Bloodthirsty Macbeth and cruel, conniving witches seem more like a coward and dancing hippies in Aux Dog Theatre’s disappointing production of “Macbeth.”
“Macbeth” is Shakespeare’s most brutally efficient tragedy, and in five short acts, the audience watches a brave hero become a despicable tyrant, corrupted by the mere thought of having power.
Even with the dramatic story line, Aux Dog Theatre’s uneven production of “Macbeth” fails to satisfy.
Though several baffling directorial decisions frequently muddle affairs, what truly keeps Aux Dog’s modern-dress “Macbeth” from succeeding is a flat performance of the leading Scottish royal.
Micah Linford, who plays Macbeth, visibly struggles in the role. He rushes through the language and never seems entirely comfortable with Shakespeare’s verse. The result is often a loss of meaning. Macbeth, the mighty warrior and all-conquering general, is nowhere to be found.
When Shakespeare allows the character to speak directly to the audience to explain his inner turmoil, Linford talks at the audience, not to them. His Macbeth lacks depth and fails to make the audience care.
It doesn’t help that the setting, as conceived by director Victoria Liberatori, doesn’t make much sense. Distinctly modern costumes — such as royalty dressed in slick suits and warriors in modern military fatigues — jar with the play’s vaguely medieval set, which seems borrowed from another production. The witches here appear more like hippies and their badly choreographed conjuring seems more like a halfhearted dance routine than unholy magic.
The costume choice for the two assassins Macbeth hires — one dressed like a carjacker, the other, a member of a biker gang — make them seem borrowed from a different play altogether. An instrumental Maroon 5 song plays during a set change and continues well into the next scene. All these odd choices distract from the story.
Perhaps what’s most frustrating about this Aux Dog production is that there are flashes of brilliance, glimpses of what might have been. The lighting, designed by James Burkhard, is often superb. There are fine performances as well: both Brennan Foster as Banquo and Eliot Stenzel as MacDuff are touching as men who suffer because of Macbeth’s ambition.
Angela Littleton is a remarkable Lady Macbeth; the production’s flaws melt away whenever Littleton takes the stage, and she grabs every moment. In her first scene, when Lady Macbeth receives good news from her husband, Littleton courses with electric energy. She uses Shakespeare’s language with relish, imbuing it with passion and clarity.
There’s even a subtle, heartbreaking moment when she suddenly realizes that the cost of her ambition is witnessing her husband become a monster. This moment makes sense of her later psychosis while most actresses fail to make a seamless, organic transition from sane to insane. Littleton’s authority is so strong that her scenes with Macbeth seem more like a mother cajoling her child than a wife pleading with her husband.
The enduring appeal of Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” lies perhaps in how it raises questions that will never be irrefutably answered. Are people ruled by fate? Condemned by their nature? Does power always corrupt, or do the corrupt always seek power? Unfortunately, Aux Dog Theatre’s production of “Macbeth” adds little to the conversation.
“Macbeth”
by William Shakespeare
Aux Dog Theatre
3011 Monte Vista Blvd. N.E.
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Runs through April 29
Friday, Saturday 8 p.m.
Sunday 2 p.m.
$12 students and seniors
AuxDog.com
