Adlib has in recent years never shied away from tackling some of William Shakespeare’s meatiest dramatic fare, and this was no different. Playing in Bembridge Village Hall, they laid on a contemporary dressed twist on the dark murder filled thriller that “Macbeth” is.
Shakespeare’s 1606 Jacobean Tragedy of Ambition, Lust for Power and the cost that they have on a person’s Psyche as much as their Soul still hits hard from a 2023 audience who could be put off by the poetic language and soliloquies roundly delivered with aplomb by several members of the cast.
The Wyrd Sisters (Never referred to outright as Witches) were given an ingenious twist on the idea of three women cackling around a cauldron. Instead Ches Checkley, David Stradling and Lynne Gregory Phillips presented with ironic dryness, three modern day almost advertising salesman. They sold the half truths of Macbeth’s path to kingship with sordid glee and really made the piece feel fresh. They were overseen by the boss from hell quite literally, Hecate, played with fire by Abbi Leverton.
The core relationship of the play of course, is the dysfunctional doomed relationship between the Macbeth’s. Simon Lynch gave the part a real brutish physicality that stomped around the slightly too tiny stage and complemented well the parts where we saw Macbeth tormented by his fragile sense of toxic masculinity as much as the hideous acts he has commited. Emily Scotcher played Lady Macbeth with a wide range that went from malevolent glee at killing King Duncan (played by Paul Stevens) to cold calculating dread at how far her husband had fallen in madness. They bounced well off of each other and were aided in some strong performances of note from Joel Leverton’s Banquo. Watching his shrewd mind piece together Macbeth’s treason and his intelligent natural delivery was a real highlight.
Other notable performances came from Patrick Barry’s tenacious Macduff and Karl Whitmore’s camp Billy Connelly inspired Porter. Another memorable moment that absolutely sold the show was the superb dance routine provided by Theo Barry which somewhat alievieated the tone a little, great fun though. There were some fresh faces in the cast making their debuts and I for one am interested to see where they go from here.
The effective use of multimedia and filmed segments were well executed, there were some volume issues with hearing dialogue which was a shame in the first several scenes but this did improve as the show progressed. There was a great use of the specialist props from Time Jump Histories. The fightscenes too were a little rushed and could have done being slightly tweaked to hide the lack of contact as a few times people were reacting to a hit that was very far away and telegraphing moves a little too early.
Overall, another well thought out piece of drama directed by Maureen Sullivan and ably assisted by Fiz Bates. Good work from a company still going strong after so many years.
Reviewed by Olly Fry
IWtheatre 