There always has to be a reason to perform Macbeth. A good reason. And not just because you are an ambitious 40-year-old, and it's about time. That's the opinion of one of the actors in Max Stafford-Clark's company, whose astonishing Macbeth is currently on tour. Here Macbeth (Danny Sapani) is a kilt-wearing, cutlass-waving Idi Amin, the self-appointed King of Scotland. But he could be a bloody warlord in Sierra Leone, Sudan, or any place where thuggery and terror have won the day. It's fierce. Throughout the promenade performance, the audience is taken walkabout and essentially frightened to pieces. The murder of Lady Macduff and her "chickens" is particularly hideous. After a sobbing baby is brutally murdered, you feel rather like a piece of jelly. Macbeth's "tomorrow and tomorrow . . . " reduced me (and others) to tears. Find out where it is on now. See it.
If only the same could be said of Stephen Dillane's Macbeth. Dillane is a worthy Shakespearean actor (his Hamlet, directed by Peter Hall, was a tour de force, even if it did bring unaccustomed nudity to the piece). He must be over 40 and has never before attempted the Thane. Yet his rationale for doing the Scottish play wasn't even that craven. It seems to have gone thus. Macbeth has a lot of dialogue. He also has a lot of soliloquies. There is no sub-plot. Why don't I try a solo version!
Before the show in London's Almeida began, there was a tremendous buzz. Theatre grandees (Tom Stoppard) wandered about. People talked about "wacky" Macbeths they had seen. One person had seen it in cartoon format. Another had seen it done by a trio. But alone?
Dillane began, on a stage filled with glittering sand, his eyes shut. He did the whole of the Bloody Sergeant speech, and the Witches, in this way. Perhaps he was going to do Macbeth in a sort of dream. But no. After five minutes, Dillane opened his eyes, and revealed that his solo Macbeth was going to just be Macbeth, with Dillane playing all the roles, helped by silly accents (Malcolm had a stammer, Macduff a brogue, the Witches careless Estuary) and turns of the head to delineate who was speaking when. Macbeth himself had the full Shakespearean braggadocio. And Lady Macbeth spoke in a girlish trill, with, mystifyingly, an alarming tendency to lapse into French, particularly when getting saucy (notably the "unsex me here" speech).
It was a feat of oratorical memory which I doubt even David Cameron could have achieved. But throughout the 90 minutes, Dillane's insistence on going it alone yet keeping the entire company onstage, as it were, reached comedic heights. When Banquo (played by Dillane) is ambushed and murdered by Macbeth's thugs (ditto), Dillane started hitting himself around the head like Homer Simpson. There were titters from the auditorium. Yes, Macbeth is a detailed study of what happens when power-lust goes haywire: his paranoia and his mania are his alone. It's a great role. But it's not a solo play. By reducing the spotlight to one person, Dillane effectively cancels out the scheming, ruthless, two-step dance by Macbeth and his Lady. At the end, when Macduff comes to dispatch the crazy King, it was with great relief that Dillane brought his experiment to an end. A tale, told by an idiot, signifying nothing. Well, I wouldn't go that far, but you know . . .
