La Jolla’s Macbeths: ‘A Great Team’

“He can kill a man, but he has a conscience,” explained actress Barbara Williams, opening tonight as Lady Macbeth opposite John Vickery in “Macbeth” at La Jolla Playhouse. “I can’t kill a person, but I have no conscience. So it’s a very symbiotic relationship.”

“We’re a great team,” Vickery agreed. “It takes both of us to kill Duncan; it’s not just my murder and not just her murder. Also, one of (director) Des McAnuff’s conceptions is that Macbeth is this presumably great soldier--and the fact that they can’t have a child has gnawed at him over the years. So in some ways the throne becomes a replacement for the child they can’t have.”

Both actors think that the Macbeths have a lusty marriage--though not a very healthy one.

“When you first see the two of us,” said Vickery, “I think we’re going for a tremendous sort of sexual charge in the air. We’re very happy to see each other in the bedroom scene, but there’s another agenda: We’ve got to get ready for Duncan’s arrival.” Noted Williams, “We never really have a chance to express our passion and love because it’s channeled into the plot of Duncan’s murder. So the murder becomes the sex act--and we beget the throne. It’s awfully kinky.”

As for comparisons with other productions, Vickery describes this staging as “a little more active--as opposed to the great Olivier/Gielgud/Richardson days, when they tended to be quite contemplative.” Added Williams, “You can’t help but be aware of all the great performances that have preceded you.

”. . . You can’t avoid what’s (in the text) and say, ‘No, I’m not going to wash my hands.’ But you can go deeper into the truth.”

ALL BOLTS ARE OFF: Another new “Frankenstein” is on the loose. Opening this weekend at Long Beach’s International City Theatre is Jay Julian and Elaine Gerdine’s new adaptation of the Mary Shelley novel, with a modern musical score by Justus Matthews. (It joins another musical adaptation, “Frankie,” playing in New York.)

“I’ve always been fascinated by the story,” said Julian, who first mounted the piece last year at Houston’s Main Street Theatre. “But I didn’t think to do it till I realized what an attention-grabber Frankenstein is for people. There’s a built-in interest factor.”

As a former dancer/choreographer, Julian has utilized movement--plus a Greek-style chorus--to break up the narrative. “You will recognize the story,” he said. “But because it is based on Shelley’s actual work, there are elements you might not have seen (in other treatments). The creature is not a stumbling goon with bolts in his head. He’s not evil. He just cannot find compassion or love from another living thing--and so he becomes frustrated, reverts to drastic means. One of the themes of the book is that we must take responsibility for our creations. We cannot just make them, then leave them.”

THEATER BUZZ: Three weeks ago, flowery lavender wedding invitations for “Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding” (the environmental theater piece opening today at the Park Plaza Hotel) were sent out to 700 local press people and celebrities--and since then, the RSVPs have been streaming in. Trouble is, some folks thought the invitations for Tina Vitale’s wedding were for real. According to Rick Miramontez Co. press rep Ken Werther, “People have been calling up and saying, ‘I want to RSVP--but I don’t think I know any Vitale.’ One woman said, ‘I’d love to come. Could you tell me where Tina is registered?’ ”

Sample your favorite stage stars’ favorite recipes in “Tasty Production” ($10), a new cookbook produced by the Friends of the Pasadena Playhouse--and available at the theater’s gift shop. The 300 recipes include Shrimp Palmer by Betsy Palmer (“Death of a Buick”), Leading Lady Tomatillo by Audra Lindley (“Handy Dandy”), Dana’s Tortilla Chip Salad by Dana Hill (“Steel Magnolias”) and Spicy Orange Roughy by Valerie Mahaffey (“Carnal Knowledge”).

CRITICAL CROSS FIRE: Jo Carson’s seriocomic “Daytrips,” an all-female story of a family battling Alzheimer’s disease, is playing at Los Angeles Theatre Center. Steven Kent directs.

Said The Times’ Dan Sullivan: “Carson lets her tale proceed in a circular way. . . . There’s always movement, but there’s no stress. (It) has time for its people, as big-city plays don’t always have. Kent understands its rhythm, and his actors find freedom within it.”

From Lawrence Enscoe in the Daily News: “Its breezy, lithe language and fluid storytelling style lulls you into a folksy rhythm. Before you know it, you’re living in the heart and soul of the play.”

Noted the Herald Examiner’s Charles Marowitz: “Since the play cobbles together stray memories from the lives of all its characters, it eschews the orderliness of conventional structure--which in one sense is commendable--but even a free-form requires form, and this Carson has not provided.”

Said the Daily Breeze’s Sandra Kreiswirth: “Kent takes his time with these women. In 90 minutes with no intermission, he lets the audience get to know them--their nuances, their frailties and their fears--detailing Carson’s already rich textures.”

From Ed Kaufman in the Hollywood Reporter: “Getting away from the literal and graphic, Carson has constructed a theater piece that cuts through literal time and space. Instead, she creates an onstage world that is able to segue from the present to the past, from dreams to ghosts.”