Earlier this week, I received a frantic phone call from my brother. Amidst uncontrollable laughter, he tried to recount the play he had just walked out of after the first act.
The play was English Touring Theatre’s (ETT’s) contemporary adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, performed at the Lyric Hammersmith in London. Both my brother and I are avid Shakespeare enthusiasts, so I was intrigued to learn what had sparked his reaction; when he told me that Macbeth delivers the famous Shakespearean address, “babes,” the controversy was clarified.
This article is not a review of ETT’s Macbeth, as neither my brother nor I have seen the play in full. However, his complaints about the performance compelled me to consider how malleable Shakespeare plays really are, and how far they can be modernised and adapted before they lose their meaning.
I do not wish to undermine the impact that a modern take on Shakespeare can have. There are undoubtedly many parallels to be drawn between current societal issues and the themes of gender, class and otherness woven into Macbeth. Whilst not an adaptation for theatre, Baz Luhrmann’s vibrant Romeo and Juliet demonstrates how Shakespeare can be successfully modernised to maintain relatability and appeal to a wider audience. Luhrmann’s explicit depiction of gang violence, for example, delivers a clear social commentary on class division. The film stays true to Shakespeare’s script and seems to maintain the same emotional impact as intended by the original tragedy.
Similarly, David Tennant and Cush Jumbo have recently starred in a high-tech approach to Macbeth, in which the audience are given headphones to create a three-dimensional sound experience. This, along with the casual and contemporary costuming, added an intriguing atemporal aspect and subtly shifted the setting to a more modern era.
Given these modern successes, it seems that the issue with ETT’s modernisation lies in their deviation from the intended tone of Macbeth, and from a lack of loyalty to the original script. The adaptation veers towards a pantomime style, as the fourth wall is broken to ask the audience if they are enjoying themselves. An audience expecting a harrowing tragedy will most likely be startled when faced with a farcical comedy, especially when the script includes the word “babes” and similar modern colloquialisms.
Needless to say, theatre does require an open mind. Unique and surprising takes like ETT’s help to maintain the excitement and unpredictability of theatre, and allow us to immortalise Shakespeare. However, I believe that this should be possible without losing sight of the original meaning, which can happen when straying too far from the written word.
Image credit @richlakos via English Touring Theatre
