Antoni Cimolino gives us a sumptuous feast in his 2016 production of Macbeth on the Festival stage. Stunning costumes and set, complimented by outstanding set design, and quite possibly the best manifestation of the Wyrd sisters one could imagine, he teases out the dark energy in the play beautifully to keep the audience attentive through the ancient story of lust for power.
The pacing is generally quite good, and some of the set changes (into the feast!) are so magical as to elicit a gasp from even the most hardened audience members, myself included. So it is unfortunate when mid-scene, some of the work and timing grows a bit slow. There are moments where the physical choices and actions are separated into silence from the text, and I felt this served to undermine the otherwise blistering energy and momentum of the production.
What was most delightful, however, as the depth of performances by some of the secondary characters; the MacDuffs were both outstanding, and David Collins managed to make the relatively small character of Ross one of the most memorable of the evening. I also truly enjoyed the menace elicited in the language simply through the presence of children in the space! There were drawbacks, however, with some cast members lacking clarity in the thoughts of the text, which rendered it audibly muddled. Krystin Pellerin's Lady Macbeth was unfortunately static; she began in a place of desire for fame, which was heightened and a touch obsessive, which left her nowhere to go upon being haunted.
Overall, a wonderfully magical production done on a scale most of us could only imagine.