MACBETH

Unsex me here—or you know, wherever

By JENNA SCHERER

del.ico.us | digg it! | reddit!

print | email | 2 Comments

It goes without saying that Shakespeare's tragedies abound with theater's meatiest characters. The thing is, there isn't a whole lot of room for women to sink their teeth in. Ophelia? Boring. Desdemona? Weeeaaak. Juliet? Lame ... It's the Lears and the Iagos and the Hamlets of the world that get to do all the fun shit, while their gals sit by and be all saintly or dead or somesuch.

So, says the Actors' Shakespeare Project, why not let the women have their day? Take a play, like, oh, say ... Macbeth, and cut the men out of the picture entirely? Adrianne Krstansky's production transforms Scotland into a sort of Gaelic Amazonia, where women are the warriors, the kings, and the power-seekers. They're men—but, you know, with ovaries.

To portray the testes-having side of humanity, Macbeth's ensemble of actresses does "all that may become a man": deepen their voices, widen their strides, stick out their pelvises. If there's an ungainly amount of strutting in the course of the night, chalk it up to eager overcompensation. But these are still women, decked out in Anna-Alisa Belous' gorgeous, sexually ambiguous costumes, and this Macbeth beats with a distinctly feminine rhythm.

But sometimes posturing can take up too much of one's energy. Marya Lowry's Macbeth is all bluster and bravado. She seems more interested in the quality of her voice and movements than with the emotions behind them. Macbeth's every soliloquy—from his first inklings of power to the legendary Act V resignation—rings with the same blistering level of intensity.

Thankfully, the supporting cast makes up for Lowry's over-the-top performance. Of particular note is Sarah Newhouse, who in her short time on stage as MacDuff exudes a masculine strength tempered with subtlety. Bobbie Steinbach is arresting both as the fatherly King Duncan and the drunken porter—to whom Shakespeare gives the lion's share of the sex gags.

Sod all the boys, though. See Macbeth for Paula Plum's breathless, shape-shifting take on the devious Lady M. Come her final descent into madness, Plum exudes enough barely-held-together mania to have you wringing your own hands where you sit.

Krstansky's production is one rich with images, aided by Susan Zeeman Rogers' expressionistic sets and Jeff Adelberg's intricate lighting. Krstansky transforms BU's Studio 102 into a sort of haunted house, where bloody hands shake in the darkness, singing figures descend staircases backwards, and Birnam Wood encroaches as a shadow on the wall.

Gender-specific productions aren't new ground for the ASP—last spring's Titus Andronicus was all boys, all the time—but a company of women changes the equation entirely. In this light, Macbeth's frequent ruminations on the nature of masculinity take on a whole new color.

MACBETH

THROUGH 11.11.07

ACTORS' SHAKESPEARE PROJECT

STUDIO 102 AT BU COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS

855 COMM. AVE., BOSTON

866.811.4111

THU-SAT 7:30PM; SUN 2PM; 11/3 & 11/10 2PM, 7:30PM

$30-$43

ACTORSSHAKESPEAREPROJECT.ORG