Macbeth

by Giuseppe Verdi, libretto by Piave after Shakespeare

seen by live streaming from Covent Garden on 4 April 2018

Phyllida Lloyd's original production is revived this year by Daniel Dooner, featuring Željko Lučić as Macbeth and Anna Netrebko as Lady Macbeth, with Antonio Pappano conducting.

In contrast to so many operas, there are virtually no narrative complications, and precious little human warmth. The principal focus is on the two main characters, and the corruption of their humanity by their driving ambition. Duncan and Banquo are virtuous victims, but in this version Duncan is a minor character, completely silent. Macduff (Yusif Eyvazov) effectively leads the final opposition, but the murder of his family is not presented on stage; this renders Malcolm, the son of Duncan and the rightful king, an even more shadowy presence, in the interests of dramatic and operatic economy.

Musically and visually, then, all depends on Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, while the sense of society in turmoil is explored by the chorus who act as courtiers, soldiers, and, in a notable divergence from the play, as witches. Instead of three witches, there are dozens.

In this production the two lead singers do not disappoint. Their performances are full-blooded, matching each other in powerful scenes of mutual encouragement, and each succumbing at the end to lonely despair. Anna Netrebko's Lady Macbeth in particular was a superb and dominating presence whenever she was on stage, even in the sleepwalking scene when her surface composure finally cracked.

The setting is fairly abstract and timeless, with dark grey square panelled walls occasionally rising to reveal brooding sky-scapes. There is also an open latticework metal cube, first seen in miniature as a sort of casket holding the crown, but later the life size cage in which Macbeth is trapped by his own ascent to power; he and Macduff fight in it and finally Macbeth's body is lashed to its side. This is an excellent visual metaphor reflecting the trajectory of the story, and it's a world where the witches, dressed in sweeping robes and with startling red turbans and black headbands (looking almost like sinister single eyebrows) are by no means obtrusive or ridiculous. 

The production crystallises the inherent dram of the story while neutralising the incipient melodrama, and with this cast (both soloists and chorus) it's exhilarating to watch it.