“Macbeth” in a mosh pit
Space Theatre production upends Shakespeare’s traditional roles
The Bard arrives in Denver via West Hollywood, modeling a black Speedo and gyrating to thumping house, electronica and trance music in that homoerotic mosh pit known as “Macbeth.”
While you may think you’ve wandered into a gay leather bar, this version of Shakespeare’s classic is a vibrant, worthy spectacle in the newly remodeled Space Theatre at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, through Oct. 29. ★★★¼
The tragedy, most commonly seen as an exploration of power-mad Scots and their “vaulting ambition,” is interpreted by director Robert O’Hara as a study in machismo, male relationships and what it means to be a man.
Lady Macbeth still cries out to the spirits to “unsex me” so that she can perform murderous deeds, and Macbeth still urges a ghost to leave him so that he can “be a man again” and not a trembling little girl, but it all takes on extra meaning in a production that upends conventional roles.
While true to the text, this wildly inventive “Macbeth” plays with every aspect of the tragedy, from casting (it’s all males, including the superb Adam Poss as Lady Macbeth), to the design elements, the S&M wardrobe and the humor found in oddly modern line readings.
When the three witches — now warlocks with attitude — call each other “sister,” they get a knowing laugh.
But O’Hara means business. This is the serious theatrical answer to Matthew Bourne’s “Swan Lake,” which was danced entirely by bare-chested males, inverting the ballet’s customary vision of the swan
as the ultimate feminine ideal. Here, it’s an all male cast not because women aren’t allowed to participate, as in Shakespeare’s day, but as a modern twist: gender questioning.
While not recommended as a first exposure to “Macbeth,” this vision infuses the story with fresh insights and makes the best-known scenes new again.
Castle walls are smartly assembled onstage with a grinding, scantily clad dance party inside. Besides emphasizing the hurlyburly clubbing, O’Hara accentuates the sexual aspects of the play, even adding some: Shakespeare’s description of the two guards stationed outside King Duncan’s bedroom is revised to suggest a three-way tryst.
Even as the reimagined work offers fresh takeaways, the atmospherics sometimes overwhelm the words. A couple of supporting players, while powerful dancers, can’t project their voices. The overuse of revolving rings in the stage floor becomes tiresome. Similarly, the rising and dropping core of the stage is best in small doses. The rebuilt in-the-round theater is intimate yet makes for repetitive entrances and exits.
But the use of black light on long white-gloved arms to depict swords is a typically effective innovation.
Ariel Shafir’s black-booted Macbeth is a riveting, sly, laughing and ultimately mad schemer. Shafir toys with the audience, putting his arm around random theatergoers and offering his hand for a kiss as if from royal subjects. Poss is a beautiful would-be queen, wide eyes controlling the house, completely credible in the role. When Shafir and Poss interact as the couple, they are electrifying.
Alec Hynes delivers a moving Banquo, in a production that generally focuses less on being emotionally touching than on being daring. Joel Reuben Ganz is solid as Macduff; all of these actors do double duty, serving also as warlocks.
Clever and minimalist costume design by Dede M. Ayite has Lady Macbeth’s skirt suggested by a whalebone corset/ cow catcher design. The men’s armor is conveyed via leather shoulder pads that could have come from a “Star Trek” set. Original music and sound design by Lindsay Jones is fittingly mind-blowing.
Stylized movement unifies the look and feel, including ninja fight scenes, “Matrix”-like slowmotion bits and break-dance moves. O’Hara’s production shines, even as it calls attention to itself.