Alan Cumming's one-man production of Macbeth lands on Broadway. The National Theatre of Scotland's production of MACBETH was performed last summer at the Lincoln Center Festival. Tony Award-winning actor Alan Cumming's virtuoso performance is a bold reimagining of Shakespeare's chilling tale of desire, ambition, and the supernatural.
The production is set in a psychiatric unit and centers on a patient who is reliving the story of Macbeth. CCTV cameras watch the patient's every move and the clinical walls of the unit come to life in a visually stunning multi-media theatrical experience.
In a second viewing of this National Theatre of Scotland production, Cumming is even more verbally dexterous and dynamic...Directors John Tiffany and Andrew Goldberg layer the production with spooky sounds and moody music and keep Cumming on the move...Even with all that, this solo stab at the Bard proves to be a case of diminishing returns. The concept becomes less interesting as it goes on. Shakespeare completists will be intrigued. Audience members unfamiliar with the story and who's who will be lost. All will appreciate the stirring turn by Cumming packing theatrical thunder and lightning. Fitting for the asylum setting of this 'Macbeth,' Cumming is fully committed.
If it's not clear by now, what Cumming is doing at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre is delivering a tour-de-force that redefines the term...While there is no doubt about Cumming's ability - he cowers, he acts menacing, he strips down, he leaps in and out of a full bathtub and smears himself in gore - there is a feeling that while this is an act of Olympic skill, it's also partly a freak show...The original moments of ingenuity are still here and they make this 'Macbeth' impossible to stop watching..But while Cumming generates pathos, and even sometimes sharp laughter, from his audience, the staging - no matter how inventive - doesn't always add meaning to Shakespeare's play.
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