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By Gilbert Wong

There can't be too many actors who can employ the wondrous phrase "multitudinous seas incarnadine", part of a woeful, guilty lament by the murdering Macbeth, and make it sound contemporary. Michael Hurst does this and more in a production that drills deep into the terrible psychological turmoil, the thin line that divides the brave soldier from the foulest murderer.

Perhaps taking a leaf from the excellent film Richard III with Sir Ian McKellen, Hurst updates the play, but to a period about the time of World War I rather than imaginary fascist 1930s Britain. The soldiers wear greatcoats and carry single action rifles, not swords. The witches are nurses, though malevolent harpies rather than solicitous caregivers. The world is turned upside down and as nations splinter, so does Macbeth's mind.

Hurst's direction makes much of the bard's artful mirroring. Anna Hewlett's Lady Macbeth is introduced as she reclines in a warm bath. Later MacDuff's young son (Edward Giffney), after playful bath-time banter with his mother, is drowned in the same tub. John Verryt's set, inspired perhaps by traditional Japanese minimalism, features an impressive moveable raised floor and huge moveable panels that suggest a castle's outsized volume as they open and shut on scenes of horror and calm, guilt and innocence.

But the play's the thing. John Callen in the triple roles of Duncan, porter and doctor, has the benefit of experience, especially in a delightful vaudeville turn as the porter. His presence and diction highlight how some of the younger cast members rush and crowd their lines.

Hewlett's Lady Macbeth and Benjamin Farry as MacDuff invest their famous lines with, in turn, terrible guilt and wild, inconsolable grief. Macbeth's demise occurs in a brutal, knock-'em-down, drag-'em-out street fight, culminating with his sorry skull smashed in. It's in keeping with the tone of the play, but does unfortunately recall the creative violence and excess of World Wrestling Entertainment, as evidenced by a few giggles. But that is a minor quibble in what is likely to be one of the finest productions to grace the stage this year.

©Copyright 2004, Sunday Star-Times

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