ashland!

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We took a walk this morning in Ashland, and tried to count back - how long have we been coming here? Since my little sister was born? How many times, over the years? Less, since Grammie died, but still, every few years, and every time, the drive seems to get shorter. Every time is layered on top of the last, and I know my favorite ice cream at Zoey's because I picked it before I was ten. We're only visitors, but it still feels like some sort of homecoming every time. 

But, this time! Three plays in three days! It was almost four, because we would have picked up Mamma Mia if there were any no-shows at the Cabaret, but they sold out before we knew what was playing oops. But we still did Hairspray, Alice in Wonderland, and Macbeth! Which took 3 hours and opened on a tiny casket and the Lady M wailing, and then three voices joined her and the veiled sisters led us into the play proper. And boy howdy did I love it - production spoilers beyond the cut!
- Also before scene 1.1, a battle rages, backlit behind a white sheer, and when men fall through the curtain, the sisters drag their dead bodies into a pile, inspecting each one. The first witch slices off one man's thumb and tucks it away, and then the three catch the sheer and pull it over the bodies. When the curtain is pulled back, only one man is left - Macduff, who lost a finger 
- the sisters literally set the scenes; as minimal as the set dressings were, the witches put hands on and brought out the throne and Lady M's lounge
- The cast wasn't very large, so the ensemble played at courtiers and murderers and soldiers, depending on the scene. But the sisters also pulled on frocks over their painted faces and played at servants, the first time being to deliver Lady M the news that the king himself was coming to her hall! "Our thane is coming; one of my fellows had the speed of him" sounds very different coming from a human or a disguised witch!
- I need to harp on Lady M too, though. If the sisters were elemental, Amy Kim Waschke was the production's rock. Seeing her turn around as the Red Queen was hysterical, and her Emilia must have been epic. 
-- "Leave all the rest to me," she promises, and beckons enticingly to her husband as she backs up center stage, into the shadows. He grins and dashes after her. 
- Back to the sisters, though. Imagine: Look up at a balcony. People walking slowly, dreamlike. A figure comes to the fore, holding a tray of champagne flutes. She wears a grey overdress with white collar. She is bald, without eyebrows, and has no ears. Her hands, arms, sides through the dress slits, neck, head, and face are painted in grey with swirling black designs. Her lips are blackened. The lighting is monochrome red. She pauses at the railing of the balcony and looks directly out at the audience, and then down at Macbeth, who is too scared to join the party with the king.
- But not one witch is present again until the King is pronounced dead. Not for the owl, not for the Porter, not for the phantom knife - they don't need to be there for the work to be done.
-- they are back for the coronation, as servants, and one sister is the messenger who introduces Macbeth to the murders. The three listen, bare of any mortal garb, from the balcony above the main stage as the lord and lady build themselves up in 3.2.
- The sisters don't manifest again until Banquo is assaulted, but when he dies, they shroud him with their veils so that he vanishes from the stage when they part again, ready to reappear at the banquet.
- The three sisters are all servants at the banquet, pouring drinks and offering seats early on, and as affronted as real people when the lady throws everyone out. I wonder how human they are, when they take on the mortal garb?
-- but they're back for the end of the scene, watching over as themselves again as the lord and lady promise to continue. They don't need to egg him on at all any more, they're only enjoying the show like the rest of us.
- Intermission!
- Usually, the witches each have a mobile cell onstage, from which they can watch the goings-on without being taken as physically present in the scene. They look out, but no mortals can know them there; without their veils or a servant's disguises, they aren't on this plane at all. But now, there are four boxes, and an extra shroud hanging from the post of one. Who is it for
- Everyone knows Double, double, toil and trouble. But has anyone considered Macbeth, sleeping in his bathtub, which the sisters drag to center stage and circle around?? Valenzuela did, because Macbeth himself is their cauldron! Is he dreaming them? Do they come to him? I don't know! But Hecate bade them clean up their mess, so from prostrate, each one of them holds a crown over their heads in turn for the eight kings, and point to the high balcony where young Fleance appears in lightning.
-- The last one to stand there in a crown was none other than Hecate herself. 
- The witches aren't servants, in Lady Macduff's castle - they come as themselves, shrouded in dirty white veils clutched around their shoulders, as they try to convince her to flee. 
-- But Lady Macduff won't run, and first her son dies, and then she is eviscerated - but one of the murderers takes her child from her body, and it wails as they flee. 
- Return to Dunsinane. Lady Macbeth walks slowly, through a pontoon made of the witches bare cells, to the fore of the stage, and the sisters lie on the ground below her, holding the lights that the nun and doctor saw shining on her face. She has a long white scarf, trailing after her. Still asleep, she ascends to the balcony and leaves her scarf over the edge, before vanishing. 
-- Scene?, later: Lady Macbeth enters the lower stage. The three sisters stand on the balcony above her, in their white shrouds. One sister drops an end of her scarf over the railing, keeping one end around the railing. The other sisters unhook a black banner from each end and let them hang from the center of the arch, next to the end of the white scarf. 
--- The blacks are aerial silks. 
---- Lady Macbeth twists the silks, steps in, and rises, just high enough to drape the white scarf around her neck. There is a tremendous snap. 
----- The three sisters drop their veils and exit. 
- Birnam wood comes to Dunsinane. 
- In the aftermath of the battle, all exit as Malcolm commands. Behind them, Fleance finds a fallen crown. They toss it in the air, catching and spinning it with a curious expression, and the three sisters appear, following them off. 

So, I went into this production with a mind towards free will vs determinism, and the sisters skirt that so tightly! Would the Macbeths have gone off the deep end without the sisters' encouragement? Probably not. But did they need the sisters' help to do the work? Not particularly! The three played them like fiddles, welcoming Lady M into their fold, and have their eyes and hearts set on young Fleance, next. They were promised kingship, after all.  A pity the Macbeths couldn't've adopted them! I don't suppose that's what the sisters meant, but if Macbeth became king and placed Fleance as his heir, the first set would have been satisfied. And then if Macbeth played enough cards right - ie, chilled way out - if a storm blew the forest over and he was half-crushed, Fleance, no man of woman born, could give their adopted father a mercy. It wouldn't be what the sisters meant! But it might work!
 Macduff: Malcolm! Banquo! As from your graves, rise up!
Above cap from the promo video; see the sisters with their portals, spinning around poor Macduff


An earlier version of the cauldron scene - by the time we saw it, the lights were much lower, letting the candles flicker much more brightly. The witches makeup also developed, into something even more unsettling!
 
Also I got Sara Bareilles's 'The Blessed Unrest' on cd at the coop, and how did I forget how fun getting something and listening to it for the first time is? Prelistening online takes all the fun out!