Macbeth: Sleep No More
★★★☆☆ Well Spoken
theSpace on the Mile (Venue 39): Fri 2 – Sat 10 Aug 2024
Review by Rebecca Mahar
Reducing Shakespeare’s cast of forty-plus characters to a company of four female performers, Shadow Road Productions brings Macbeth: Sleep No More back to the Fringe in an adaptation that encapsulates the essence of the Scottish Play.
Director Emma King-Farlow’s script strips Macbeth back to the nuts and bolts, cutting scenes and characters with ruthless efficiency until only the essentials of the story remain.
Macbeth and witches at a previous production of Macbeth: Sleep No More. Pic: Shadow Road.
King-Farlow makes some clarifying substitutions to the text, such as “by my father’s death I know I am Thane of Glamis” rather than “by Finel’s death” (or Sinel, depending on which text one consults), to make the convolutions of Macbeth’s succession easier to digest.
The adaptation further extends by expanding the role of the Witches, who serve as framers of the text, appearing at the beginning and end of the play to ruminate on the follies of man, and what ambition may signify.
Each of the four actors take on multiple roles, transitioning between them with simple changes of costume while also taking charge of the live production of most sound effects. King Farlow is joined by Amy Floyd, Victoria Adler and Sarah Robinson.
clear
The characterisation of each part is clear, and the company have done their work with the text: in their performances Shakespeare’s heightened language is clear, and the role of each person in the play’s machinations well defined.
In particular, Amy Floyd as Macbeth does a masterful job of delineating the ill-fated Thane of Glamis’s arc from loyal vassal to murderous tyrant, and on into a side of Macbeth that is often missed: grieving husband in doubt of his own cause.
Macbeth and witches at a previous production of Macbeth: Sleep No More. Pic: Shadow Road.
While King-Farlow’s adaptation cuts the script tightly and some scenes clip along well, overall the production suffers from a lack of urgency, despite its short runtime. Unearned pauses cut into otherwise strong performances, and undermine Shadow Road’s description of the production as “electrifying”.
If the whole play had the kind of energy Floyd and Victoria Adler (Macduff/Witch/others) bring to the climactic confrontation between Macbeth and Macduff (with skilful fight direction by Floyd), it would merit that descriptor.
Macbeth: Sleep No More will appeal to both Shakespeare aficionados and those new to the Bard, as an accessible and engaging adaptation of one of his most popular, enduring, and atmospheric works.
Running time: One hour and twenty minutes
theSpace on the Mile (Space 3), 80 High Street EH1 1TH (Venue 39)
Fri 2 – Sat 10 August 2024
Daily: 10:35am.
Tickets and details: Book here.
Website: http://shadowroad.com/
Instagram: @shadowroad_
Facebook: @ShadowRoadProductions
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/shadowroad
ENDS
