Those who saw this play were delighted and amazed - unless they had seen Lewes School productions before.
The School brought off another triumph. Lighting, settings, costumes and atmosphere were excellent. The experienced co-operation of art, craft and science which, from year to year, works behind stage, was as successful as ever. The dim shadows that croaked and screeched in the witches' scenes still haunt our memory. Macbeth's entry with bloodstained dagger raised, while Lady Macbeth, pale and sinister, awaited news of the murder in a dim atmosphere of tolling bells and crying owls, makes us shudder still, especially when we remember the clever use of the shaft of light which pierced the gloom and showed us the gory evidence of the murderer's crime staining his hands.
"Out damned spot. Out I say." "To bed.. To bed. To bed." A white figure glides across the stage. The audience sits in hushed suspense. The sleep-walking scene, touchstone and grave of many an actress in the past, has afforded a triumph for a boy-player.
In a production of this nature, where credit marks were won by all concerned, it is invidious to single out anyone. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have the greatest opportunities. They took them to the full. The witches were excellent. Duncan spoke well, had a sense of timing, and became something more than the figure whose murder forms a peg on which Shakespeare hangs his play. Macduff was incisive and bold. He needs to learn the dramatic effect of pause and self-abandon. Nevertheless a good performance. Malcolm and Donalbain looked well, spoke well. They had the right atmosphere of youth against an older background. Ross, excellent articulation, sympathetic acting. Lady Macduff, with few opportunities, gave a nice exposition of the sadness of matrimonial separation. We concluded that the perky son took after his father.
The rest of the characters, with the exception of the Porter, who got his laugh, more or less "come like shadows, so depart." But they departed with dignity and made no scuttling exit via the wings. The general excellence of the minor parts was one of the outstanding features of the play.
The play was skilfully cast, and the characters were word-perfect - evidence of early spade-work on the part of the producer. He and the gallant gentlemen behind have been already referred to. They must have felt well rewarded in the obvious delight of the large audiences.
At the end of this inadequate criticism one realizes that no mention has been made of many clever things; the witches' cauldron, the colour and lighting of the banquet scene, the management of the difficult apparition scene.
Shakespeare offers opportunities to employ every note in the register of the human voice and gains by easy movement and gesture. The boy players of Lewes County School possess these arts to a certain degree. One is advising and not criticizing when one suggests the practice of them assiduously.
Thespian.