NY Review: 'Macbeth'

Aquila Theatre’s production of “Macbeth,” directed by Desiree Sanchez, opens with a vision of Lady Macbeth wailing in grief as her sheeted dead baby is taken from her arms. The baby then appears briefly, held by one of the three witches who begin Shakespeare’s text. It’s a trenchant concept and adds resonance to Lady Macbeth’s declaration later—as she coaxes Macbeth into committing regicide—that she has “given suck” and knows “how tender ’tis to love the baby that milks me.” It promises a production filled with fresh and pertinent explorations of Shakespeare’s oft-performed classic of overarching bloody ambition.

Unfortunately, the promise doesn’t carry through. What follows is a respectable but unsurprising rendering by a well-spoken ensemble, a homogenous blend of nine British and American actors, most of them busy in multiple roles. Their comings, goings, and climactic swordplay are neatly staged on the bare expanse of set, which uses most of the floor of the Gym at Judson, with the audience banked on one side. Sanchez is also responsible for the production design, and Turner Smith is the fight director. The costuming is handsome, with the men in black-military looks and the women sleekly gowned, except for the scantily clad witches, who look uncomfortably bereft of coverage.

What’s primarily missing, though, are a pervasive sense of tragic fate and the towering portraits of two people caught up in charismatic evil and driven by a thirst for power, elements needed to propel the drama forward and elevate it to tragic status. Guy Oliver-Watts, as Macbeth, and Rebecca Reaney, as Lady Macbeth, are an attractive couple, and they deliver their lines with a commendable fluidity. The intensity ebbs and flows, but their emotions rarely overwhelm the stage. They remain a part of the ensemble.

Another concept dominating the show, press material points out, is that Macbeth is a victim of combat trauma. This misfires. It makes Macbeth a very high-strung fellow, about to collapse into tears in almost all of his soliloquies, giving Oliver-Watts’ performance a certain lachrymose predictability. In contrast, Lady Macbeth’s sleepwalking scene is depicted in an unaffecting straightforward manner.

The most powerful moments come when Macduff, Macbeth’s nemesis, learns of the slaughter of his wife and children. James Lavender’s enactment of a man of action paralyzed by uncontrollable sorrow is riveting. It’s not a good omen for a production of “Macbeth,” though, when Macduff’s heartbreak overshadows any fear and awe inspired by the titular couple’s misdeeds and brutality.

Presented by Aquila Theatre at the Gym at Judson, 243 Thompson St., NYC. April 25–May 6. Wed.–Sat., 8 p.m.; Thu., Sat., and Sun., 2 p.m. (212) 868-4444 or www.smarttix.com.