Macbeth

The theatre goes black. Out of the silence comes the skirl of a distant bagpipe, growing louder. Hideous orchestral discords intrude. The stage and part of the auditorium fill with mist; and soon we make out a trio of witches, the first asking, "when shall we three meet again?" We settle down, ready to give ourselves over to the wonderfully weird and terrible universe that is Shakespeare's Macbeth.

When Macbeth himself enters, however, his first lines suggest that we are in for a Macbeth without a Macbeth. And time bears out our suspicion, alas! Pat Hingle, who has done admirable work in contemporary plays, simply is not vocally equipped to cope with a major Shakespearean role. His speech is thick, and his voice lacks music and grandeur. He is careless with his vowels, and we get the impression that Inverness and Dunsinane are really in Colorado and Texas.

The famous "dagger" speech he delivers as though utterly unmoved; he seems to see at most a hatpin. At other times, in direct violation of Hamlet's advice, he tears a passion to tatters. Whatever he does, the lines just do not carry conviction; and we get, for shame, either sham or ham. In the "multitudinous seas" passage, he bids to improve on the playwright by saying, "Making the green one red...red...red...red."

The American Shakespeare Festival's current production is better served by Jessica Tandy's Lady Macbeth, though she is far from ideal in the role. She at least makes it evident that we are listening to one well practiced in the niceties of classical diction.

Her first scene, in which she reads aloud the letter from her husband, comes off effectively--and she introduces many more pauses for reflection here than most actresses have dared.

She makes one common error--for which director Jack Landau must share responsibility--while she is egging Macbeth on to murder King Duncan. Macbeth submits, "If we should fail--." and she replies "We fail"--two small but crucial words. Miss Tandy just losses them off in a natural voice, rapidly and impatiently--and this destroys the scene's psychology. She is trying to screw his courage to the sticking-place, and the possibility of failure is not to be admitted. It is imperative for her to convey incredulity with force in those two words.

The chief trouble with Miss Tandy's over-all conception is that her Lady Macbeth is not the "fiendlike queen she should be. We can believe that she is regional, but we are never convinced that she is fiendish.

The ancillary characters in Macbeath, compared with those in the other great tragedies, are notoriously sketchy. But they constitute the chief acting strength of this production. Donald Harron's Banquo is keen and alert; and Hiram Sherman's drunken Porter is properly diverting.

Carrie Nye is a touching Lady Macduff. Billy Partello, who at four is the youngest member of Actors' Equity, gives a remarkable performance as her precocious son. "I'll wager their haven't been many productions in which the title actor was bested by a fugitive from Kinder-garten.

The long Malcolm-Macduff-Ross scene in England is masterly writing; but it is difficult to bring off, and is usually radically cut. Here is almost intact, and expertly played by James Ray, Richard Waring, and Patrick Hines.

The scenes with the three witches (Kim Hunter, Carla Huston, and Kathryn Loder) are properly eerie; and the cauldron magically appears and disappears. There has, however, been some tampering with the assignment of the apparitions' lines.

The King Duncan of Donald Davis speaks well--too well in face: this king is stronger and younger than he should be. Paul Spares and Colgate Salsbury are credits to the small roles of Lennox and Seyton; and it is an inspired touch to make Macbeth's servant (Julian Miller) into a hunch-back.

No one knows Rouben Ter-Arutunian's basic stage as well as director Landau; and he has employed it and the rough settings of Robert O' Hearn with stunning resourcefulness. The big military scenes are especially well blocked, and in the climactic battle the soldiers thrillingly vault ten-foot bastions and make daredevil leaps. If Landau has invoked a number of melodramatic touches, it should be remembered that this is the most melodramatic of the tragedies.

He has committed one whopping gaffe, though. At the banquet, he4JESSICA TANDY as Lady Macbeth and PAT HINGLE as Macbeth.