full of rage and all-too-eager to take justice in his own hands, gets a rather subdued, rigid portrayal by Luciano Cáceres, who seems at times to be repeating rather than delivering the character’s powerful lines.
Put together, the overall effect of this Macbeth is mellow and never overpowering, tame rather than sanguinary, and slow-moving rather than rushing the action, so to speak, towards its compelling, climactic, inexorable end.
WHERE & WHEN
Macbeth. Written by William Shakespeare. Translated by Daniel Zamorano, adapted and directed by Javier Daulte. With: Alberto Ajaka, Mónica Antonópulos, Luciano Cáceres , Agustín Rittano , Julieta Vallina , Alberto Suárez and cast. Choreography by Carlos Casella. Music by Diego Vainer. Lighting design by Gonzalo Córdova. Costume design by Mariana Polski. Set design by Alicia Leloutre. At Teatro San Martín / Sala Martín Coronado, Ave. Corrientes 1530. Wednesday to Sunday at 8.30pm. Tickets from $60 to $80.
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