INTRICATE and rhythmic wordplay and visceral action are given equal weight in Marthinus Basson’s dark and powerful stab at Shakespeare. Both the superb technicalities of production and the intricacies of subtle acting are also abundantly evident.
Using a very old Afrikaans translation by Eitemal (with English surtitles) he both updates in presentation and takes this Shakespeare play back to its original emphasis in wording. That’s not to say there isn’t blood – this is, after all, a play about a tragic and guilt-ridden character who wades through blood until his downfall.
While it is a heavy tragedy, and the dazzling wordplay makes it a complicated one to follow, the rhythm and poetry of the Afrikaans buoys you. It also lulls you, which can make it difficult to follow where you are without glancing at the surtitles which, it turns out, are nowhere near as simple and clear as the words you hear spoken in Afrikaans.
All of these effects come together though to make this more than the sum total of its many parts. While it is still a dense, complex tragedy, drawing as it does on a theme of the corrosive psychological and political effect of choosing evil as a way to fulfil your ambition, it is also very clear in its delineation of characters.
This Macbeth (Minnaar) occasionally breaks the fourth wall to directly ask the audience whether he is following the right path or whether he even has a choice in the matter. Minnaar plays him as conflicted and easily persuaded that killing is a useful shortcut to get his way.
This Lady Macbeth (Anna-Mart van der Merwe) is decidedly the driving force here and her influence over Macbeth’s actions and her own hand in seizing power, is presented rather than hinted at.
Van der Merwe is a chilling delight, effortlessly inhabiting the skin of this character who breaks boundaries in so many ways.
The title reminds us that once Macbeth starts on his killing ways he no longer finds solace in sleep, while his wife’s sleepwalking is emblematic of how troubled her mind really is by her actions.
Jana Cilliers as Greek chorus-like Karakter A and the rest of the cast, other than Minnaar and Van der Merwe, tackle various roles at various times and most remain within sight of the audience even when not acting on stage.
The staging is elaborate, and the stylised violence reminds you that Macbeth’s words have consequences.
Disorder is evident in imagery such as the digital images of war and its effects projected onto the backwall, as are images of the cosmos – hinting at one of the recurring themes in Shakespeare’s work, that your destiny is written in the stars.
Words normally attributed to the witches are shared amongst various characters, with the beginning and ending shared amongst Macbeth, Lady Macbeth and Karakter A.
The way they share the beginning and ending reminds us of the cyclic nature of not only power, but also the idea that man’s thirst for power leads to our downfall.
Somehow we keep on going down that path despite all the evidence telling us it is a dark one.