M, The Scottish Play

Peita Collard’s M, The Scottish Play is an inviting, alluring delivery of the age-old Shakespearean classic, Macbeth. Unlike many productions of Macbeth, Collard’s M The Scottish Play is far removed from an adaptation of the original Shakespeare piece that seemingly addresses notions of ambition and overwhelming desire; in her own words, Collard’s intent was to shift the focus of her production and instead reinforce the concept of fate and concurrent notions of human frailty, toyed with “unearthly malign forces”.

From the outset, M The Scottish Play exudes an artistic Japanese influence that is overwhelming apparent. Displayed in accurate detail not only aesthetically in the costumes, props and set, but also in character composition, this a deliberate creative technique employed by the director in an attempt to recreate and re-enforce in her version of M what she believes is a key theme inherent in Japanese culture – superstition and mysticism of the supernatural. Reference and comparison is even noted in the playbill by Collard, to the modern classic The Ring, as an example of Japanese interpretation of the supernatural; parallels in which she hopes may be drawn with her M, The Scottish Play. Perhaps most notably, if one was not aware of the Japanese cultural influence the director hoped to have on her characters, one would otherwise assume the character and here I must stress, not the performance of Lady Macbeth, to be somewhat weak and submissive – a traditional representational element to Japanese portrayals of husband/wife relationships. If anything, this attests to the well-studied interpretive delivery of the character of Lady Macbeth by Lisa Dallinger, who does in fact come across submissive to her husband Macbeth, played by Jason Cavanaugh, yet simultaneously driven by underlying desire and ruthless ambition.

In keeping with this Japanese theme, in particular with an emphasis on the supernatural, the performances delivered by Lauren Smith, Emma Bournes and Rebecca Vuong who successfully brought to life the roles of the witches, were outstanding; captivating, suitably seductive and manipulative. Through them, the air was left feeling tense and bitter. It was their prominence in the play and confident delivery therein, that effectively reinforced Collard’s desire to highlight the struggle between fate and ambition. In keeping with the exposition of this struggle, it therefore appropriate for Collard to include the oft-excluded character of Hecate. In Greek mythology Hecate may be regarded the regulator of crimes gone unpunished: thus in M The Scottish Play, as ‘head witch,’ if you will, must be recognised as the key factor in designing and guiding Macbeth’s fate and in so doing, thwarting the outcomes of his deathly ambitions.

Mention must be awarded to Jason Cavanagh, whose passionate, intense and accurate delivery of Macbeth by way of emotive facial expressions and a clear and succinct delivery of his dialogue ensured his character was delivered in an easy-to-follow manner. Any actor that can turn the character of a murderer into a favourable, likeable individual deserves kudos. Likewise, Stuart Duffield and Colin Craig who played Macduff and the Porter respectively, each convincingly brought to light their characters’ conviction. Neither were shy in throwing themselves to the floor and at the top of their lungs delivering their lines with passion, conviction, heartfelt emotion in Macduff’s case and in the case of Craig’s character, humour.

Perhaps the most memorable scenes were those that dealt with Macbeth’s guilt over the murder of Banquo. Given that Macbeth is a well-known Shakespearean classic, it is to be assumed as a director, that your audience will more than likely know the story, know in part the dialogue and more than anything, be familiar with the outcome. As such, the aforementioned scenes where we were confronted with Macbeth’s guilt by way of the presence of the ghost of Banquo, played to ghostly perfection by Pat Tucker, were exceptional. Yet another strain of Japanese influence, the recurring appearance of Banquo’s ghost kept the audience enthralled; as a shift from the style of character delivery presented hitherto, Banquo’s ghost may be regarded an alternative presentation that clearly exposed with unwavering clarity the guilt of Macbeth, the direction his fate was to take and the helplessness we are sometimes left with as a result of our ambitions.

Collard’s M, The Scottish Play stands alone from other recreations of Macbeth as it is far removed from an adaption as we as contemporary audiences have become accustomed to seeing: for it was instead a subtle shift of focus, drawing from alternative external, existing cultural influence and exposing an alternative emphasis to the storyline. The subtle soundtrack and colourful display of lighting that were present throughout, coupled to reinforce Collard’s desired mood and helped round off the delivery of the story of Macbeth by the actors. All-in-all, Collard’s cast is well studied, experienced and faithful to their director’s ideal. Combined, these factors have pieced together a production worthy of recognition: whether you know the story of Macbeth or not, this is a must see with a twist!

M THE SCOTTISH PLAY

August 21 – 25