Macbeth at SiLO

By PETER CALDER

This vigorous and honest reading of the great tragedy reminds us what a ripping yarn it has always been, a meditation on power politics and the corruptibility of the human spirit which is laced tightly through a blood-and-guts thriller.

The production grew out of a well-regarded 20-minute "reduced Shakespeare" version, which played in 2001, and director Margaret-Mary Hollins, in her first outing with a full-length play of any sort, has given an excellent account of herself, ably assisted by a cast which is competent without ever being brilliant.

She stages the play in a long traverse which makes it something like a tennis match at times but she uses entrances on all four sides effectively so that action seems to erupt before us, keeping us constantly on edge.

She's also smart enough to break up long and familiar passages with movement; the sequence in which Macbeth tries vainly to resist his wife's darkest urgings is played out as they dance, spitting venom through shining smiles.

At times the action becomes self-consciously kinetic, even slightly dizzying but Hollins certainly knows how to move people around on stage and the production abounds in intelligent, thoughtful touches which refract the familiar through bright new eyes.

But whatever the virtues of the production as a whole, the great tragedies depend on riveting performances in the main roles and this show never quite delivers that.

Bruce Hopkins, perhaps handicapped by being one of the Auckland theatre scene's quintessentially good blokes, struggles to incarnate a hellhound and pitiless murderer.

The most bloodsoaked of the poetry sounds oddly flat in his mouth - though that impression may fade when he perfectly memorises all his lines.

He seems, as the darkness gathers, more crazy than crazed, too shrill and more like a chairman of the board who has failed to carry a crucial vote than a butcher waist-deep in carnage.

Kate Parker's Lady Macbeth is similarly underpowered. Fatally, she lacks any real malevolence. We can see in her eyes, early and chillingly, the madness that will swamp her but her lust for blood and power never compels and the remorseless arc of the story never struggles to achieve any dramatic coherence.

For all that, there is much to like: lesser roles are uniformly well-handled, the youngsters who fill out minor parts are all splendid (the murder of Macduff's family is particularly well handled), the fight sequences choreographed by cast member Steve Davis are as compact, muscular and convincing as anything staged here and an effective soundtrack - which uses, variously, tango music and cello loops - adds plenty.

In all, it's a promising outing for the Pandemonium company and augurs well for its future.