Above, top to bottom: Ray Dooley and ensemble; Susanna Hay, Laura Metzger, Linda Halaska; Joanna Adler and Ray Dooley; Bruce Cromer and T. Ryder Smith, same; same, with David Weynand; T. Ryder Smith.
Excerpts from the reviews
“Violent, shocking, and eerie . . . Set during World War 1, it’s filled with bloodshed, prophecies of darkness, and a stream of apocalyptic images, tapping into the kind of horror Shakespeare perhaps intended for it. . . The set is a washed-out grey, the costumes brown and green, and those drab colors make the blood all the more shocking . . . The play is soaked in reminders of spilled blood: from the red wine Macbeth drinks when contemplating the murder of Duncan to the red rose tattoo on Lady Macbeth’s back . . . This production is often inspired, with several scenes that are astounding in their inventiveness . . . Near the play’s end, when Ross brings news of a slaughter to Macduff (the excellent T. Ryder Smith), Platt’s revisioning of the scene is simply brilliant . . . An exciting, provocative, memorable [production].“ – Jason Silverman, The Santa Fe Reporter
“Some fine performances are offered . . . including T. Ryder Smith as Macduff . . . Unfortunately, Platt has the two leads play so far over the top that the production becomes painful . . . ” – William MacNeill, The New Mexican
“For 7 years in London and Paris I was Time magazine’s European and Arts correspondent, in the glory days of Peter Brook, Beckett, Ionesco . . . I reviewed a great deal of experimental theatre, praising many productions, damning some. With all due respect to Mr. MacNeill, then, I must demur from his harsh judgement . . . Above all, this production has energy – demonic, unflinching energy . . . Ray Dooley raises the part [of Macbeth] to an electrical high tension . . . T. Ryder Smith’s Macduff is winning, poignant, grimly vengeful. The fight at the end has been staged with scary realism yet choreographed beauty . . . But Joanna Adler’s Lady Macbeth is the most surprising and original performance: a sexual predator giggling seductively . . . Simply? I have never seen a better ‘Macbeth’.“ – Horace Freedland Judson, in The New Mexican
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