Macbeth

THEATER REVIEW: N.C. Stage Company’s ‘Macbeth’ is a ghostly Halloween treat
by Jim Cavener, Citizen-Times Correspondent
published October 21, 2007 12:15 am on www.citizen-times.com


ASHEVILLE — Not only is N.C. Stage Company opening its sixth season with a major production of the epic tragedy “Macbeth,” it is also inaugurating the new NCSC Chase Gallery of art in its lobby.

The gallery will display thematic exhibitions relevant to each show in the upcoming 2007-08 season. The first exhibition, “Vice & Virtue,” grows out of themes in “Macbeth” and consists of photography, pen and ink, and mixed-media art by local artists.

NCSC has established itself as the pre-eminent professional theater in Asheville, in great part because of the production standards of several shows attributed to, or based on, Shakespeare.

Twice it has done “Shakespeare’s R&J,” a zany take on “Romeo and Juliet.” Last year, it was “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” and early on in the company’s history, director Ron Bashford delivered a truly legendary production of “Hamlet,” which caused the regional theater world to sit up and take notice.

“Macbeth” as done by the NCSC, is not a costume drama that dazzles the audience with period drag from the royal court. The dazzle is in the script and the intensity of the acting.

The setting is limited to a timeless, ageless, glimmering Mylar scrim behind a sheet of clear plastic with paste-on, milky suggestions of trees.

Costumes are modern, grungy, grimy, monochromatic and reflecting the black-and-white world of Cecil Beaton. Costumer Shelley Porter inserts a couple of plaid, or tartan robes, about the only color on stage.

A clever conceit to emphasize the darkness of the material and bring grim reality to the house is the use of powerful hand-held LED flashlights for facial lighting, with virtually no other light source during the first 20 minutes or so. When well-aimed, this is an effective gimmick, but often the beams are misdirected and light more of the audience than the actors’ faces.

Other lighting use is skillful and earns kudos for designer Keith Kirkland.

Ten able actors take on the 27 roles in the dire drama, with more than a bit of gender-bending in this casting. Female Lords (Thanes, in Scots-speak), and male witches work well under Ron Bashford’s deft direction. John Crutchfield, Mike Coghlan, Bill Munoz, Hans Meyer, Michael MacCauley and Adam Vernon-Young do fine ensemble work.

Neela Munoz has a virtuoso vignette as the castle porter, while Lauren Fortuna is an apt Lady McDuff.

Jenn Miller Cribbs brings national credits that equip her with power in her Lady Macbeth. The mad scene is marvelous.

Company co-founder and artistic director Charlie Flynn-McIver approximates his excellence in the title role of NCSC’s 2003 “Hamlet,” and this Macbeth is everything a demanding director might wish.

The eerie, spooky opening and many successive scenes with ghosts, apparitions and other unnerving elements is appropriate for a production running through All Hallow’s Eve.

This is big people’s Halloween candy for the mind, with an inspired cast and adept technical values.

Jim Cavener writes on theater for the Citizen-Times. E-mail him at JimCavener@aya.Yale.edu.