So just how evil are the Macbeths?
Theatre West Sussex theatre company This Is My Theatre are on the road with Macbeth, adapted and directed by company founder and artistic director Sarah Slator.
They kicked off the tour at Shoreham Wordfest and now play The Guildhall, Chichester on Sunday, May 5 from 4pm-5.30pm before moving on to dates at the Brighton Fringe at Preston Old Church, next to Preston Manor (Saturday, May 4, 7.30pm; Friday, May 10, 7.30pm; Wednesday, May
15, 7.30pm; Thursday, May
16, 7.30pm; Friday, May
17, 7.30pm and 11.30pm; Saturday, May 18, 7.30pm and 11.30pm).
Playing Macbeth will be Ethan Taylor, who has become an important part of the company since first joining: “I got involved with the company for their second production, which was their first outing of A Christmas Carol. That was winter 2016. Since then, I have been involved in the majority of the other shows. I offered to help out with some of the stuff behind the scenes, though obviously it is still very much Sarah’s organisation. But I have got on board in an administrative way as well.
“The company feels very much like a second family. There is a really good feel to it. At the end of the day, there is a human aspect to it.
“It is less business driven and more about taking entertainment out to rural places that don’t see very much entertainment. Theatre in this country is generally very central and the regional stuff is getting a bit deprived. It is nice to take theatre out to rural places and playing perhaps to 25 people in a very small venue one night and then out in the open air playing to more than 300 the next night.
“Sarah’s direction is really incredible. She has this knack of taking classic theatre and adapting it and it still retains that classic edge, but becomes something like new writing without ever being an adaptation that would alienate anyone who wants the traditional approach.”
It’s exactly the approach she has taken to Macbeth, helped on by the play’s appropriateness to our times.
As Ethan says: “The reason why Shakespeare is so relevant is because he writes about the human condition, which can be applied to contemporary settings. In Macbeth, it is about ambition and revenge and fate and betrayal and, to an extent, also about corrupt leadership. I think that applies to the national consciousness at the moment with all that is going on.
“I don’t believe that Macbeth is ultimately evil, but … and it is a very big but! He gets led astray. He is drawn into political corruption. You can’t necessarily be wrong. You can’t show weakness. And then as soon as he takes a trip down the rabbit hole, he is baling out his sinking conscience.
“He tries to get rid of his guilt, but instead he is piling on more and more guilt. He thinks he will be less guilty if he gets rid of Banquo, but then he misses Fleance.
“There is the idea that
Lady Macbeth is evil, but I genuinely believe that they are a loving couple at first. I believe that they have never dreamt of murder or foul play in order to get what they want, but they are very driven by upwards social mobility.
“He has come up through the ranks in quick succession and then it is a hop and a skip and a jump and you are at the very, very top.
“I really don’t think they originally intended foul play, but suddenly there is this whole opportunity presented to them through the prophecy.”
Tickets from www. thisismytheatre.com.