theatre review: dunsinane

Macbeth is dead, but little else is as it seems in this new, wry, and intriguing follow-up to Shakespeare's famous tragedy. Scripted by the Scottish playwright David Grieg - who also penned the excellent Midsummer - for the Royal Shakespeare Company, Dunsinane picks up exactly where the original story left off: Macbeth has been murdered, Malcolm (Brian Ferguson) has taken the throne, and the English army, led by the general Siward (Jonny Phillips) has arrived in an attempt to restore order. As Siward discovers, however, this is easier said than done: Scotland is made up of innumerable clans and tribes, all of whom are perched on a dangerously thin - and subtle - web of alliances, which could snap at any minute and send the entire country into war. It doesn't help, either, that - surprise! - Lady Macbeth (Siobhan Redmond) is not only alive, well and quite sane, but also - surprise! - has a son from - surprise! - a previous marriage, who has fled and is hiding somewhere in the Scottish hills. Gaining the trust of Lady Macbeth (whose name here, confusingly, is changed to Gruach) and her son is pivotal for Siward, since their influence over the Scottish clans is tenfold. But things are complicated by the fact that Gruach wants Malcolm off the throne and her son, the rightful heir, instated instead. What follows is a tangle of seduction, intrigue, and double-dealing that would make Sam Spade's head spin.

The moral of Dunsinane - that war is hell - is hardly unfamiliar. But unlike other stories and films, which have relied upon actually showing the atrocities of the battlefield, Dunsinane utilizes its characters to reveal this. The soldiers scowl, grumble, and shiver in the cold, and scurry about in confusion and panic when violence breaks out. Gruach, for her part, deftly manipulates and deceives those around her, including the audience - we know she's scamming someone, but we're never quite sure who. But it's undoubtedly Siward who best represents the toll that the long campaign takes; watching his descent from a dedicated peace-keeper to a man so desperate to restore order that he, ironically, becomes willing to resort to whatever savagery and brutality necessary is both fascinating and horrifying. These characters are what give Dunsinane its meat, its staying power, and they are excellently rendered by the splendid players of the RSC.

It's unfortunate, then, that the play itself is such a mixed bag. Oddly enough for a story as grim as this one, Grieg infuses the script with a good amount of humor, much of which is delivered by an annoyingly naive young soldier (Sam Swann), who steps out from the action every now and then to comment on the action and the weather, and Malcolm, who perhaps is a little too dry and witty for his own good. The humor does evaporate in Act II (with the exception of one particularly ill-advised moment in the otherwise tense final scene), which highlights the darker tone of the second part quite successfully. But it means that Dunsinane ends up feeling like two fine halves rather than one excellent whole.

Dunsinane score: 70