This adaptation of Shakespeare’s play was shot on a green-screen soundstage, enabling visual-effects teams to slot the performers into an intricately detailed, impossibly constructed space. It’s as if the whole shebang is unfolding in a cross between a gigantic astrolabe and a renovated gasometer, with pencilled-in architectural flourishes. Like director Kit Monkman’s previous feature (co-directed with Marcus Romer) The Knife That Killed Me, the end result creates an edgy, visually innovative background which is lush to watch but constantly upstages the foreground action, especially since, to put it politely, not everyone in the cast has the chops to handle the material.
One noble exception is experienced stage performer Akiya Henry as a fierce and formidable Lady Macbeth. Sadly, Mark Rowley in the lead role is less nuanced and commanding, although some viewers may find the shot of him shirtless, showing off a chiselled physique, will represent some compensation.
Purists will inevitably grumble about the cut-and-paste approach to the text which, for example, makes the “To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow” speech into Macbeth’s last words. But at least all the sound and fury of visuals creates a modern texture that might appeal to younger viewers swotting for A-levels.
