{"id":3474,"date":"2025-06-09T13:00:48","date_gmt":"2025-06-09T12:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/english\/?p=3474"},"modified":"2025-03-12T10:42:20","modified_gmt":"2025-03-12T10:42:20","slug":"theatre-review-macbeth-dir-max-webster-harold-pinter-theatre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/english\/2025\/06\/09\/theatre-review-macbeth-dir-max-webster-harold-pinter-theatre\/","title":{"rendered":"Theatre Review: Macbeth: dir. Max Webster, Harold Pinter Theatre"},"content":{"rendered":"

Izzi is a Master\u2019s student on the Shakespeare Studies MA at King\u2019s and the Globe Theatre, having completed her undergraduate degree in Classics and English at the University of Oxford. As her MA suggests, she loves all things Shakespeare and early modern drama, and she regularly watches and reviews modern productions of Shakespeare plays. Although you wouldn\u2019t know it from how much she loved\u00a0Much Ado, Izzi\u2019s research focuses on bodily violence on the early modern stage.<\/em><\/p>\n

Izzi has written the below review for the most recent production of Macbeth (2022\/3): dir. Max Webster, Harold Pinter Theatre; also filmed (film dir. Tim Van Someren) for streaming in cinemas.<\/p>\n

Verdict: 4 Stars<\/strong><\/p>\n

This production began its life in the Donmar Warehouse before transferring to the Harold Pinter Theatre for a very limited run. Since I couldn\u2019t quite bring myself to part with one of my kidneys to fund a ticket for a live performance I watched the streamed version from the comfort of the Odeon Cinema. Audiences at the live performances experienced Gareth Fry\u2019s intricate sound design through binaural headsets, lending the production a certain intense intimacy; the surround sound of the cinema setting allowed for a similar intensity (or so I\u2019m telling myself!) by having voices and noises emanate from all around the room, creating an unsettling atmosphere and mirroring that of the Macbeths\u2019 Scottish castle.<\/p>\n

This focus on sound-scaping perhaps informed director Max Webster\u2019s choice to have the Weird Sisters present in voice only, conspiratorially whispering their potion recipes and bewitching prophecies. Eleanor Rhode made a similar decision in her recent production of A Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream for the RSC, relegating Titania\u2019s fairies to twinkly lights and twee disembodied voices: I found the fairies\u2019 absence to be a real drawback in that play, but for the darkly psychological tone of Webster\u2019s production it worked perfectly, making the relationship between Macbeth and the Weird Sisters almost schizophrenic.<\/p>\n

David Tennant\u2019s performance as Macbeth is a thing of beauty. A seasoned actor of Shakespeare\u2019s troubled heroes with an impressive CV including performances of Richard II and Hamlet, his Macbeth resists the temptation to be too mad too early, instead retaining a threatening superciliousness throughout the play. His charisma with Cush Jumbo\u2019s cold and calculated Lady Macbeth is palpable, particularly when they discuss their murderous plans in hushed tones as the ill-fated Duncan dines mere metres away from them.<\/p>\n

Two tiny factors prevent this production from a five-star review. Firstly, while Jatinder Singh Randhawa delivers a good performance of the Porter\u2019s speech in its own right, his comic audience participation with the house lights up felt like too large a disruption to the production\u2019s otherwise tightly controlled and oppressive atmosphere. Secondly, Cush Jumbo\u2019s Lady Macbeth wears bright white in stark contrast to the blacks and browns worn by all other characters; however, when Jumbo doubles as a minor role, no change is made to her distinctive costume, creating some confusion among the audience (as I gleaned from overhearing post-show chatter) as to why Lady Macbeth was acting so differently in one scene. A simple dark cloak would have allowed Lady Macbeth\u2019s white outfit to retain its significance.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Overall, though, Max Webster\u2019s Macbeth<\/em> is incisive and powerful, with a particularly captivating performance from Tennant. The stripped-back and sleek monochrome visuals contrasted with the complex and intricate sound design make for a poignant and chilling watch.<\/p>\n

By Izzi Strevens<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Izzi is a Master\u2019s student on the Shakespeare Studies MA at King\u2019s and the Globe Theatre, having completed her undergraduate degree in Classics and English at the University of Oxford. As her MA suggests, she loves all things Shakespeare and early modern drama, and she regularly watches and reviews modern productions of Shakespeare plays. Although […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1337,"featured_media":3479,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[912],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insights"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1337"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3474"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3474\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3481,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3474\/revisions\/3481"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}