Yukio Ninagawa’s Macbeth was Met with a Standing Ovation at Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival.
Originally presented in 1980, this intensely tragic story is transformed from a Scottish play about ambition and murder to a Japanese Samurai’s parable taking place in the midst of the bloom of Cherry Blossom season, while shoji screens slide across the stage, dividing scenes from one moment to the next. A Buddhist alter known as a Butsudan is used to unfold the karmic relationship between all the cast members and their respective destinies. In Ninagawa’s case, he envisioned this version of Macbeth at his family altar while considering his own ancestors.
Visually stunning and symbolically brilliant, this Macbeth is like no other that you have seen before, however gorgeous, and metaphorically perfect, Shakespeare’s words in Japanese is challenging to twist my temperament towards, since I was raised on the iambic pentameter which was bludgeoned into my head early on as a young actor. That is to say, the beats, rhythm and balance of Shakespeare’s poetic words are harmonious perfection. The guttural sound and lack of distinctive nuances of the Japanese language laden with forced inflection stylistically complimentary to the Samurai warrior culture is challenging to listen to say the least, while craning my neck overhead to seek out clarification from the English subtitles and action on stage.
That being said, I might be a minority of one who had issues with it, since this production was met by a standing ovation both at Lincoln Center during their Mostly Mozart Festival, as well as at the Edinburgh festival in Scotland back in the day and I am sure judged by the best.
By way of exquisite music from Samuel Barber and Shubert with the sound of an hypnotizing chorus which could be considered the chant at the altar, it was indeed beautiful and yet, the introduction of Western music too, mystified me since everything else was in Japanese, why not the music? This element playing against the others seemed incongruous.
This superbly presented production with exceptional actors Masachika Ichimura as Macbeth and Yuko Tanaka as Lady Macbeth with its large and splendid cast was still a treat nevertheless and a joy to watch.
