Broadway review “Macbeth”: Daniel Craig and Ruth Negga stab Killer Chemistry in the erratic realm of Shakespeare’s ambitious royalty

The intense Broadway season concludes with its final production and the staging of Sam Gold Macbeth Starring Daniel Craig and Ruth Nega, it’s a dynamic attempt to close the extraordinary and often extraordinary theater season. Unequal, if not as much as 2019 gold King Lear With Glenda Jackson – and saturated, curious (what, not “double work and problems?”) And fascinating (short prologue, fun and at the same time opportune) choices, this repetition of the Scottish show that premiered last night at the Longacre Theater almost resists to the inevitable turmoil of its lead actor.

Craig, 007 Strong or Forced One Note in the title role, and Nega, whose transformation from an ambitious and murderous wife of a soldier into a hideous and hideous wreck is one of the joys of the production, are directed by great actors, including the Amber Gray in the foreground. . (Convicted as a convicted card dealer), Paul Lazarus (as the convicted King Duncan) and Granta Coleman (as the convicted McDuff).

With all this destiny and this creative team it is none other than this Macbeth Promising plenty of props, ghastly lights, and fog machines (employed manually and intelligently), all of this is reinforced by effective horror original music (Galin Leah) which highlights witchcraft, throat slitting and the horrible madness. Psychopath Strings and thunder drums. Gold keeps all of these promises, at least.

Performed primarily on the furniture stage, with the Christine Jones stage designed as a courtyard for bricks and scaffolding. Macbeth Modern in both clothing and approach. Craig starts out as a Macbeth soldier in a tight white T-shirt, black pants and a long gray jacket in a vaguely military style, but takes on a more elite (and not always convincing) look in silk pajamas, a pretty paisley print. bluish-green mantle and smoke. Jacket after his bloody rise to power.

But before Paisley, Macbeth The staging (upon audience arrival) of a trio of casually dressed witches – like the rest of the ensemble, the deal is racial and gender diversity, allowing us to explore little-explored power dynamics – mixes and binds together silently. A bad mix of bubbles in a pot of stew on a modern style kitchen table. Gold told us earlier they won’t be your parents. Macbeth When the witches are joined on stage by the wonderful Chicago actor Michael Patrick Thornton, who plays a short character (plays Lennox). Addressing an audience ready to announce the cancellation, Thornton, who uses a wheelchair, makes a few jokes in return and mockingly invites everyone to break the “Macbeth” taboo on their masks. He reminds us that Shakespeare wrote this particular play. Antony and Cleopatra Y King Lear, During the pandemic year of 1606, the actor sadly and comically talks about his months (and, suggestively, ours) of relatively sterile Covid isolation.

In a light and modern mood, gold transforms into something darker as the great actor moves across the stage as one of them slowly stands up in the air. One of the wizards accidentally approaches and silently cuts the man in the neck, catching a glass of blood.

Soon Nega will break into the role of Lady Macbeth, instantly establishing the alchemy of a murderous couple, romantic or otherwise, as she jumps on Craig Macbeth and creates a passionate atmosphere with Bonnie and Clyde until her first victim dies. Knives in this long night, Deny (Bystanders, SHIELD agents) Physically, onstage and emotionally, Ricochet is just as compelling in his insane, guilt-ridden, hand-purged crying scenes as in previous testimonies of power-hungry zeal.

By keeping a fairly consistent tone of painful decision making, Craig provides the center of all bloody deeds and conspiracies, an approach that, whatever happens, gives everyone a chance to excel at this wonderful ensemble. In addition to Nega, Gray (reign of Broadway after his incredible musical performances Hedestown Y Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812) is particularly mobile as Banquo, a loyal general and traitorous ally of Macbeth. Equally powerful is Coleman as the grieving and vengeful McDuff, and, more comically, Lazarus as the overworked and rather unhappy King Duncan.

Lazarus, like Thornton before him, leaves the character to address the audience, stripping off his now bloody suit, unmasking the boxers and sadly celebrating his seemingly early departure from the show. This comedic tactic, while humorous, is less punchy than Thornton’s first release of Destabilization: for now, there’s no need to recall dramatic mastery or a modern perspective (both Craig Macbeth and Lazarus Duncan quench their thirst for light ale. ).

Not even Lázaro really goes. Gold in one of the director’s risky blooms, Dead Macbeth Never go safe. In addition to the usual ghosts and ghosts, the Golden Scene will be inhabited by silent and seated victims of this bloodshed, a choice that spits terrifying sorcery even if, with some useless and strangely optimistic visual cod, it finally breaks through the ruins and at the end each Macbeth deserves