‘Macbeth’ with risks: Some work, some don’t

STONINGTON – The highlight of any Maine theatergoer’s summer is the production of one of Shakespeare’s masterpieces at the Stonington Opera House. The company of New York actors takes risks with the Bard few companies in Maine dare try, and pushes the technical limits of the more than 100-year-old facility.

Last week’s production of “Macbeth” was technically stunning. The set, lighting, original music and puppets illuminated “the Scottish play” in ways that made it fresh and bold. The actors’ interpretations of their roles did not follow suit and the souls of Macbeth and his lady remained dark, their inner selves hidden from view.

Director Jeffrey Frace, who also played the king Macbeth slaughters and his comedic Porter, set the story in the early 19th century as the world was moving from an agrarian to an industrial society. The edge of the stage and the proscenium were rimmed with rusted metal ornamental works and gears that stood in stark contrast to the metaphysical world.

Ray Neufeld’s scenic design divided the stage in half, with the upstage portion behind a set of doors covered in what looked like plastic film. Behind these doors was the supernatural world, in front of it, the world Macbeth inhabited. When the doors were lit from a certain angle, they acted as mirrors, reflecting the three witches as floating heads disconnected from their puppeteers’ bodies.

The sound design and music composed by Amy Altadonna and the lighting by Mark O’Maley gave the production an eerie feel, punctuating and underlining the action onstage. The design elements, including most of Brenna St. George Jones’ costumes, often captured the subtext of the play in subtle but powerfully meaningful ways that escaped the lead actors.

Jorge Rubio’s portrayal of Macbeth was all bloodlust and bluster. Physically, he looked like a dark warrior but preened too much like a peacock in love with his own reflection off the battlefield. He started off at such an emotional high that he left himself nowhere to go in the second act when the character’s surrender to dark forces is complete. He even died in a doorway, half his body in this world, half in the other side.

This actor’s Macbeth did not seem to struggle with his demons or to question the predictions made by the witches. Rubio’s performance was devoid of “the milk of kindness” Shakespeare gave Macbeth. So, when his wife wondered whether the warrior was capable of taking charge of his own fate, the audience questioned whom she was talking about.

As Lady Macbeth, Melody Bates portrayed a depth that peeled back one layer of the character’s skin but did not touch the bone. Dressed in lace and leather, her appearance as loving dominatrix made it tough for the actress to reveal the character’s soul. Bates’ finest moment was the Lady’s “out, damn spot” speech where she showed the audience a woman unable to cleanse herself with the same self-effacing shrug Rubio used to shake off Macbeth’s deeds.

The show-stopping moment in Frace’s production came at the beginning of the second half when Lethia Nall as Lady Macduff and her son, a life-size puppet operated by three puppeteers, met with Ross, portrayed by Gisela Chipe. Nall’s quiet dignity, the depth she brought to a woman torn among hearth, home and the hurt inflicted by her husband’s absence, was mesmerizing.

Onstage, the actress transformed into the young Malcolm, Macbeth’s rightful successor to the throne. Her scene with Macduff, played by Justin Badger, was thoughtful, layered, and full of subtlety and immense emotion when Macduff learned his wife and children had been slaughtered. These actors held the audience’s rapt attention by listening to each other rather than waiting for their turns to speak.

Frace’s own portrayals were spot-on perfect, especially his singing tuba player that led the cast in a song similar to those sung at the music halls that sprouted up in England’s industrial towns to entertain the workers. The lyrics of the song questioned whether the luck that befell humans, good and bad, was preordained or happenstance. The response in the chorus of “Hell, if I know!” left the audience giggling, then singing along.

In the song, the director seemed to answer all the big questions raised in “Macbeth” about destiny and who’s in control of it. It was as valid an answer as any raised to the questions the Bard has been asking for the past 500 years. Whether the production is a rousing success of not, Stonington Opera House continues to pose Shakespeare’s questions in new and interesting ways.

jharrison@bangordailynews.net

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