Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet were my favourite Shakespeare plays in high school so it’s been quite the treat that Auckland Theatre Company has produced them both within the last year.
The star-crossed lovers were last year, this year it’s Macbeth and what a show it is!
First up a quick recap of the plot. Scotland under King Duncan has won a victory over the Norse and that’s largely due to the heroic fighting of Macbeth. On his way home with his bestie Banquo, Macbeth encounters three witches who predict he will become King but Banquo’s descendants will reign on after him.
Macbeth wants to become king right away, and with the help of his narcissistic wife, he kills Duncan and frames the hired help. Duncan’s sons, the rightful heirs, skip town and because they look guilty Macbeth is crowned king. So far so good.
Trouble is neither Macbeth nor his lady can handle what they’ve done – like most tyrants he initiates more killings and slowly goes mad, while Lady M just goes crazy on her own and can’t stop washing her hands and then kills herself.
Ultimately there’s a big battle, Macbeth is killed in the skirmish and Malcolm becomes king.
Mark Mitchinson is the towering presence around which everything orbits and he was born for this role. His rumbling powerful voice, his command of language, his chameleon-like ability to be charming and then devastatingly cruel is a joy to watch. Best of all, his various soliloquies are delivered in a deceptively relaxed way which makes them intimate and spellbinding.
Sarah Wiseman’s Lady Macbeth is an expert balance of mental states. First is the confident and carefully groomed schemer, then comes frailty and madness. Even when she is warmly welcoming Duncan to her home Wiseman gives the lady an edge, which, if carefully observed, indicates the malice beneath the smiles. Of course, fresh from victory in battle, the hapless Duncan misses this entirely. When later, Wiseman delivers that infamous line ‘who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him,’ the transformation is complete and we see a very convincing descent into insanity.
The rest of the cast work extremely well and I was incredibly impressed by Maaka Pohatu (Macduff) and Keegan Carr Fransch (Ross), who I hope will tackle other Shakespearean roles.
This is a visually stunning production that mirrors the rotting kingdom MacBeth rules over. Dan Williams evokes a dystopian post industrial-world with giant pipes, walls of rusting iron, and leaking pipes. Similarly, costuming by Elizabeth Whiting has a 20th-Century guerrilla warfare vibe, muted colours, berets, and rough fabrics.
Robin Kelly’s soundscape is full of dramatic outbursts and in other moments subtle undertones of malevolence which helps to underscore the themes of ambition, power, and corruption. When all these design elements come together with Rachel Marlow and Bradley Gledhill’s stunning lighting design the production simply drips with dramatic tension.
Benjamin Kilby-Henson has done what he does best by hyping the dramatic and the grotesque. Even the comedic elements such as Amanda Tito’s Porter are larger than life. The choice of using children as the witches is inspired and the overall aesthetic and tone is perfect.
This Macbeth is Shakespeare at its best, dark, sinister, and thrilling.
MACBETH
28 July – 22 August 2026
ASB Waterfront Theatre – Auckland