Not exactly Shakespeare's 'Macbeth'

By Joseph T. Rozmiarek
Advertiser Drama Critic

•	'Macbeth' 8 p.m. Thursday, Saturday; 4 p.m. Sunday Paliku Theatre, Windward Community College $16 235-7433

It's a valid approach, particularly with a familiar classic, and can give the original a valid and fresh interpretation. It also can be dangerous territory if the director's viewpoint usurps or distorts that of the playwright.

Pisculli's premise is first that the witches aren't real and exist only in Macbeth's mind. The second premise is that Macbeth and his lady are linked by a mutual and passionate lust for one another. Neither of these approaches is traditional.

The witches are pooh-poohed away in the director's notes as the playwright's blatant pandering to England's then-new King James, who had both Scottish roots and a firm personal interest and belief in witchcraft.

The lust context suits this production's exceedingly young cast, but it is only one of the bonds that Shakespeare uses to link the central couple. The curious crossover is that Pisculli's version has Lady Macbeth also appearing as one of the trio of witch spirits.

The effects on the drama are both positive and negative.

The context throws strong and unremitting focus on Macbeth, turning him eventually into a mentally tortured psychopath and serial killer. As the witch spirits haunt him, he begins to accept and mouth their prophecy for his rapid and bloody ascent to power. Macbeth falls to his knees, possessed, and their words become his words.

Macbeth also becomes his own agent for the resulting assassinations. Shakespeare has Macbeth and his lady personally dispatch only King Duncan. After that, hired thugs do the dirty work.

Pisculli has Macbeth himself take the dagger to Banquo and the Macduff household, cementing his pathology when the murders are later reported, but Macbeth claims no knowledge of them.

The character of Lady Macbeth is diluted in this approach. While her living character is mixed with Macbeth's hallucinations, it appears less dominant than Shakespeare intended in their personal bond. She is much less complex and driven primarily by physical appetite rather than by cerebral ambition.

Pisculli also follows her mad scene ("Out, damn spot!"), with her pantomimed suicide, bringing in Macbeth to attend her death and deliver his best monologue ("Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow") as he carries away her corpse. Shakespeare simply had her die offstage.

On the plus side, Pisculli's interpretation gives the play a strongly propelled action line. The show not only moves — it is fired across the stage. For those who already know what's happening in the play, the action seems to be on fast-forward. Those ignorant of the drama may simply wonder what's going on.

Alvin Chan is properly psychopathic as Macbeth and has the physical stamina to sustain the role. Jennifer Robideau speaks the speeches with the best clarity in the cast. Reb Beau Allen has a nice moment as Macduff absorbs the impact of his family's murder ("all my pretty chicks ... in one fell swoop.")

But the young cast would uniformly benefit from a couple of rules basic to performing Shakespeare:

• The dialogue should not sound like you're trying to cool off a mouthful of hot soup.
• Shouting and breathing hard do not alone carry the emotion.

Still, there's a lot to see and hear in this production.

Witch spirits Jennifer Robideau and Jacquelyn Grace are dressed in something like flapper underwear and deport themselves like anorexic fashion models. The live percussionists telegraph and underscore the requisite emotions — tinkling chimes for morbid introspection and frenzied drumming for the fight scenes. But Lance Chinen's popping up through trap doors and open windows as Banquo's ghost is more comic than chilling.

And there's something to think about as well. How sick was Macbeth? Shakespeare has him seeing ghosts, but not hallucinating in the first five minutes. How accountable was he? Shakespeare uses Adam's excuse ("My helpmate made me do it."). Pisculli's is more contemporary ("I hear voices.")

"Macbeth" will be joined in repertory by "Henry IV, Part 1" and "Twelfth Night" as the festival continues through Aug. 10.