The world is a battlefield, a slaughterhouse even. Consequently, Macbeth’s tragedy unfolds on the stage of the Grazer Schauspielhaus in a coldly lit square made of washable PVC slats – that’s practical, because the theater blood will flow by the bucketful during the hour and a quarter of Stephan Rottkamp’s production. And yet what initially looks very much like splatter opera soon turns out to be quite conclusive: in the completely brutalized society that Rottkamp shows, bloodshed to gain or maintain power is completely normal, and the lust for murder is part of everyday life.
This “Macbeth” was on the shelf for two years because of the pandemic. And yet the production reflects the current state of the world, its power intoxications and murderous lust almost too clearly, without having to refer to current events. This may also be due to the fact that the work is shown in the Shakespeare adaptation by Heiner Müller; he thoroughly exorcised the original magic from the “Scottish piece”. Rather, Müller sees Macbeth’s regicide and its brutish consequences as the logical consequence of a social and circulatory system built on oppression and exploitation.
This makes for eerie scenes and images on stage, even if the exposition of the plot in the first third is quite vague. Only after the murder does the acting ensemble and the staging gain a foothold, in the title role Florian Köhler can nuanced and often dangerously quietly work out the psychopathology of the butcher and the ridiculousness of the despot who tears himself off his oversized royal cloak. Sarah Sophia Meyer displays fevered dangerousness and seductiveness as Lady Macbeth, but her character is given little room for remorse or pangs of conscience in this version (unless you’re willing to take her final attempt at scrubbing up the pools of blood as a hint of it). to understand).
In the fantastic stage set made of batteries of floating white blocks (Robert Schweer), the other five members of the ensemble consistently hold their own in multiple roles – Oliver Chomik, for example, as Banquo, Nanette Waidmann and Frieder Langenberger in a ghastly and comical assassin scene, Alexej Lochmann as Macbeth’s opponent Macduff and Daria von Loewenich as a young Fleance. Roaring applause for a production dripping with blood and madness that ends with the gloomy promise “My death will not make your world a better place”. A good 400 years after Shakespeare, the present shows quite clearly how murder and power apparatuses continue to turn with ever new protagonists.
Macbeth. After William Shakespeare by Heiner Müller. Playhouse Graz. Next performances: June 14, 15, 17, 18, 22, 23 and 29 and for the last time on July 1, each time at 7:30 p.m. 31 May and 30 June: school performance, each at 10.30 a.m.
Director: Stephan Rottkamp Stage: Robert Schweer Costume: Esther Geremus Sound design: Nikolas Neecke Lighting: Thomas Bernhardt Dramaturgy: Jan Stephan Schmieding Lighting design: Thomas Bernhardt
With: Florian Koehler, Sarah Sophia Meyer, Alexej Lochmann, Oliver Chomik, Nanette Waidmann, Daria von Loewenich, Frieder Langenberger.
www.schauspielhaus-graz.com
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