“Macbeth in the Church on Friday ‘Fright’ night, lots of blood and guts, I think, and I am not disappointed. Macbeth played by a brilliant young actor from Belfast, his Irish accent giving an extra dimension to his scarred character, had already won ‘Best Actor’ in the Buxton Festival – not hard to see why!  This very professional London Company, make full use of  the magificent venue with clever lighting and scene setting. Another promenade enables the actors to not only address the audience nose to nose, but whisper some of that powerful tragic Shakespearian prose, to great effect. We witness the knife fight with the blades flashing inches in front of us as we squeeze in the choir stalls. The use of the Newark enables to sit at tables laid out in lines just as if we were at the banquet to see the ghost of Banquo with his blood dripping scars, charge down the sorry state of a man that is Macbeth. Apart from the 3 witches with their familiar rhymes and their heavy 3D breathing putting shivers down all our spines, perhaps the most poignant scene was that of Lady Macbeth washing the blood off her hands, in, wait for it, the font ! This daring,outstanding and memorable performance made us all realise how lucky we were to be there.”

“Never ever read or seen Shakespeare before and I really enjoyed it! Keep up the good work. I reckon we’ll be back for Romeo & Juliet!”

“The acting was exceptional and the setting made the production unmissable.”

“First time ever Shakespeare play-fantastic”

“Brilliant first experience of The Tempest and thoroughly brought it to life for me.”

“Fabulous setting 2c my first Shakespeare play”

“Exceptional-how proud Shakespeare would have been to see this!”

“Wow! Powerful acting, passion and a real sense of delivering quality entertainment”

“The performance was excellent-brilliant acting & superb setting. Thank you-will be back in November”

“The immediacy of the performance was stunning and I was continually drawn in.”

“Thank you…magically linked-it felt as if we’d all been shipwrecked. The cast were a team-alert to each other and us the audience.”

“Great show. I finally understood the plot.”

“Absolutely fabulous, look forward to it every year, cannot wait to see Romeo & Juliet”

“It was the first time I have seen a Shakespeare play and I enjoyed it very much and would like to return in November.”

“The Tempest should always be like this!”

“Have brought my kids to Macbeth, MND and this one-all now love Shakespeare!”

“For someone who didn’t like Shakespeare I am now a fan. The Globe here I come!”

“Sensitive and highly effective use of the environment -well edited. Performers gave a confident and sophisticated interpretation and included the audience well…a fab night!”

In the Buxton Festival Fringe awards, our Macbeth was shortlisted for best production and Nick Danan won best actor for the title role. Yay us!

This is a review of Macbeth in Pooles Cavern, Buxton from FringeGuru by Richard Stamp.

Where the place? Below the heath, in this enticing adaptation of Macbeth hosted in Buxton’s much-loved show cave. But as we all know, an eye-catching venue doesn’t guarantee a memorable piece of theatre; production company Butterfly have work hard to re-cast the Scottish tragedy to its unorthodox location, and in the main, succeed.

At an hour long and with a cast of just eight (three of whom are witches), this was always going to be a trimmed-down version of Shakespeare’s script.  What they’ve cut, they’ve cut well; the Wyrd Sisters in particular pick up many minor characters’ lines, and their resulting continual presence lends a fascinating new dimension to the ensnarement of Macbeth.

In other ways, though, I wish they’d been more ruthless. Clearly feeling pressure to include all the well-known soliloquies, the cast crash through the early scenes like bolting horses, leaving Duncan despatched and Malcolm in England before we’ve even had the chance to properly straighten out who’s who. There’s a neat sense of urgency around the murderous deed itself, but overall the play suffers from cramming too much in; we’ve no time to internalise Macbeth’s early angst and, so, feel less the tragedy of his fall.

Ironically, it’s as the pace slows down that the excitement picks up. Starting with the appearance of Banquo’s ghost, we begin to take on our own roles in the action: as guests at the feast, as witnesses and confessors and, ultimately, as the army marching on Dunsinane.  Moving away from mere tableaux, imaginative staging often sees us pinned between two competing factions, lending a visceral new intimacy to the most familiar scenes.  It’s an admirable response to what’s actually quite a limiting venue, and it’s a shame that there was no room for such intricacy in the cavalry charge through the opening scenes.

It’s in the second half, too, that the potential of the innovative location is fully revealed.  Director Aileen Gonsalves makes a couple of inspired choices: Lady Macbeth’s “damned spot” moment sees her in a pit, exhibited as though a trapped animal, and the English court is brilliantly relocated to a desolate soldiers’ camp.  Greedy man as I am, though, I’d hoped to get a little more from my entombment underground.  Bright lighting throughout means there’s little sense of claustrophobia, and only a couple of scenes exploit the cavern’s ominous natural echo.

Yet none of these quibbles detract from the most important thing of all: the quality of the acting. Nick Danan’s Macbeth is particularly strong – his pensive analysis of his desire and disgrace is hugely powerful, though he should beware of losing the meaning of his words in his search for a striking cadence.  As Lady Macbeth, actor-director Gonsalves finds some new things to say, particularly when the the forces of evil respond almost literally to her demand to “unsex me here”.  The final mention, though, must go to the Wyrd Sisters themselves – Caroline Colomei, Hayley Cusick and Sophie Rickman - who strike a perfect chord of malevolent playfulness, whispering continually to the audience as they beat their flighty path through the ruins of Macbeth’s once-great honour.

This review is from the Buxton Festival Fringe 2011 website.

Poole’s Cavern must have seen a fair bit of action in its two million year history but perhaps nothing as eerie and atmospheric as Shakespeare’s Macbeth in this performance by Butterfly Theatre.

Drastically cut to an hour, the play still features all my favourite speeches and the small cast means that the witches double up as porter, murderers, guests at the banquet and more – an economy that actually adds meaning, giving the impression that the whole sorry tragedy is being orchestrated by these sinister hags. Full of evil menace and twisted sexuality, the witches drive both the action and the audience, urgently moving us through the cave and providing a constantly sighing soundtrack. Trust me, deep breathing works very well in a cave and when they came up behind us and traced the odd finger over our hair, we were enjoyably spooked.

Central as the witches are, it is Macbeth (Nick Danan) who steals the show. Scottish play it may be but he has an intense Northern Irish accent that works oddly well for this driven anti-hero. Shakespeare comes alive when he speaks it and he finds emotion in unusual places, his eyes filling up as he explains how he has killed the king but failed to prevent the witches’ prophecy that Banquo’s heirs will gain the throne. We see at once how ‘of course’ Banquo and his son must be killed and how more and more blood must be spilt as Macbeth’s insecurity grows.

A physical and passionate actor, Danan seems to talk directly to individuals in the audience, at one point explaining his intention to kill his rival MacDuff’s children while chucking the chin of a young girl fixed in his gaze. His passionate love for Lady Macbeth is apparent in their anxious embraces and their relationship is always convincing with an impressive Aileen Gonsalves (also the director) playing her as the practical one who has no time for his mental agonies – that is until she too becomes overwhelmed by the magnitude of her own sin.

The cast members make good use of the cave, scrambling around on rocks so that they are either above us or below us, but always very visible, and our progression down and down into the cave serves as an effective metaphor for Macbeth’s descent into moral darkness. They also make good use of the audience – we become uneasy guests at the feast where Macbeth is haunted by the death of his victim Banquo, and, without giving too much away, we play a crucial role in Macbeth’s eventual demise.

The cave’s new lighting is useful but not obtrusive with one early scene conducted under a red light that appears to make blood drip from the cavern roof! At other points, the witches direct torches at the protagonists’ suffering faces.

There are many effective scenes here – particularly the ‘unsexing’ of Lady Macbeth during which the witches circle her, tightening her corset, but also the ending including a very wince-making fight scene. Some ‘holy’ singing, amplified by the cave’s acoustics, also proves chilling, providing a contrast to the evil at the heart of the play. Macbeth may be familiar to many of us and likewise the cave, but the combination of the two is hugely effective – see for yourself if you can still get hold of a ticket.

Stephanie Billen

Tune in to Colin Leslie’s day time show to listen to Colin interview the director of the The Tempest, Aileen Gonsalves, from Butterfly!

Interview online: http://www.palm.fm/p/competitions/kents-cavern.

Butterfly presents Shakespeare’s Macbeth in Pooles Cavern, Buxton. Monday 11 July to Friday 15 July at 6.00 PM, 7.15 PM and 8.30 PM. Tickets: £10 per per son. Book online or call 0845 1272190. Part of the Buxton Festival Fringe.

Macbeth – Nick Danan
Banquo/Ross – Paul Harnett
Witch 1 – Caroline Colomei
Witch 2 – Hayley Cusick
Witch 3 – Sophie Rickman
Lady Macbeth – Aileen Gonsalves
Macduff – Matthew Macpherson
Malcolm – Ed Hulme

Director – Aileen Gonsalves
Movement Director – Lucy Cullingford
Sound Designer – Chris Bradbury
Fight Director – Lewis Penfold

Butterfly presents a Shakespeare’s Macbeth in All Saints Church, Bakewell. Tuesday 9 August to Saturday 13 August at 7.30pm. Tickets: £10 per per son. Bookings: 07772 543576. Part of the Bakewell Arts Festival.

Kents Cavern presents a Butterfly Production of Shakespeare’s The Tempest Underground.

Wednesday 25 May to Saturday 4 June 2011. Book online or call the box office on 01803 215136. Tickets: £15 per person. Times 6.00 PM, 7.15 PM, 8.30 PM. The company.

Director – Aileen Gonsalves

Costume Designer – Nadia Malik

Sound Designer – Chris Bradbury

Sculptor – Elisabeth Hadley

Prospero – Nick Danan

Miranda – Aileen Gonsalves

Ariel – Helen Heaslip and Lucy Cullingford

Caliban – Nathan Wright

Ferdinand – Ben Benson

Alonso – Chris Mackenzie

Antonio/Stephano – Matthew McPherson

Sebastian/Trinculo – Ed Hulme