7/20/12 Macbeth: Theatre Review ‑ The Hollywood Reporter

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Paul Culos, Ned Schmidtke and ChristianBarillas

The Bottom LineCogent mounting distinguished bysubtle light and sound and a deep benchof supporting players.

VenueThe Antaeus Companyat Deaf West Theater,North Hollywood (runsthrough Aug. 26).

PlaywrightWilliam Shakespeare

DirectorJessica Kubzansky

The Antaeus Company takes on Shakespeare's classic in a double-cast North Hollywoodproduction directed by Jessica Kubzansky.Following last summer’s superb King Lear, the Antaeus Company returns with director Jessica

Kubzansky’s Macbeth, completely double­cast in the Antaeus tradition (one troupe dubbed “The

Thanes” and the other “The Kinsmen,” which alternate on weekends, with intermixed casts scrambled

on weekday performances), 40 actors in all, ready to play in any combination in service of a single

concept. And Kubzansky, co­artistic director of Pasadena’s Boston Court, has a distinctive take that

elicits new insights into the text.

Most significantly, the action opens with a five­minute wordless sequence not in the play, of Macbeth

and his Lady burying their dead infant. While obliquely hinted at in Shakespeare’s dialogue, making

their grief explicit illuminates much of the couple’s motivations thereafter, providing no excuse or

sympathy but yielding a great deal of clarity, plainly adding a dimension of envy over the issue of their

victims, all loyal and loving friends. The first spoken words come from a pregnant goddess Hecate, in a

speech cribbed from later in the play, informing us from the start of Macbeth’s delusionary trust in the

witches’ prophecy will undo him.

Rob Nagle’s Macbeth is a bluff fellow, a warrior none too bright for all his tortured introspection, a

guy who just wants to get to that point where he can rationalize his evil deeds. Tessa Auberjonois’

Lady Macbeth physically suggests her barren loss drives her to hector her husband to his purpose.

However, the greatest tribute to the Company is the strength of technique in the supporting parts,

including many of the smaller roles that often make little impression, such as Lennox (Jeff Thomas

Gardner) and Ross (Armin Shimerman), who shine here in much the way that Lear’s stalwart

Macbeth: Theatre Review5:44 PM PDT 7/19/2012 by Myron Meisel

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retainer Kent always steals the show with blunt steadfastness.

Enlisting the same actor to play both the murdered King Duncan and Seyton, Macbeth’s cutthroat, is a

daring ploy by Kubzansky, especially when Ned Schmidtke emerges from Duncan’s death chamber

now in the role of an accomplice to his killing. The ever­reliable Ramon de Ocampo is cast as a much

younger Banquo than customary and makes that novelty work inventively for the character.

While modestly mounted on the Antaeus’ tiny stage, the design elements are particularly impressive

from local pillars of Los Angeles theater. With limited resources, John Zalewski’s menacing and

often subliminal sound interplays complexly with the action, while Jeremy Pivnick frequently

achieves expressive lighting effects comparable to crafted movie close­ups within the stage space.

Generally, the production picks up momentum as it goes along, with simple but crackerjack battle

scenes, and a forceful build to the climaxes. And Kubzansky holds yet one more textual gambit for the

very end, giving a well­known classic a genuine surprise ending.

Venue: The Antaeus Company at Deaf West Theater, North Hollywood (runs through Aug. 26)

Director: Jessica Kubzansky

Playwright: William Shakespeare

Cast Reviewed (“The Thanes”): Rob Nagle, Tessa Auberjonois, Ramon De Ocampo, Daniel Blinkoff,

Ned Schmidtke, Armin Shimerman, Jeff Thomas Gardner, Christian Barillas, Jesse Sharp, Todd

Waring, Kimiko Gelman, Lorna Raver, Jane Carr, Saundra McClain, Jason Thomas; (“The

Kinsmen”): Bo Foxworth, Ann Noble, Joe Holt, Peter Van Norden, James Sutorius, John Sloan, Kitty

Swink, Joe Delafield, Alex Knox, Steve Hofvendahl, Brian Tichnell, Fran Bennett, Susan Boyd Joyce,

Elizabeth Swain, Sam Breen.

Set designer: Tom Buderwitz

Lighting designer: Jeremy Pivnick

Sound designer: John Zalewski

Fight director: Peter Katona

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