STAGE REVIEW : Violent, Visual ‘Macbeth’ Roils at the Drama Lab

The worry that Shakespeare may be boring to a young, contemporary audience seems to be one of the prime motivations in Orange Coast College’s violent and visual production of “Macbeth.”

Director Jon Sidoli refuses to let any of it get boring. No way. Strobe lights carom all over the Drama Lab Theatre. Shrieks, groans and bellows seems to come as often as soliloquies. Fog churns over the stage. Decapitated heads are bandied about like props in a horror flick.

Lady Macbeth isn’t the only one stained by blood; just about everybody gets splashed with the stuff.

Interesting; even exciting. But also way too much.

The trouble with all this hyper-extension is that it tends to distract from “Macbeth’s” psychological impact. This becomes more of an adventure tale tossed into a Halloween milieu; a dagger-and-death drama that barely observes the complex relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, and the stain of guilt that leads to tragedy and madness.

The acting, like the nature of the production itself, is done in a very big way; there is little temperance and, consequently, Shakespeare’s characters do not unfold as eloquently or clearly as they should.

Cases in point are the handling of Macbeth (Craig Bentley Harrill) and Lady Macbeth (Debbie Korkunis). Both have their moments--Harrill’s final scene with MacDuff is affecting, as are a few of Korkunis’ later scenes--but generally they overreact to their roles’ dramatic needs.

Harrill’s response to seeing the ghost of the assassinated Banquo approaches parody, and Korkunis’ attempts to portray Lady Macbeth’s scheming manipulations are unconvincing because of their feverish obviousness.

Sidoli does make a curious and intriguing turn with the three witches, Shakespeare’s own depraved Greek chorus that foretells and echoes Macbeth’s fateful flaws. Here, they aren’t uglies at all, but pretty-figured ladies done up in spandex body-suits. The link between sex, power and dementia is a tangled web indeed.

David Scaglione’s theater-in-the-round set is dank and gloomy enough and comfortably accommodates all the wild goings-on. The decision to place the witches on raised, rocky pedestals where they stand as darkly erotic overseers is a good one. His costumes are also strong.

An Orange Coast College production of Shakespeare’s tragedy “Macbeth” plays tonight through Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 4 p.m. at the campus’ Drama Lab Theatre, 2701 Fairview Road, Costa Mesa. Tickets: $5-$6. (714) 432-5880.