NINAGAWA Macbeth. July 21, 2018.

David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center.  Tier 4 (Seat O17, $59).

Cast

Macbeth – Maschika Ichimura, Lady Macbeth – Yuko Tanaka, Keita Oishi, Macduff, King Duncan – Tetsuro Sagawa.

The unanswered question: what sort of decision process would result in a play by Shakespeare done in Japanese be part of a Mostly Mozart Festival?  Instead of answering that, one could point out some aspects to tonight’s production.

First, Yukio Ninagawa, who died in 2016, was apparently a well-known figure in Japan.  He had directed over 20 of Shakespeare’s plays, and Macbeth was “the world’s introduction to a Japanese Theater legend,” per the Program Notes.  The role of Lady Macbeth was played by Tanaka, a popular television actress.  Naturally there are Japanese elements in the production: an ancestral armor which lights up was the ghost in the play, and there were plenty of cherry blossoms.  There were a couple of “horses” that were quite well done.

When I bought the ticket at the Theater box office (at around 6:30 pm for the 7:30 pm play), I was told the seat (last row, Tier 4) had a restricted view, namely the surtitles would be blocked.  Turns out that wasn’t the case, and I could see the projected English translation.  A few problems though: I was too far back to see the surtitles clearly, the dialog sometimes happened very quickly, and the English used was Shakespearean.  The synopsis I wrote in a prior blog (for Verdi’s opera) came in handy, especially given the straightforward plot.  Unfortunately many of the nuances and famous quotes were lost on me, including “Life’s but a walking shadow … a tale/Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,/Signifying nothing.”  The surtitle projections worked most of the time, but failed at some of the most inopportune moments, such as when Mcduff claimed that he was born via a C-section (of course I don’t know if he did say it; and for the record, Macduff’s line was “Macduff was from his mother’s womb untimely ripp’d.”)

Regardless of my misgivings, I enjoyed the play. I always have trouble understanding Shakespearean English when it is spoken, but have better luck with the written text, so the setup tonight – while not ideal – helped.  Macbeth’s story does not contain that many twists, so the drama is easy enough to follow along.  I do wonder if I didn’t know the title of the play and couldn’t see the surtitles, would I even think it was Macbeth.  (The forest of Birnam Woods wouldn’t have helped as the camouflage was provided by – you guessed it – fully blossoming cherry tree branches.)

 View from Tier 4. The last row had many empty seats so I moved closer to the center after the intermission.

The cast.  While I could see the surtitles during the play, there were clearly things happening towards the back of the stage that I couldn't see.

When I first noticed this event, I erroneously thought it was an opera.  I actually kept thinking that until the day of the performance.  Does this entry belong in a blog mostly devoted to classical concerts?  I have no other place to put it, and two pieces were used quite extensively in the play: Faure’s Requiem and Barber’s Adagio for Strings.

Anne had a commitment at church so she couldn’t go, so I took public transportation in.