William Shakespeare's “Macbeth” in the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus

Shakespeare-Premiere in Düsseldorf
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The lead wolf of death

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André Kaczmarczyk as Macbeth in the Düsseldorf Shakespeare premiere.
Photo: Thomas Rabsch / Dhaus

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Evgeny Titov staged William Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” in the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus. André Kaczmarczyk shone in the title role.

Can you show “Macbeth” on stage and cut away the witch scene? Of course not. The text of the three strange beings, the “weird sisters”, comprises only twelve lines. And apart from the presentation of a few motifs and key words, they actually have no meaning for the progress of the action. But their sayings, mostly in English, are firmly burned into our cultural consciousness. Her appearance with thunder and lightning on the Elizabethan stage was just a practical accessory. It is now believed that the witches were supposed to calm down the gossiping public.

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Quite different with the director Evgeny Titov, who has currently staged Shakespeare’s drama for the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus. The three women of fate are omnipresent with him. They let off their sayings, comment on the plot, take on some killing assignments and keep looking up close at the developing tragedy.

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Titov has stripped the piece of almost all visible actions. There is no battle, no sword fights, no murders, no banquet with the spirits of the murdered. Just a lot of blood and eleven people, mostly in deep darkness. Also some children dressed up as pretenders to the throne. Above all, however, there is the text of the world poet, brought to a very special effect here in the translation by Thomas Brasch: “Fine is lazy and lazy is fine.”

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The beginning of the two hour evening is as expected. On returning from a won battle, the two commanders of the Scottish Army, Macbeth and Banquo, encounter the three witches. With their bald heads and springy movements, they are more reminiscent of Spiderman than human beings. They greet Macbeth as Thane of Cawdor and future king, but at the same time prophesy to Banquo that he will be the father of kings.

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Smeared with blood, still exhausted from the fighting, lying on the smooth surface of a huge rock massif, André Kaczmarczyk listens to the fatal oracle. Soon it will become a “self fullfilling prophecy”, implemented by the dark instincts of a warlike leader. Than von Cawdor, what’s that? One more star on the uniform jacket at the king’s gala reception. In future he wants to organize these banquets himself, as King Macbeth of Scotland.

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What previously seemed impossible according to the succession to the throne, here a way opens up. A letter will be sent to the lady at once. Actually, one has been living beyond the circumstances in the Macbeth house for a long time, in oversized rooms, the walls of which show dangerous cracks. There Manuela Alphons as Lady Macbeth receives her husband’s news of the victory and the witch’s spell.

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Even more than her husband, she is driven by ambition, without scruples, with diabolical grandeur. A regicide: a petitesse. In the arms of Manuela Alphons, the much younger André Kaczmarczyk fights his trembling before the evil deed. After that, however, he only hugs corners, frightened.

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In the set design by Etienne Pluss and the lighting direction by Konstantin Sonneson, the highland cliffs and the Macbeth Palace are the dark and the light side of a revolving stage, without being able to infer good and bad. In any case, the events of the evening usually take place in the dark, segmented a bit annoyingly by brightly lit floor panels. The huge stage space also impairs the acoustic understanding of the great monologues. That’s a shame, because there are haunting scenes with Florian Claudius Steffens in the role of the king’s son Malcolm, Matthias Buss as Banquo and Sebastian Tessenow and Claudia Hübbecker as Macduff, Than von Fife and his lady.

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The Düsseldorf premiere talks this time were full of memories: “Do you remember the ‘Macbeth’ directed by Jürgen Gosch over 15 years ago?” At that time, the first two dozen spectators left the hall after just 20 minutes, the theater had its scandal. There was indignation about the many liters of theatrical blood spilled, along with excrement made from chocolate mousse. Most of the critics, however, were impressed. In a big daily newspaper it was said: “Shakespeare’s drama may never have been seen so blatant and physical, but also so virtuoso and comical in its harshness.” This was followed by an invitation to the Berlin Theatertreffen.

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Evgeny Titov’s production is also bloody. But not a single drop is random here. In the strongest scene of the evening, Macbeth finds his lady lying on the floor dead. She succumbed to madness. Macbeth starts dancing. Alone he dances the dance of death of this couple who have fatally taken over. Pausing, André Kaczmarczyk makes one last attempt to escape the great guilt: he washes his hands, in vain.

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Then he goes to the dead again, completely smeared with her blood. Now the tragic hero is ready for the deepest point of the fall. As if after the battle, he lies down on the Highland Rocks, his killing by Macduff only in words. And the witches watch: “Fine is lazy and lazy is fine.”

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A great, reverberant Shakespeare evening.

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