16 -— Friday, August 6, 1999 — North Shore News Bard's & Macbeth by William Shakespeare, produced by Bard on the Beach at Vanier Park. In repertory with A Midsummer Night's Dream to September 24. Box office: 739-0559. Martin Millerchip Curtain Call niartin@nsnews.com “WILLE all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?” asks Macbeth after murder- ing Duncan, his King, kinsman and guest. Not likely, and by play’s end everyone’s hands have biood on them, both figura- tively and literally i in director John Juliani’s moody staging of this popular tragedy by Shakespeare. Thematically, the Scottish play provides fertile ground for directors. Written at the height of Shakespeare’s pow- ers (just after Hamlet, Othello and King Lear), Macbeth treads the typical tragic fur- row of what happens when you mess with nature, or the natural order of things. - Throughout the play, fair appearances hide foul reali- ties. The Weird Sisters incant at the opening “Fair is foul ‘and foul is fair” while they wait for Macbeth. (Thus his first line: “So foul and fair a day I have not seen.”) To him they will offer a seduc- five prophecy of power, the -- crown of Scotland. And ’-Macbeth’s fatal flaw, ambi- ‘tion; will ensure he responds . to the prephecy with murdez- ous hands. But the “bloody business” is immediately compounded as innocent boys have to be ’ fit up for the crime and mur- dered in their sleep, friends ust be assassinated in case they produce claimants to the _ usurped throne, and potential threats arc “neutralized” by . .-killing women and children. «Even Shakespeare’s “moral” ” WEST Van Theate gar- nered high praise for its __ production. of Crossing « “at Mainstage —the annual provincial drama festival for B.C. and Yukon community the- atres — in Nanaimo last “The piece, a collaborative effort between playwright ‘Jolin’ Robert McGie and Cart - Craig, won Best Technical Award as well as a special - Certificate of Merit for ‘McGie’s 's “significant artistic . Bay. And ending sees the tyrant meet his foretold end at the hands of a man with his own “unnatural” seerct. Bicod, ambition, revenge and the supernatural: all great stuff. And this production makes sense of it all. This is a world of men committed to warlike behav- iour. The strong survive and the innocent are at risk. Poor King Duncan, unable to “faa the mind’s construction in the face” of his enemies is an easy mark for betrayal. Bard's costume and set designers, give us a land of pagan Christians where Druid stones tower over crooked wooden crosses. It’s the per- fect setting for Macbeth and Pam Johnson’s dressing of Bard’s wooden stage blends into the pines, water and mountains glimpsed through the tent opening like no other production I have seen at this festival, Mara Gottler’s costume design takes a romantic Pre- Raphaelite notion of the Dark Ages and dresses it in leather. The men look like rough-hewn professiona! fighters at ali times (other than the sofe English soldier in baggy black vinyl), while the women cinbody simple virtuc. There is no specific credit for wig design, but the long hairpicces for the men are a well-executed touch that had me looking for h Viking lon: s in Englis! k the heightened cowls on the witches’ cloaks cleverly make the Weird Sisters’ faces appear discon- certingly from the “wrong” place. George Ryan’s haunting music and sound effects add to the atmosphere and work better in the context of this play than any i recall. In this testosterone-driven world Macbeth must top the pecking order and when you have actors like Gerry Mackay as Banquo and, espe- cially, Scott Bellis as Macduff © that might be a challenge. J have seen more than one pro- - duction dominated by a strong Macduff. North Vancouver’s Andrew Wheeler is up to the challenge and takes second achievement; original script -and visual concept.” The newly-revitalized Theatre West Van (formerly known as West Vancouver Little Theatre) produced this 25-minute soundscape, featur- ing North Shore actors Anne ’ Marsh and Bill Elliott. It was entered in the Theatre BC North Shore Zone Play Festival and was described as “brilliant” by adjudicator John Cooper when he picked the piece to represent this zonc at e "99. Although originally intend- ed as merely an interesting place to nobody in the action. (Thank goodness wig fits and enhances h character this year.) He com- bines masculinity with intel- lectual clarity, which is not as straightforward on stage as it might appear. If Wheeler has any prob- lems, they are not of his mak- ing. Shakespeare requires Macbeth to question not only his planned villainy but his resolve. Tt is Lady Macbeth who names the gap benween man’s desire and action as cow- ardice and questions Macbeth’s manhood. Having, screwed his courage to the sticking point, in a manner of speaking, she later covers for his guilty visions and then conveniently goes insane. In fairness, I find the psy- chology of both characters and their interaction ques- tionable and therefore chal- lenging to a modern actor. But unless Lady Mac is pretty far out on the branch to start with, there’s no basis for her fall ftom the tree of sanity. Janet Macdonald is not and, whether this is the reason or the fact that Juliani and Macdonald appear to take lit- erally Lady Macbeth’s “unsex me here™speech, the scenes between her and Macheth, though competent, feel like all the blood has been drained out of them. Watching Kirsten Robek’s strong-voiced Lady Macduff, I wondered what she might have made of the bigger role. The rest of the company is uniformly strong with William Samples’ pallid Duncan, Bellis’ Macduff and the witches (Sarah May Redmond, Rebecca Harker and Cyndi Janzen) standing out — although I single them out more for Juliani’s staging of their contribution to the “unnatural” action. The major fight scene between Macduff and Macbeth: is the usual “you hit my sword, then Pl hit yours,” but in terms of actor safety with those heavy props, I don’t know what else might have been attempted by fight director Nicholas Harrison. J have seen many versions of Macbeth over the ycars, exercise in the creative use of soundscapes to support the- atrical pieces, Crosmig is now taking ona life of its own and may well be produced at next -year’s Vancouver Fringe Festival. # Adjudicator Glynis Leyshon, Artistic Director of the Vancouver Playhouse, said she was “astounded by the NORTH Vancouver actor Andrew Wheeler stars as Macbeih in the Bard’ on the Beach production of Shakespeare’s Scottish play. and even acted in it twice. I have become convinced that while it is one of Shakespeare’s more accessible tragedies it is one of the hardest to completely fulfil. This Bard on the Beach pro- duction gets more right than any I have seen and offers an engrossing evening of the- atre. The word is already out there. The show is selling out on a regular basis. technical skill involved in the soundscape of Crossing.” Leyshon also recognized Crasing for Rita Arhipov’s achievement in creating the facial masks, and acknowl- edged McGic’s directing of the piece, thanking him for “challenging us and stimulat- See Revitalized Page 1? Apply now on-line for a low cost HOME EQUITY MCRTGAGE www. @ com 687-2020 Lender Broker fees may apply Vv ech 1921C Per month x 12 monte GAG 900 MHz Digital Cordless Phone * Only $199.95 * Visual Call Waiting capable * Farband Headset included © Message Indicator Light * 20 number Sreed Dial memory Vista 150 * Only $119.95 * Visual Call Waiting canable * Call Log records name and number of your last 25 callers * 4 Speed Dial buttons . 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