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7/19/12 Theater review: 'Macbeth' at the Antaeus Company ‑ latimes.com

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CRITIC'S CHOICE

By Margaret GrayJuly 19, 2012 , 10:43 a.m.

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Review: Antaeus' 'Macbeth' reframes a tragedy20Recommend

Meet the Macbeths, a charming, upwardly mobile couplegrieving over the death of their only child.

Director Jessica Kubzansky’s interpretation of Shakespeare’s“Macbeth,” currently on view in a satisfyingly foggy, bloodyproduction by the Antaeus Company, opens with a funeral.Macbeth (Rob Nagle in the performance I saw; all the rolesare doublecast) and his wife (Tessa Auberjonois) place a tiny

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Macbeth (Rob Nagle) and Lady Macbeth (Tessa Auberjonois) bury a child in a scene added to Shakespeare's "Macbeth"by director Jessica Kubzansky for the Antaeus Company's doublecast production. (Daniel G. Lam)

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shrouded body in a coffin, wordlessly but movinglycommunicating the couple’s grief and mutual love.

Of course a tragedy like that could devastate a marriage.Could it also account for regicide? The tendency to killfriends, then see their corpses at banquets? Compulsivehandwashing while sleepwalking?

If Shakespeare intended us to know the story of Macbeth Jr.,he was coy about it: Lady Macbeth mentions having “givensuck” to a “babe”; Macbeth seethes over the prophecy thatBanquo’s heirs, rather than his own, will inherit the throne.Scholars puzzle over whether, or why, he has no children.

Kubzansky’s bold answer, while not explaining all of theinfamous couple’s behavior (could anything? even Freudthrew up his hands), casts them in a surprisingly sympatheticlight. In fact, when the weird sisters (Lorna Raver, Jane Carrand Saundra McClain in a daffy “Golden Girls”esque turn)start plotting to mess with Macbeth’s head right after thefuneral, it seems in terrible taste even for witches.

But Kubzanksy’s imposed conceit never really interferes withher clear, vigorous telling of the story. Tom Buderwitz’s setestablishes a hazy supernatural mood; Jessica Olson’scostumes, which could be Catholic schoolgirl uniformsdesigned by punk rockers, add cerebral flair.

Having enjoyed Nagle (one of Antaeus’ new artistic directors)in his camp work with the Troubadour Theater Company, Ihalfexpected him to put on a powdered wig and dance, buteventually his tragic persona convinced me.

From her first appearance, Auberjonois makes a riveting, disconcertingly sympathetic Lady Macbeth.And Shakespeare's capacious, enigmatic tragedy remains thrilling.

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“Macbeth,” the Antaeus Company, 5112 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood. 8 p.m. Thursdays andFridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays. Ends Aug. 26. $30 and $34. (818) 5061983 orwww.Antaeus.org. Running time: 2 hours, 45 minutes.

Copyright © 2012, Los Angeles Times

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