Little did the audience know, as it streamed in to see Verdi’s Macbeth, that it was no coincidence the doors looked like gaping, hungry mouths. Once inside the theatre, it became clear they were indeed in the belly of a beast. It was evident over the three-hour production that the cultural behemoth that is Shakespeare’s tragedy had been manipulated by the Canadian Opera Company into something so shocking and weird that the experience was truly like being slowly digested by a giant monster.
The programmes kindly handed out by the well-dressed, well-mannered ushers displayed a handsome, shirtless Adonis. His chiselled features and grave stare represented everything we have come to accept about Macbeth: it is full of evil, full of torment, and even so full of power that many actors refuse to speak its allegedly cursed name. You can imagine the shock, then, when the COC’s title character stepped forward in all his overweight, bald, and bespectacled glory.
This contemporary production of what was Verdi’s first foray into opera-tizing Shakespeare drew on so many obscure cultural elements that the confusion felt by the Macbeths is effectively imposed onto the audience through sets and costumes. For example, the transformation of Lady Macbeth upon her husband’s coronation: from a morose-looking waif in a grey 19th-century dress, she explodes into an overblown Marilyn Monroe with blastingly blonde hair and a blood-red dress.
Similarly, the anachronistic costume of Malcolm’s hoodie and ghetto bling contrast sharply with the traditional garb of the Scottish warriors of Macbeth’s court.
It was Verdi’s decision, though, to inflate the chorus of witches from the Shakespearean three to the Verdian dozens. Verdi felt that the success of the opera depended on the potency of what he saw as the three main characters: Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, and the witches. Consequently, he gave the weird sisters strength through numbers, making the overwhelming supernatural presence in the world of the Macbeths starkly visible as they knit the mortal fates with their crimson yarn and darning needles.
The singers themselves communicated passionately, and with sparkling technique, as is characteristic of COC standards. Although the Macbeths’ vocal performances were solid, Burak Bilgili as Banquo expressed such terror and tenderness for his son that one wondered why he was not in the title role. The only real weakness came in the form of the often muffled sotto voce of the choruses of witches and assassins.
The sound and the fury of Macbeth is somewhat lost in operatic translation. Perhaps the true horror and solemnity of the Shakespearean version comes from the nuance of the verse. However, when coupled with the disarming sets and costume designs, the eerie and uncomfortable mood so key to the tragedy swallows the audience into its wonderful, monstrous legacy.
