WICKED

Santa Cruz Shakespeare’s dynamic Macbeth chills and thrills 

There could be no more ideal setting for Macbeth than outdoors, on a dark and chilly night, under a stand of towering trees. The very trees rustle with menace in the Audrey Stanley Grove for Santa Cruz Shakespeare’s dynamic production of Shakespeare’s blood-soaked tragedy of hubris, ambition, and murder, witchy prophesies, and ghostly revenge. 

Paul Mullins directs with forceful intent, on a nearly bare stage devoid of any distraction. An upper deck, two staircases, and four long tables comprise Michael Schweikardt's scenic design. Three giant white-draped panels behind the stage provide the only backdrop, illuminated in Marcella Barbeau's clever lighting design to stand in for drafty stone castle walls, a green forest, or a crime scene bathed in blood red. Rodolfo Ortega's sound design of whistling wind and ominous rumbling before, during, and after the show, amps up the sense of unease. 

Dan Donohoe's performance as Macbeth is naturalistic and immediate. He doesn't declaim lines; ideas, fears, schemes, and sudden reversals of priorities burst out of him as fast and recklessly as he seems to be finding the words to express them. Occasionally, along the way, his eccentric cadence threatens to become a little sing-songy, but overall, he is the volatile spark that ignites this production. 

The ever-remarkable Paige Lindsey White partners him beautifully as Lady Macbeth, chief instigator of all his darker impulses. It's clear in this production that she does not inspire in her husband any treasonous plots that were not already lurking in his subconscious, but the ferocious clarity of her purpose, before, during, and after the evil deed, is utterly chilling. Her red gown and black jumper, devised by costumer designer extraordinaire, B. Modern, decks her out like a black widow spider. 

Festival favorite ML Roberts is impressive as soldier-statesman Macduff, a bastion of conscience and morality, in opposition to Macbeth. His grief is stark and electrifying when he learns his family has been murdered. Mike Ryan lends solid support as Macbeth's friend and lieutenant, Banquo, who learns that friendship is no defense against homicidal ambition. Allie Pratt departs from her more usual ingenue roles to play a spirited young Malcolm agitating for revenge after the murder of his father, the king. 

Banquo's ghost taunts Macbeth

Of course, for many of us, Macbeth, it's all about the witches, the "weird sisters" whose cryptic prophecy launches Macbeth on his murderous path to the throne. Here, they could have used a bit more lurid pizazz, in contrast to the stark, grey, minimalist production design, but this concept of them as elemental earth spirits, dabbling in human drama from the remote indifference of the natural world, is effective, in context. Carolyn Ratteray, Renee Torchiro MacDonald, and the inimitable Patty Gallagher speak all their incantations with resonant precision, and their cauldron scene is a showstopper, created by the four tables arranged with a hole in the center, a trapdoor, and Barbeau's splendid lighting effects. 

Derrick Lee Weeden makes a majestic King Duncan. But his murder is partly visible, behind a lattice upstage, so it’s confusing when Weeden rises up at the end of the scene, and comes out, still in Duncan’s bloody shirt, to play the part of the irascible porter opening the gate (although a great showcase for Weeden's versatility). However, the same trick works wonderfully later, when Banquo’s freshly killed body is abandoned on a platform stage right. When the action shifts to center stage for the banquet scene, it makes perfect sense for Banquo to rise up and stalk across the festivities, a vengeful ghost born of Macbeth’s guilt. 

Having thrilled us with the hurly-burly of this particular production, director Mullins leaves us with a coda of his own design — the return of the witches, to repeat the play's opening line, "Sisters, when will we three meet again?" Who will be next on the road to perdition?