FOUR STARS
The performance area at Oxford Castle, with 11th-century St George’s Tower looming in the background, could hardly be bettered as a location for a production of Macbeth.
When literature’s least hospitable hostess, Lady Macbeth (Jessica Reilly), speaks of the imminent arrival of doomed King Duncan (Bob Booth) beneath her battlements, then it is real battlements that we see. “This castle hath a pleasant seat,” the king declares as he begins his unwise overnight stay. Surveying the scene, we might agree that he is right.
Why, there is even a bird tweeting (old sense) its approval: not “the temple-haunting martlet” referred to by Banquo (excellent Joseph Adams) but a mouthy chaffinch (I’d guess) whose frantic chirrupings threatened to outdo the actors on opening night, commendably audible though they all are.
This is no mean achievement in the wide open spaces they occupy. With the old prison buildings as a backdrop and the audience ranged on the other three sides, we are shown a military parade ground, again ideal for Tomahawk’s production.
Director Alex Nicholls has shifted the action to the British army in the late 20th century. Members of the nine-strong cast march in wearing battledress as a preface to the play which begins, not with the three witches, but with the bloody sergeant’s report of Macbeth’s bravery in combat — George Readshaw at once establishing the lucid tone of the production.
Actually, in this slimmed down version of the play, there are not three witches but one (played by Kate Rose Comery). This reduces the impact of famous scenes, indeed eliminates some altogether. But Mr Nicholls manages a notable stroke involving the ghost of Banquo and the weird sisters’ cauldron.
Craig Finlay impresses as the usurping Macbeth, with the soliloquies consistently well done (if chemistry with Lady M. hardly sizzling).
The drama mounts impressively — aided by Francisco Vera’s jangling, unnerving music — towards the climactic confrontation with Macduff (Jonathan Webb).
As ever with these updatings, the sight of guns sits ill with the repeated references to swords, though daggers figure too — very bloodily.
Oxford Castle
Until July 13
Box office: 01865 260 666 or 0845 070 6255
oxfordcastleunlocked.
co.uk
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