It's a curious take on Macbeth, now at Berkeley Rep, a concept that takes two of the most celebrated characters in the Shakespeare canon and actually makes them smaller than life. And certainly smaller than the towering video projections looming about them with a visual cacophony that you might expect in a Star Wars movie. (Imagine Obi Wan Kenobi materializing on an IMAX screen to counsel Luke Skywalker.) Add in the booming sound effects and ominous music that literally shake the theater with sound and fury, and it seems figures scurrying about on stage look like miniaturized versions of actors.
That one of those actors is the brilliant Frances McDormand, the presumable raison d'etre for this production, makes director Dan Sullivan's choices all the more curious. McDormand plays Lady Macbeth, a power-hungry schemer and one of Shakespeare's choice female roles. Good on McDormand for showing no interest in doing a star-turn, but the results are surprisingly drab, especially at the start of the show, where her muslin-smock costume, fair hair, wan appearance, and washed-out lighting turn her into nearly a solid beige object that definitely does not command attention. There is more grit as the play moves along, as she prods her husband into regicide, but the ambitious forces that propel her remain murky.
As Macbeth, Conleth Hill displays skill at delivering Shakespeare's lines with adept use of the language, but languid then becomes a more overriding impression. Nevertheless, his ability to speak the dialogue with clear muscularity, which doesn't necessarily mean posh affectation, is especially welcome given the extreme variations in the rest of the cast at conquering Shakespearean delivery. There are able performances among the large cast, but such key roles as Banquo (Christopher Invar) and most specifically Malcolm (Adam Magill), the ultimate victor for the throne, range from barely acceptable to unacceptably unseasoned.
There are, indeed, high-quality performances amidst the crowd. James Carpenter does versatile triple duty as the doomed king, a comic turn as a porter, and an appearance as a doctor unable to cure Lady Macbeth's night terrors. Carpenter knows how to clearly deliver his lines, suggest the period flavor, and create distinct characterizations within the confusing miasma of the other performances.
Acknowledgement is certainly due Alexander V. Nichols for his overpowering visual designs that replace the need for actual scenery, and to Dan Moses Schreier for his thunderous sound designs, that despite the spectacle they offer, in no way serve the diminished actors.
Director Dan Sullivan is an esteemed director who has worked across the country and won a Tony Award for Proof, but his concept for this Macbeth is seriously off-kilter. It seems the actors are there to service the epic special effects rather than the other way around, with the performances taking center stage and any technical ornamentation a way to enhance the chemistry that the actors are trying to forge. In the end, the enchanted potion that the witches conjure with eye of newt and other choice ingredients proves to be merely an overseasoned broth.
Macbeth will run at Berkeley Rep through April 10. Tickets are $55-$135. Call (510) 647-2949 or go to berkeleyrep.org.