Macbeth @ Tramway Theatre, Glasgow

Last night Al and I went to see the one-man performance of Macbeth, starring Alan Cumming, at Tramway, Glasgow.


Alan Cumming as Macbeth
Portrait of Alan Cumming by Albert Watson.

We started our night off with the pre-theatre menu that was themed to suit the performance, so it was all things Scottish!  I would highly recommend going to Tramway for food; it was really nicely presented and tasted great.  I had my first experience of the Scottish dessert, Cranachan, yum!

Seats in the theatre were unassigned, so we were lucky to be given a helping hand to get some really good ones, right in the centre and just a few rows back.  I wasn't sure what to expect as I sat down, wondering how one man was supposed to play all the Macbeth characters...

Tramway - Macbeth program
The program


This production was based around a man who had recently been admitted to a psychiatric hospital and started with him having forensic evidence collected from him, making you wonder what had happened to him, and how he got the deep scratches on his chest...

Characters were differentiated from each other by changes in voice and/or accent, direction of gaze and the holding of blankets and towels, subtle enough to given an indication of who was who, without being over the top or cheesy.

'Macbeth' was under constant CCTV surveillance, of which the audience was given access to via three screens high above the stage.  Brilliant use was made of this, giving you an intimate view of the trauma this man was going through, and allowing you to occasionally actually see the figments of his imagination...

There was already a sense of tension due to the setting being a hospital, but it grew and grew as Cumming's character seemed to descend further into his own personal madness and that of the Macbeth characters as a result of their shared dark and traumatic deeds.  I honestly couldn't take my eyes off Cumming; he was riveting.

Tickets for the show are thin on the ground, so if you're not able to get one, you'll have to follow the production to New York if you'd like to see it!

Thanks to Al for a lovely date night.  Great company, great food, great show. :) <3

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for blogging about our show! We're very chuffed you had a good night. You can see what other audience members thought of the show at http://storify.com/NTSonline/macbeth/

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