The opening night performance of Macbeth was spellbinding, and that only partly due to the creepiest witches ever to shuffle across a stage. The show is an explosive event, where raw ambition and a touch of paranoia set a pace that leaves the audience shaken and breathless. Peter Macon in the title role starts out strong, and grows ever more powerful and compelling as this two hour, 10 minute story plays out. His is a violent world and this actor pulls no punches. Robin Goodrin Nordli as Lady Macbeth matches him moment for moment. Without an iota of overacting, these two set a gold standard for performance.
Scott Bradley's set design is brilliant. In a show that director Gale Edwards delivers like a graphic novel come to life, the set never ceases to amaze.
Taking a cue from the "earth hath bubbled" image, Bradley and Edwards created a dark, dangerous place where once-molten rock laps the edge of the stage, revealing skeletal remains trapped in ooze. There are tumbled, monolithic stones, pock-marked rock, and a perilous catwalk that curves as it turns into a collapsed staircase. Richly worked wrought iron forms twisted and tilting flowers, supporting what was once a gold-toned handrail. Macbeth and his Lady thrive in this place. They behave as though the room is normal, either unable or unwilling to admit that their world is composed of broken, jagged, pieces. Costumed either in black or in red, each and every character is instantly iconic. The soldiers are all faintly fascist. The witches are ... not quite human. Lady Macbeth's jewels glow with a blood-red hue the lighter, livelier red of arterial blood, sparkling against her neck.
On opening night during the second appearance of the witches, many people in the audience screamed. This is a powerful Macbeth, indeed, and an excellent choice for a full-season run.