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Regional Reviews: Minneapolis/St. Paul Macbeth and The Caretaker Also see Elizabeth's review of Twelfth Night
Though tiny, Torch has a pair of aces for this production—Stacia Rice and Sean Haberle. The two are veterans of area stages and even played lovers once before, though Jane Eyre and Rochester have a slightly better relationship than the murderous and guilt-wracked Macbeths. (It's also no surprise to see Rice in the production, as she is the company founder.) There is a real fire in the relationship, one that seems built on equal parts lust, ambition and, later, soul-destroying guilt over their actions. It's clear in this production that both husband and wife are equally complicit in the bloody actions of the story. Oh, and there is blood. Hands and faces are often smeared with the red stuff, while it also flows from the many wounds inflicted during the play. The blood-spattered effect is best done on doomed Banquo, who remains on stage after his murder to haunt Macbeth in the following dinner scene. His specter appears again and again, face and tunic stained red, to haunt Macbeth on his path. At times, the acting gets a bit too "shouty" for my tastes, as the performers try to replace intense emotions with volumes. And the inexperience of some of the cast shows through in other places, leading to performances that are either far too flat or that lose the meaning within the poetry. (Oh, and if you are going to put a false beard and mustache on someone, make sure there's enough adhesive to make it stay put.) Through it all, director David Mann never loses sight of the story and keeps the momentum riding throughout right until the play's brutal end game. It's not the subtlest of Macbeth's, but the production substitutes that with real emotional fire. Macbeth runs through November 1 at the Theatre Garage, 711 West Franklin Avenue. For tickets, call 952-929-9097 or visit torchtheater.com.
There's a certain irony that the day after Theatre de la Jeune Lune's signature building was sold—finalizing the demise of the decades-old company—longtime company member Steven Epp debuted at the new Guthrie Theater in Harold Pinter's The Caretaker. Epp is certainly the centerpiece here, as the drifter who enters the damaged lives of two brothers in London. His character dominates the proceedings, twisting their existence around his own. The Caretaker was Pinter's first big success, and contains many of his signature themes (the nature of power) and stylistic touches—the characters rarely say what's truly on their minds, and much of the meaning is carried in the pauses. While Epp is phenomenal and Stephen Cartmell and Kris Nelson are strong as the brothers, there seems to be something missing here. While director Benjamin McGovern has brought out the show's absurd humor, the sense of menace the permeates the script doesn't make it to the stage. We're left with a sometimes frustrating experience, but not in the way Pinter intended. The Caretaker runs through November 2 at the Guthrie Theater's Dowling Studio. For information, call 612-377-2224 or visit www.guthrietheater.org.
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