A Shakespeare Sunday: Macbeth in Brooklyn

In the Spring (semester) 2010, of my content,  I took a Shakespeare course at the Center for Worker's Education, a satellite site for City College. I shared my love, frustration and interest of the literature of the infamous William Shakespeare with a dear friend of mine. During the course of the next few months, our Saturday mornings were reserved for discussions, questions and readings of the plays and Sonnets of Shakespeare. We would revel in the plot twists, language, history and poetry of these writings. Since then, numberless private jokes, quotes, nicknames and such were saturated with 16th century wit. So when I looked up from my cell phone one day on the A-Train and spied the monopolized advertisement for the Shakespeare festival at BAM Harvey, I knew what I would do next...and with whom I would do it with...


So, fortune smiled on my life the following Spring, and I caught the last show on the last day of the last leg of the Macbeth Tour showcasing the dynamic acting genius that is Cheek by Jowl. Declan Donnellan directs this surprisingly lithe adaptation of the William Shakespeare tragedy. Crossing the seas, Cheek by Jowl hails from their rehearsal space in London to perform in Paris, Milan, Berlin, Madrid and Hong Kong before landing in New York at the esteemed BAM Harvey Theater in downtown Brooklyn.

The sensual performances of both leading man and lady are palpable; one is held in the patter and clenches of their celebratory kisses, as the two connive at murder . William Keen plays the valliant war hero, humble husband and slowly evolving murderous Macbeth, who receives a profesy told to him of greatness and power, delivered by three horrid witches rife with mystery and damnable equivocation. The transformation of the character is under Keen's absolute control as his booming, flippant speeches and masterful trembles work up a sweat that he later wipes or slaps off. Keen acts in every breath; you believe his every word as he pivots, struts or raises an eyebrow- the man is in character on a cellular level. The inner conflict raging within Macbeth is convincingly demonstrated through the physical war beseiged throughout Keen's body. The audience is enrapped, watching a man go mad by the ambitious quenching of his blood lust. Anastasia Hille delivers a playful Lady Macbeth, flirting with evil principalities before blooming into a woman truly at home with plotting murder. Hille portrays the hypocrisy of Donnellan's Lady Macbeth  as she sings with joy over premeditative schemes, teases her husband for his compassion and hesitation at killing, or weeps when Macbeth temporarily shrinks from assassinating the present King Duncan in order to overleap his authority and create his own time to reign over Scotland. Murder consummates the political ambition of the Macbeth household as the two conspire in loving poses, dancing while harmoniously planning the King's untimely death in each other's arms or laying atop one another. The intimacy displayed between Keen and Hille is redolent of two friends who change the nature of their relationship and consequently, the course of everyone's lives within the play.

Cheek by Jowl, an idiom for "close together," embodies the spirit of the company and the stregnth of their collective skill. The patience to act in inches, reminiscent of Japanese Butoh theater, demands the discipline of the actors as well as the attention of the audience.  The exits and entrances are unobtrusive, time-conserving and very, very quiet. Each step is arguably a dance, alternating between movements so slow they become dreamlike, and in an instant, so quick that you  get the sense that you have somehow missed something between blinks. It is fairly easy to believe that they share the same breath. The stillness is just as heavy as the riveting action. Hallucinations of daggers and pantomimed props create the sense of an alternate, intangible world upon the stage. Yet, the physicality of Cheek by Jowl rivals the imagery of this production. From the simple incorporation of wooden boxes resembling a moving Birnam wood forest, to their simultaneous kneeling stances while pledging loyalty to an ever changing king, the company epitomizes a single entity- a sole sentiment. There are surprises and mutations within the Donnellan adaptation: the three visible witches are switched out for two arbitrary voices emanating from the standing collective of actors onstage. Kelly Hotten plays the porter at Macbeth's castle and gives a "cheeky" modern spin to escape from the darkness of the tragedy-her performance was anchored by booming applause. Cheek by Jowl members randomly serve as a silent audience to the play itself, witnessing the deeds, acts, asides and deaths occurring throughout the production, providing the mood of an unspoken play within a play.

After three curtain calls the audience let the company end their tour after an amazing performance. My companion and I walked to a nearby restaurant where we supped and discussed the pros and cons of the differences and improvements from our perspectives. We both agreed on the expert skill of this production. What started as a Saturday morning conversation stemming from a class is evolving into a lifetime appreciation of literature and theater. Next stop...King Lear!

SMARTECHNOLOGY

I should begin by saying I have a healthy love-hate relationship with technology. I work on a computer in an office for eight hours a day for a paycheck every other week. The last thing I want to do after work is sit in front of another computer. I am a minimalist at Facebook and checking my email is almost as stressful as checking my rickety mailbox downstairs. Both of them often have countless pieces of information that I will never use and sometimes notifications of bills are just as stressful as the amounts I have to pay. I am a writer and have been since the age of 12, so the pen and the paper were my first two loves (I am a true Gemini). Writing my thoughts into cyberspace is not unnatural- it’s just not my first choice as a medium. So blogging is a new thing to me (that I love) and it has caused me to think before I speak, read as carefully as possible before I act and grow from the writings of others. Growing pains hurt, but there is usually a reward for loving and consequences for hating that we learn from (hopefully).

I just have moments where technological living goes beyond being a tool and infringes on our intellect. So the idea of a car parking its self is not appealing. It’s scary! How do I learn to Parallel Park if the car is doing it for me? I have to learn what I personally believe men master better than women-spatial awareness. I have no interest in seeing my pictures on my TV; I just don’t see the point! Why did I bother to load the pictures onto my computer, into my Facebook or MySpace page just to turn away from my TCM Channel to a picture of myself a few feet away? I love my pictures but when you incorporate technology, it creeps me out a bit.

I also feel like we allow technology to take us away from basic information that we provide to one another. Perfect example: A recent trip to a Discount store (that will remain nameless) carried the wrong size product inside of one of its packages. I thought the store hours would be on the receipt. Wrong. The place that would normally hold that information replaced it with advising the consumer to check out their Facebook page. Sad - just need the store hours. A phone call placed to the phone number provided asked for the consumer to do two things: Leave a message and check out their Facebook page. Ok, ok this is stupid. Some people, believe it or not, do not have internet access in their homes. Inconvenience to them? How inconvenient was it for “Nameless” to take the store hours off of the receipt? Basic information is missing in action. Its new home address: cyberspace.

I know I don’t have to mention how technology has affected the dating scene, but I would like to share two things. One is, I DO NOT LIKE TEXT! It is not effective for business or love relations. A text will not transmit your heart’s desires quite like the tone of your voice, the look in your eyes, or the chemistry that our brains share when we are together. Neither will a “sext” (which I have been guilty of sending). I recently received one and I have to say, an uninvited sexual innuendo is rarely well received from me.

The second thing I wish to share is a short story. I recently bumped into a childhood friend of mine. We have always been friends-nothing more. Whenever we see one another in Brooklyn, we always ask about family members or share an experience from a cultural event recently attended. In the past six years I’ve seen him, we never exchanged information. I was good at just seeing a friendly, familiar face from Far Rockaway (say that three times fast). So one lazy Friday after work I see “F-Bomb”- his name for the sake of my story-and F-Bomb and I have a great conversation about an event we both missed, but about writers we marvel about. I even share one of my beloved Stella Artois with this cat. We make the exchange of digits and e-mail and I think “wow, progress, right?” Wrong. He calls me at midnight which is poor judgment but I give him a pass out of Rockaway love. Yet, I do that for friends and potentials of which this dude falls into the former category. We have an average conversation but I can tell he’s fishing but with no bait. We hang up and then he texts me inviting himself over later. STRIKE THREE FOR ME! He doesn’t know how I feel about texts but HUH? I especially hate when a man initially reaches out to me via text. The time it took your manly fingers to text what you said, you could have spent that energy finding K-I-S-H-A in your phone and having the real thing. So to me, it’s a step away from a real conversation. But a text after midnight? What are you saying to me? CALL ME is my response. I told him we can meet at a lovely coffee shop around the way (Liquid Oz on Malcolm X). Needless to say he still hasn’t called me back. Even good guys with good grooming and a good job have their moments of whackness. Here I thought I had a new-found friendship forming and it turned out to be an annoyance. I can understand if a man is shy, but texting will not help you deal with your lack of game/rap/pick-up technique. I am not practice- I am the real thing, not a button on your phone to play with.

From the Immigration Office to change of address with the Post office, our services are wildly moving to cyberspace as their new place of business that we must travel to for services. I understand it serves as a tool to speak to a global community in seconds what would have taken days, months, etc. I get it. But there has to be some sort of responsibility to the necessary information we need. Human relationships take time and sensitivity to others that technology slowly robs mankind of. I am learning to navigate the waters of my disdain and joy from this everyday tool…