MACBETH PRODUCTION

Cast’s performance.
Mr. Sonny Lim’s role as Macbeth was riveting. His expressions were real and alive. He shivered when he was supposed to be scared or angry. His eyes somehow managed to capture our attention. I have noticed that the audiences were all deeply concentrated on the play.

Miss Adelynn Tan’s role as Lady Macbeth was flawless, especially the scene when Lady Macbeth had gone mad. Her vision appeared to be blanked as she was supposed to be in the state of sleepwalking. This signalled her guilty conscience in manouevering Macbeth into murdering King Duncan.

The actors whom acted as Macduff and Malcolm were strongly convincing and every cast knew their positions and roles very well and this kept the audiences’ attention on them.

Style and plotting.
The director, Miss Shelly had done her best to make Macbeth accesible for everyone. The scene whereby Banquo was killed was not shown but was implied through a blackout and sound effects. This deliberately led the audience to imagine what had really happened. In the dagger scene where Macbeth was about to plot his killing, the dagger was virtually absent. The scene solely relied on Macbeth's imagination that a dagger was in front of him. I felt that this really helped us to use our imagination to visualise the happening.

Except for the old-fashioned English, much of the play could be deciphered from the actors’ actions and expressions. You do not need to know everything that they said to know what was happening. Signifying props such as "tartan cloths" were cleverly used to aid our identification of roles and to add to the play's continuity. For instance, you knew that "who was related to who" from the tartan cloths pinned to the actor's costume; like the case of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. This visual cues really aided the audience from getting lost in the play.

The costumes were also not complicated but made to fit the "period" of the story. The deliberate adaptation of Asian costumes made the play closer to the heart of the audiences. If the casts were made to don the period costumes to fit in authentically to the "Macbethan age", I think it would only make the audiences feel very distant from the play.

Music, lighting and props.
The use of violin at the beginning of the play gave the play a sorrowful impression. It also gave a sinister outlook; as if trying to say that something bad was going to happen. Drums, guitar and the flowing of real water were also spectacularly-used. Varying drum tempos were used as sound cues for a change of scene and to signal what was going to happen next. For instance, the sound of dripping water rightly scored the eerie mood in the scene where Lady Macbeth had gone mad and was imagining that blood was still stained on her hands; not able to wash it off.

The lighting also added to the play's overall mood. Blue, green or yellow light signified an evil aura or to thematize the witches appearances. When there was a need for emphasis, a spotlight was used to highlight all attention on him/her. The simple props were very useful; the two blocks were simultaneously used as a table, bed or even a seat. The props were swiftly moved by the spontaneous and efficient actors. Even the self-made swords looked very real.

Own opinion and view
Overall, I think this play was really successful. It fully captured my attention. I used to think that a play is boring and it may make me doze off, but this play was otherwise. " I liked the teamwork and bonding between all the actors and everyone that was involved. They volunteered out to move the props when needed. When more people helped, it took even lesser time to be ready." This not only sustained the audiences’ attention, but minimized the audience's chance of getting bored.

Though it was my first time watching a play, every scene is still strongly implanted in my mind. I could still recall almost every scene. I think this play was really good and will be a source of comparison for both past and future productions of Macbeth. Kudos to Shelly Quick and her cast for making my first play-watching truly memorable.

REVIEWED BY AGNES LOW GIM WEN, Sec.3C