Watching a Shakespeare play on a summer’s evening, open-air with a picnic, has become an English tradition, one which Brighton Little Theatre Company has made the most of in their staging of Macbeth. It would be hard to find a better patch of grass to play this bloody tragedy, well-known as “the Scottish play”, than the Gun Garden of Lewes Castle, enclosed within its high-rising battlements and open to the sky.
The production is first class and set to challenge any preconception that Shakespeare is difficult. On first night there was not a rustle or fidget evident, for all the nip in the air, and it’s fair to infer that this audience was gripped.
It’s hard to know what to praise first. The creative team and director Harry Atkinson deserve applause. While the Gun Garden wins for atmosphere, it’s not huge, yet the relatively small area allocated as stage is utilised as well for raging battle as it is for intimate plotting between Macbeth and his Lady. Careful lighting makes three apparitions live up to their name; effective sound production means important speeches are not carried off on the breeze. On costume, the three witches are marvellously made up grotesque, avoiding pointed hats and cloaks; their cauldron might be real.
For a show with a cast of some 25-odd amateurs, the acting is of an amazingly consistent standard. However, the last word belongs to the Macbeths, living and breathing in magnificent performances by Carey Thring and Alexandra Lake.
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