Okay, this does exactly what it says on the tin. A group of very enthusiastic, and agile performers rattle through Shakespeare's Scottish tragedy in little over an hour on a large inflatable castle. Purists, stay away!
Full of sound and fury, signifying not very much at all.
My problem with the production wasn't the liberties it takes with the original, but that there weren't enough of them. It starts brilliantly as the ghost of the Bard himself endorses the production. The reveal of the cast is funny and inspired – but I'm afraid it's all down hill from there.
The company received negative criticism last year for their Hamlet On A Bouncy Castle on the grounds that the basic formula doesn't sustain for longer than ten minutes, and I have read interviews with them this year saying they hope they have redressed that problem. They haven't.
There are moments of inspired comedy as other inflatables join the action; a banana, palm trees (for Birnham Forest) and a rubber sex doll (playing Banquo). There are also clever and playful emendations to the text. The “walking shadow” that Macbeth uses to describe life here “struts and frets and…. bounces across the stage and then is heard no more”, and our hero glances accusingly at the quivering floor on the line “sure and firm set earth” but these witty moments are few and far between. Some sections are played perfectly “straight” with the audience not quite sure how to react.
For the rest, there's much screaming and shouting and throwing about of bodies, but without the slickness of timing or choreography needed to make any farce work. Full of sound and fury, signifying not very much at all.
