Playwright: William Shakespeare. At: Greasy Joan & Co. at the Athenaeum, 2936 N. Southport. Phone: 773-935-6860; $10-$20. Runs through: May 25
Director Julieanne Ehre's playbill note cites contemporary instances of countries in unrest, making specific mention of Putin's rise to power following the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the subsequent upheaval in its satellite provinces, which leads us to think that we will see Shakespeare's classic tale of ruthless ambition transposed to the Balkan states. But then Ehre declares her production's setting to be the 'fantastical world of 'the future''—a realm stretching from William Gibson's Spook Country to Star Wars. No need for audiences to worry, however. Kevin Depinet's minimalist scenic design—bare white walls, cafeteria doors, industrial-chic furnishings—soon locates us in the comfortably-familiar confines of a scene-study classroom.
This is not to say that we don't get some superlative scenes before the evening's over. The technical staff listed in the playbill includes both a 'voice and speech consultant' and a 'text coach'—respectively, Tanera Marshall and Monica Weigel—whose advice some of the actors appear to have heeded. Not only does Dana Wall's Macbeth convey the emotional conflict of a warrior compelled to 'stay the course' even after the ends no longer justify the means, but he tells us about it in soliloquies so clearly enunciated and coherently phrased that we are capable of following each individual step in his moral deterioration. This insight into each character's motives is also true of Kevin Cox ( whose Macduff displays fine parade-ground vocals ) , and Samuel Taylor as the boyish sidekick Banquo, along with Nick Mikula and Greg Wenz in the quieter roles of Malcolm and Ross.
The craftsmanship reflected in these performances do much to redeem the hazards associated with low-budget Shakespeare—chiefly, the necessary multiple-casting that often blurs the identities of the uniformly-youthful onstage personnel—as well as the conceptual gimmicks that young artists find so irresistible: Banquo's ghost done up in zombie makeup, for example, or Hecate's frequently excised cameo retained for no discernible reason beyond an opportunity for a male actor to do a drag turn. Innovations faring somewhat better are Kevin Asselin's thrilling final duel, with the combatants employing Filipino 'flow-fighting' technique, and Andrew Hansen's score of ghostly whispers and slamming gates.
'I am in blood so far stepped, that returning were as tedious as go o'er,' sighs Macbeth, little suspecting that several more murders will prove the price of security among warring tribal factions. How many governors of nations are today expressing similar sentiments?
