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REVIEW: "Macbeth" at Shakespeare & Company
REVIEW: “Macbeth” at Shakespeare & Company
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REVIEW: "Heisenberg" at Shakespeare & Company
REVIEW: “Heisenberg” at Shakespeare & Company
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by Roseann Cane
In 1927 the German physicist Werner Heisenberg posited what is often referred to as the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle: it is not possible to measure simultaneously the position and the velocity of an object, even in theory. Playwright Simon Stephens has said that this quantum theory seems to define the way in which people live: unless we are seen by or engaged with other people, we barely exist.
The setup of Stephens’s play Heisenberg is a familiar one: an extroverted, eccentric woman “meets cute” with an older, introverted, conventional man; they clash, sparks fly, and they walk into the sunset together. Stephens asks that we take this setup and examine it through the lens of the Uncertainty Principle, applying it to human relationships.
The couple in question, an American woman named Georgie Burns (Tamara Hickey) and an Englishman of Irish descent named Alex Priest (Malcolm Ingram), meet in a London railway station. The fortyish Georgie strikes up a conversation with 75-year-old Alex, who is sitting quietly on a nearby bench.
Hickey, all frantic gesticulation and shrieking verbalization, homes in on Ingram with such delirium that even a marginally sane person would flee into the night. She moves in sometimes sweeping, other times jerking fashion, arms and legs jutting in multiple directions, and lights on Ingram’s bench. Buttoned-up Ingram, though nonplussed, submits to her questions and the two have something of a conversation.
Almost exactly one year ago, I had the great pleasure of seeing Hickey play Ariel in the company’s Roman Garden production of The Tempest. Hers was one of my favorite performances of the entire season, and she was the main reason why I’d looked forward to seeing Heisenberg. It grieves me to say that her portrayal of Alex was so abrasive and unnatural that I squirmed throughout the very long, intermissionless 90-minute play. Alex, we learn, comes from New Jersey. Hickey’s relentless screeching in an accent that swayed between working-class New York and Boston, with an occasional dash of the Queen’s English thrown in for good measure, distracted mightily from everything else, including Ingram, in the play.
Ingram was well cast, and gave a sensitive, substantive performance, but he may as well have been in another play. I wish director Tina Packer had reined in Hickey, and given her more guidance. Because Hickey presented a caricature rather than a real human being, there was, for me, no transmission of feeling, and that’s deadly for a theater audience.
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Packer did a neat job of directing the transitions between each of the six scenes, where the actors managed to dress and undress on stage as well as to help move pieces of Juliana von Haubrich’s elegantly minimalist set. Charlotte Palmer-Lane’s costumes expertly intensified Georgie and Alex’s characters. I did find Amy Altadonna’s sound design rather peculiar at times; for example, during a scene where Alex is reminiscing about his 10-year-old sister, I was certain I’d heard a baby cooing and gurgling from somewhere in the audience, but when that cooing and gurgling emerged a second and third time, I realized it was a sound effect. It make no sense to me. Dan Kotlowitz’s lighting was beautifully designed and brilliantly enhanced the action.
Despite the familiar setup of Heisenberg, the subjects of human connection and isolation can’t be overexplored. While I wouldn’t call Stephens’s play masterly, I think there is so much potential for transformative poignance in the two characters he created, and I wish that potential had been mined in this production.
Heisenberg by Simon Stephens, directed by Tina Packer, runs August 11-September 2, 2018 in the Tina Packer Playhouse at Shakespeare & Company. Set Designer: Juliana von Haubrich. Lighting Designer: Dan Kotlowitz. Costume Designer: Charlotte Palmer-Lane. Sound Designer: Amy Altadonna. Stage Manager: Hope Rose Kelly. CAST: Tamara Hickey as Georgie and Malcolm Ingram as Alex.
Tickets for Heisenberg are available online at shakespeare.org, or by calling Shakespeare & Company’s box office at (413) 637-3353. The Tina Packer Playhouse is air-conditioned and wheelchair accessible. Shakespeare & Company is located at 70 Kemble St. in Lenox, Massachusetts.
REVIEW: “Heisenberg” at Shakespeare & Company by Roseann Cane In 1927 the German physicist Werner Heisenberg posited what is often referred to as the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle: it is not possible to measure simultaneously the position and the velocity of an object, even in theory.
“Quirky, lovely, funny, and powerful.” – Associated Press
(Lenox, MA) – Shakespeare & Company presents Heisenberg by Tony Award-winning playwright Simon Stephens (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time), directed by Founding Artistic Director Tina Packer. Featuring Company veterans Tamara Hickey and Malcolm Ingram, performances run in the Tina Packer Playhouse August 11 – September 2.
“They are, to say the least, an unlikely pair,” said director Tina Packer. “He’s a 75 year-old butcher, introverted, seemingly of Irish descent, but living in London. She’s a forty-something American, excessively extroverted, perhaps a social worker with a missing son. They meet on a park bench. By chance, they affect each other. They change each other’s lives. Simon Stephens is a master of what can’t be seen, but what is sensed, the effect of random events upon the lives of human beings or are they not random?”
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Tina Packer directs this intimate production starring Company veterans Tamara Hickey (Georgie) and Malcolm Ingram (Alex). The creative team includes Juliana von Haubrich (Set Design), Dan Kotlowitz (Lighting Design), Charlotte Palmer-Lane (Costume Design), Amy Altadonna (Sound Design), and Hope Rose Kelly (Stage Manager).
“A news story about a man I knew in my childhood haunted me,” said Playwright Simon Stephens. “He was a man in his eighties in my home town of Stockport and a younger woman had inveigled into his life, and he had given her his life savings. I wondered at the cruelty of that and how desperate the woman must have been. I got to wondering about what would happen if the two people affected one another. I became, at the same time, fascinated by the way in which Werner Heisenberg’s quantum theories seemed to define the way in which people lived. How, unless we are seen or engaged with, we barely exist. It struck me as a metaphor for loneliness and the volatility of being human.”
Tickets for Heisenberg are available online at shakespeare.org, or by calling Shakespeare & Company’s box office at (413) 637-3353. The Tina Packer Playhouse is air-conditioned and wheelchair accessible. Shakespeare & Company is located at 70 Kemble St. in Lenox, Massachusetts. Heisenberg is generously sponsored by Eleanor Y. Lord and Margaret H. Wheeler.
The Company’s 2018 Summer Season also includes three Shakespeare playsMacbeth, As You Like It and Love’s Labor’s Lost, as well as Creditors by August Strindberg, adapted by David Greig; Mothers and Sons by Tony Award-winning playwright Terrence McNally; and HIR by Pulitzer Prize finalist Taylor Mac.
AT A GLANCE Production: Heisenberg Playwright: Simon Stephens Director: Tina Packer Assistant to the Director: Taylor Tranfaglia Set Designer: Juliana von Haubrich Lighting Designer: Dan Kotlowitz Costume Designer: Charlotte Palmer-Lane Sound Designer: Amy Altadonna Stage Manager: Hope Rose Kelly
CAST MEMBERS Tamara Hickey (Georgie) Malcolm Ingram (Alex)
SCHEDULE AUGUST Saturday, August 11 – 8:00 PM (preview) Sunday, August 12 – 8:00 PM (preview) Wednesday, August 15 – 8:00 PM (preview) Thursday, August 16 – 8:00 PM (preview) Friday, August 17 – 8:00 PM (opening) Saturday, August 18 – 8:00 PM Sunday, August 19 – 8:00 PM Wednesday, August 22 – 8:00 PM Thursday, August 23 – 2:00 PM Friday, August 24 – 8:00 PM Saturday, August 25 – 8:00 PM Sunday, August 26 – 2:00 PM Wednesday, August 29 – 8:00 PM Thursday, August 30 – 2:00 PM Friday, August 31 – 2:00 PM
SEPTEMBER Saturday, September 1 – 8:00 PM Sunday, September 2 – 8:00 PM (closing)
About Tina Packer (Founding Artistic Director; Director, Heisenberg), She has directed all of Shakespeare’s plays (some of them several times), acted in eight of them (never when directing) and taught the whole canon at over thirty colleges, including Harvard, M.I.T. and NYU. At Columbia, she taught in the M.B.A. program for four years, resulting in the publication of Power Plays: Shakespeare’s Lessons in Leadership and Management with Deming Professor John Whitney for Simon and Schuster. For Scholastic, she wrote Tales from Shakespeare, a children’s book and recipient of the Parent’s Gold Medal Award. Most recently Tina’s book Women of Will was published by Knopf and she has been performingWomen of Will with Nigel Gore in New York, Mexico, England, The Hague, China, and across the US. Acting credits include: Shirley Valentine, Molly Ivins, The Beauty Queen of Leenane, Mother of the Maid, and Volumnia in Coriolanus. She’s the recipient of numerous awards and honorary degrees, including the Commonwealth Award.
About Simon Stephens (Playwright, Heisenberg) Simon Stephens’ plays have been translated into more than thirty languages and performed throughout the world for two decades. He has won many awards including two Olivier Awards and a Tony Award for Best New Play. He is an Artistic Associate at the Lyric Hammersmith and Associate Playwright at the Royal Court Theatre. He is a professor of Scriptwriting at Manchester Metropolitan University and a Fellow of Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.
About Shakespeare & Company Located in the beautiful Berkshires of Western Massachusetts, Shakespeare & Company is one of the leading Shakespeare festivals of the world. Founded in 1978, the organization attracts over 40,000 patrons annually. The Company is also home to an internationally renowned Center for Actor Training and award-winning Education Program. More information is available at www.shakespeare.org.
Shakespeare & Company Presents Heisenberg, Directed by Tina Packer "Quirky, lovely, funny, and powerful." - Associated Press (Lenox, MA) – Shakespeare & Company presents Heisenberg…
by Barbara Waldinger
Imagine a production of Macbeth without the witches. No “When shall we three meet again?” No “Double, double toil and trouble: Fire, burn; and, cauldron, bubble.” No cauldron for that matter; no murderers to kill Banquo or Macduff’s family—only blood magically spurting from their chests. These are some of the many alterations imposed on the text of Macbeth now playing at Shakespeare & Company in their two- hour version of Shakespeare’s shortest tragedy.
Under the direction of Melia Bensussen in her debut with the company, lines and scenes have been cut, added, rearranged and with a small cast of only nine named actors supplemented by members of the ensemble, several roles have been doubled, sometimes leading to difficulty identifying the characters. This especially true in the case of the female Banquo (Ella Loudon), fresh from her fine work as a male character in last year’s Cymbeline.
Bensussen explains in a Director’s Note that although an Elizabethan audience would regard witches as “demonic agents,” today Wicca beliefs are celebrated in a positive way, so we would not be frightened of them. As a substitute, there is one actress (uncredited), all in white, who prowls around observing the action, calling forth thunder and rain (yes, there literally is rain on the set) with a gesture, and speaking a few artificially amplified (otherworldly) predictions. Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart,” in lieu of witches, Bensussen appeals to incorporeal, psychological terror. Costumes (by Olivera Gajic) are set in Poe’s time—late nineteenth century. Bensussen’s concept is for Macbeth to confront the audience, forcing us to see the results of his (and our) unbridled imagination, leading him (and perhaps even us) into darker and more evil deeds—“that’s the ghost story of Macbeth this summer.”
This approach may explain the repetition of the banquet scene, which ends the first act and then begins the second. Banquo, whose murder has recently been arranged by Macbeth (Jonathan Croy) and executed by unseen hands, appears as a ghost at a (sparsely attended) banquet where Macbeth and his wife (Tod Randolph) have greeted their guests. The ghost is visible only to the audience and Macbeth, who becomes unhinged. Following intermission this scene is repeated without the appearance of Banquo, except in the mind of Macbeth. Is this Bensussen’s attempt to underline the terror caused by the guilty King’s imagination? One wonders why the director takes the time to repeat these lines when she has cut so many others.
Make no mistake: there is much to admire in this production. The design team does an expert job creating the sense of urgency Bensussen is seeking. Tension is heightened thanks to the impressive lighting design of Dan Kotlowitz, the powerful sound design by Brendon F. Doyle, and Cristina Todesco’s Japanese-style hanamichi and other effects. Used in Kabuki theatre, this is a raised platform running from the back of the theatre to the stage. In this case, Todesco runs it from the stage towards the downstage audience, bringing the action as close to them as possible, serving as a platform for scenes, a battle arena, the banquet table and other unusual functions. A two-story window on the stage allows for rain to fall behind it, which turns red as Macbeth is more and more steeped in blood. Todesco’s use of ladders and climbing poles enable the athletic actors to move easily from one level to another and Bensussen uses every possible exit and entrance in the theatre, creating a feeling of surprise because we never know when or where actors will suddenly appear. Ted Hewlett, the fight choreographer or “violence designer” provides us with the only violence we see in the production: an extended and very exciting ultimate duel between Macbeth and Macduff, unencumbered by other characters.
Thomas Brazzle. Photo by Daniel Rader.
Gregory Boover, Jonathan Croy, Tod Randolph. Photo by Daniel Rader.
Jonathan Croy, Tod Randolph. Photo by Daniel Rader.
Photo by Daniel Rader.
Thomas Brazzle, Gregory Boover. Photo by Daniel Rader.
Mark Zeisler, Thomas Brazzle. Photo by Daniel Rader.
Mark Zeisler, Thomas Brazzle, Deaon Griffin-Pressley. Photo by Daniel Rader.
Deaon Griffin-Pressley, Thomas Brazzle, Mark Zeisler. Photo by Daniel Rader.
Deaon Griffin-Pressley. Photo by Daniel Rader.
Tod Randolph and Jonathan Croy. Photo by Daniel Rader.
Ella Loudon, Nigel Gore, Deaon Griffin-Pressley. Photo by Daniel Rader.
Deaon Griffin-Pressley and Thomas Brazzle. Photo by Daniel Rader.
Mark Zeisler, Gregory Boover and Jonathan Cory. Photo by Daniel Rader.
Jonathan Croy. Photo by Daniel Rader.
Nigel Gore, Gregory Boover, Tod Randolph. Photo by Daniel Rader.
Thomas Brazzle. Photo by Daniel Rader.
Zoe Laiz. Photo by Daniel Rader.
Tod Randolph and Jonathan Croy. Photo by Daniel Rader.
Tod Randolph. Photo by Daniel Rader.
Nigel Gore. Photo by Daniel Rader.
Ella Loudon and Jonathan Croy. Photo by Daniel Rader.
Mark Zeisler, Jonathan Croy,Deaon Griffin-Pressley, Tod Randolph. Photo by Daniel Rader.
Nigel Gore, Gregory Boover and Tod Randolph. Photo by Daniel Rader.
Tod Randolph. Photo by Daniel Rader.
Thomas Brazzle. Photo by Eloy Gracia.
Mark Zeisler. Photo by Eloy Garcia.
Deaon Griffin-Pressley. Photo by Eloy Garcia.
Tod Randolph. Photo by Eloy Garcia.
Gregory Boover. Photo by Eloy Garcia.
Thomas Brazzle and Deaon Griffin-Pressley. Photo by Eloy Garcia.
Thomas Brazzle and Gregory Boover. Photo by Eloy Gracia.
Tod Randolph and Jonathan Croy. Photo by Eloy Garcia.
Tod Randolph and Jonathan Croy. Photo by Eloy Garcia.
Ella Loudon. Photo by Eloy Garcia.
Ella Loudon. Photo by Eloy Garcia.
Thomas Brazzle and Gregory Boover. Photo by Daniel Rader.
Ella Loudon, Thomas Brazzle, Gregory Boover. Photo by Daniel Rader.
Mark Zeisler, Gregory Boover Jonathan Cory and Tod Randolph. Photo by Daniel Rader.
Gregory Boover and Tod Randolph. Photo by Daniel Rader
Nigel Gore, Gregory Boover and Tod Randolph. Photo by Daniel Rader.
Mark Zeisler, Gregory Boover, Jonathan Croy, Tod Randolph. Photo by Daniel Rader.
Jonathan Croy, Tod Randolph. Photo by Daniel Rader.
Tod Randolph. Photo by Daniel Rader.
Ella Loudon, Gregory Boover, Thomas Brazzle, Deaon Griffin-Pressley. Photo by Daniel Rader.
Zoe Laiz. Photo by Daniel Rader.
Tod Randolph. Photo by Daniel Rader.
Mark Zeisler, Deaon Griffin-Pressley. Photo by Daniel Rader.
Zoe Laiz. Photo by Daniel Rader.
Thomas Brazzle. Photo by Daniel Rader.
Thomas Brazzle,Dean Griffin-Pressley. Photo by Daniel Rader.
Zoe Laiz. Photo by Daniel Rader.
Nigel Gore. Photo by Daniel Rader.
Deaon Griffin-Pressley. Photo by Daniel Rader.
Nigel Gore. Photo by Daniel Rader.
Tod Randolph. Photo by Daniel Rader.
Jonathan Croy and Tod Randolph. Photo by Daniel Rader.
Tod Randolph and Jonathan Croy. Photo by Daniel Rader.
Jonathan Croy. Photo by Daniel Rader.
Zoe Laiz. Photo by Daniel Rader.
Tod Randolph and Jonathan Croy. Photo by Daniel Rader.
Tod Randolph and Jonathan Croy. Photo by Daniel Rader.
Ella Loudon. Photo by Daniel Rader.
Gregory Boover, Tod Randolph. Photo by Daniel Rader.
Jonathan Croy. Photo by Daniel Rader.
Tod Randolph and Jonathan Croy. Photo by Daniel Rader.
Deaon Griffin-Pressley. Photo by Daniel Rader.
The major roles, as we have come to expect from Shakespeare & Company, are filled by consummate actors, practiced in the delivery of Elizabethan lines. Jonathan Croy, in the title role, is above all absolutely clear in his intentions—his monologues are delivered straight out to the audience, among whom he sometimes perches, as he takes us with him on his journey from a man “too full o’th’milk of human kindness” (his wife’s critical description) to a monster. Nigel Gore plays two characters who couldn’t be more different: old King Duncan and the drunken porter, and is equally adept at both. To say the choices he makes as the porter are unexpected is an understatement, but his performance, involving some lines definitively not in the text, is a highlight. Another highlight is the scene where Malcolm (Deaon Griffin-Pressley) through misdirection tests the loyalty of Macduff (Thomas Brazzle).
The performance of Tod Randolph as Lady Macbeth is puzzling. It has always been a joy to see her work with the company, but her interpretation of this character disappoints. It feels as though the Strasberg school of realistic acting has intruded on this character, robbing her of power, persuasiveness and seduction. Randolph’s most effective moment is the sleepwalking scene, as though when the character’s mind snaps, the actress is free to let herself go.
For those who are not purists, this production is enjoyable, fast- paced, and stimulating. But for those who prefer Shakespeare’s text as written, it can be a challenge.
MACBETH runs from July 3—August 5. Tickets may be purchased online at shakespeare.org or call 413-637-3353. Shakespeare & Company presents MACBETH by William Shakespeare. Directed by Melia Bensussen. Cast: Gregory Boover (The Young Men), Thomas Brazzle (Macduff), Jonathan Croy (Macbeth), Nigel Gore (Duncan/Porter), Deaon Griffin- Pressley (Malcolm), Zoe Laiz (Hecate/Lady Macduff), Ella Loudon (Banquo), Tod Randolph (Lady Macbeth), Mark Zeisler (Ross). Set Designer: Cristina Todesco; Costume Designer: Olivera Gajic; Lighting Designer (Dan Kotlowitz), Sound Designer: Brendan F. Doyle; Violence Designer: Ted Hewlett; Vocal Coach: Ariel Bock; Stage Manager: Hope Rose Kelly. Running Time: two hours plus intermission; Shakespeare & Company, 70 Kemble Street, Lenox, MA.; from July 3; closing https://www.shakespeare.org/
REVIEW: “Macbeth” at Shakespeare & Company by Barbara Waldinger Imagine a production of Macbeth without the witches. No “When shall we three meet again?” No “Double, double toil and trouble: Fire, burn; and, cauldron, bubble.” No cauldron for that matter; no murderers to kill Banquo or Macduff’s family—only blood magically spurting from their chests.
Shakespeare & Company Presents "Macbeth"
Shakespeare & Company Presents “Macbeth”
“…something wicked this way comes.”
(Lenox, MA) – Shakespeare & Company presents William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, directed by Obie Award-winning director Melia Bensussen. Company veterans Jonathan Croy and Tod Randolph take the helm as Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, two of Shakespeare’s most notorious anti-heroes. Shakespeare’s stunning classic of blind ambition and corrosive power runs from July 3 –…
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