‘Macbeth’ reigns at Santa Cruz Shakes
Shakespeare Santa Cruz show puts women in key roles
The cursed Macbeth is forever trapped by fate in the Scottish play that bears his name, but for Santa Cruz Shakespeare, change is the only constant.
Just two years ago, UC Santa Cruz shut down its original incarnation as Shakespeare Santa Cruz. Now the newly reborn troupe has been told its lease will not be renewed, so Kirsten Brandt’s gutsy “Macbeth” (playing along with the Bard’s “Much Ado About Nothing” and David Ives’ “The Liar”) marks the company’s swan song in its fabled redwood glen. Next summer, the company hopes to decamp to city’s DeLaveaga Park, which boasts a beautiful eucalyptus grove — so perhaps all’s well that ends well. Shakespeare under the stars will remain the troupe’s signature.
While the director, formerly of San Jose Repertory, could heighten the play’s sense of the macabre and the eerie nature of the tragedy, this is a clear and urgent retelling of the grim fairy tale that plays with notions of gender. Many of the roles usually played by men, such as the valiant warrior Banquo (a formidable Greta Wohlrabe) and Duncan’s heir, Malcolm (Sierra Jolene), here are played by women.
If the concept doesn’t raise the stakes emotionally quite as much as you might hope, it’s a bold and inventive move that embraces the troupe’s adventurous nature. Artistic director Mike Ryan, a pillar of the acting company over the years, has signaled that gender parity is part of his vision for the theater going forward.
Still, not all of the exuberant cast is quite up to the task of inhabiting this haunted realm. While there are moments of keen dread, such as Banquo’s apparition, a blood-splattered phantom worthy of “It Follows,” the weird sisters lack menace, the slaughter of Macduff’s wife and children lacks edge, and the antics of the drunken porter fall flat.
To be sure, the production is grounded by thoughtful performances by Steve Pickering as the ill-fated soldier, Macbeth, persuaded to usurp the throne by his ambitious wife, Lady Macbeth (Melinda Parrett). Pickering nails Macbeth’s courage and steadfastness, the qualities that endear him to King Duncan (Kurt Meeker), until he slits Duncan’s throat to steal his crown. Parrett shines most brightly in the scenes after the murder most foul when Lady Macbeth is forced to pass off her husband’s insane rambling with her wit, diplomacy and charm.
Certainly Pickering and Parrett generate considerable chemistry. The husband and wife lust for each other, as well as for power, and their passion gives them the illusion that nothing is beyond their grasp.
While both Pickering and Parrett could delineate their character’s falls into madness with more intensity, there are enough moments of insight here to keep the imagination afire, even if the fog is creeping into the redwood grove.
Indeed, the dark shadows and ghostly gloom of the tree-framed set only heighten the play’s chilling sense of atmosphere. Horror is the key to this supernatural thriller, which Brandt has set in medieval Scotland. B. Modern’s apt costumes, which fuse kilts and swords with black leather, conjure up the ancient power of the ghost story as well as its timelessness.