STAGE REVIEWS : ‘Macbeth’: A Lot on Its Mind

Fair is foul, and foul is fair, indeed.

The message of Shakespeare’s three weird sisters is more complex than Macbeth chooses to believe. Likewise, Jules Aaron’s staging of “Macbeth” for GroveShakespeare has more on its mind than one might assume from the conventional set and costumes.

Aaron begins by focusing on the psychology of the central character. With David Birney’s eloquent Macbeth on hand, this route makes sense. But the production ends with Macbeth almost forgotten, as the play’s social context assumes center stage. The impact of his fall isn’t viscerally felt.

The great play’s many layers finally seem studied--well-studied, at that--rather than embraced. The breadth of Shakespeare’s play is better measured than its depth.

The production opens with a mimed dream scene, in cliched slow motion, in which Macbeth fends off foes from all sides, amid the hurly-burly of a battle. Only then do the witches make their customary entrance.

Macbeth, you see, is already troubled by bad dreams, even before he encounters the witches. And Birney is very good at tightening the screws on Macbeth’s inner torment, while retaining a ready smile for his public moments.

Joan Van Ark’s Lady Macbeth knows well that her role is not to stand by her man but to goad him on. She juts her long limbs into unexpected places to make her points. When she urges her hubby to “look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under it,” she gooses his crotch. Not a subtle performance, but a vigorous one, especially suitable outdoors, as here.

As the play goes on, Aaron begins to back away from making Macbeth’s dreams literal. The visions of the dagger and Banquo’s ghost go unseen by the audience. We can sympathize with Van Ark’s desperately strained attempt to gloss over Macbeth’s strange behavior at the banquet.

(The banquet provided a priceless but inadvertent moment on opening night, when the bejeweled cross dangling from Macbeth’s neck became entangled in an anonymous thane’s wig and lifted it off the poor actor’s head. After a harrowing moment of disentanglement, Birney chose to drop the wig rather than restore it to the man’s pate. Remarkably, there were no apparent breaks in composure by any of the actors. It’ll make a funny story for Birney to tell on a talk show.)

Our attention is also shifted away from Macbeth’s interior agony by Aaron’s expansion of the role of Seyton (Ron Campbell), an aide to Macbeth who normally doesn’t have much to do until late in the play.

Here, Seyton eavesdrops on the royal couple just after they murder Duncan. Then, when Macduff begins pounding on the gate, prompting the Macbeths to flee in order to wash off the blood, Seyton emerges to wipe the blood-stained floor. While he works, he also poses as the drunken porter whose monologue delays Macduff’s entrance; there is no actual porter in this production. Later, Seyton becomes the leader of the murderers who kill Banquo’s family at Macbeth’s behest.

In short, Seyton is virtually a co-conspirator and serves as primary evidence of how the poison inside Macbeth is spreading. Campbell plays Seyton with a sinister presence. So far, so good, regarding Aaron’s attempt to expand his focus.

But that attempt falls apart in the final scene. In battle with Macduff (a sterling Richard Hoyt Miller), this Macbeth voluntarily gives up his advantage over his foe and, in essence, commits suicide. His body and the exhausted Macduff then remain on stage while the other soldiers file in--but no one notices, until Macduff finally musters the strength to speak. Consequently, Macduff can’t emerge with Macbeth’s head on a stake. It’s not surprising that the shock this scene should engender is missing.

Finally, Aaron freezes on a closing image that singles out the new king Malcolm (a callow Matthew Walker) and Banquo’s son Fleance, whom the witches had implied would be the future king, peering at each other as a portent of violence to come. It’s an intriguing picture, but it doesn’t make up for the absence of catharsis.

“Macbeth,” Festival Amphitheatre, 12852 Main St., Garden Grove. Wednesdays-Sundays, 8:30 p.m. Ends Aug. 29. $18-$25. (714) 636-7213. Running time: 2 hours, 45 minutes. David Birney: Macbeth Joan Van Ark: Lady Macbeth Richard Hoyt Miller: Macduff Alan Feinstein: Banquo Ron Campbell: Seyton Lori Kathryn Holton, Alice Cunningham, Kim Ataide: Witches Harry Frazier: Duncan Matthew Walker: Malcolm Morgan Rusler: Ross William Westenberg: Cathness Benjamin Livingston: Lenox David Glass: Crief Andy Milder, David Tik-tin: Messengers William Peters: Menteth Peter Zazzali: Donalbain/Young Seyward Christopher Neiman: Angus Michael Ambrosio: Fleance Cole Andersen: Old Man, Doctor Steven Opyrchal, Mark O’Bar: Murderers Roger Christofferson: Old Seyward Anne West: Lady Macduff Justin Carmack: Macduff’s Son

A GroveShakespeare production. By William Shakespeare. Directed by Jules Aaron. Sets John Iacovelli. Costumes Sandria Reese. Lights Martin Aronstein. Sound Donald Peterson Jr. Music by Chuck Estes. Stage manager Jennifer L. Clark. Fight director Kenneth C. Smith. Production manager Richard K. Hess.