Company of Shadows. Macbeth.
Rehearsal 1. The Last Refuge. Peckham. 26/2/2013
Performance: March 5 – 10.
Cast: Marcus Adolphy, Theo Ancient, Tania Batzoglou, Charlotte Chinn, Victoria Denard, Gus Gowland, John Fagan, Becca Horn, Alex Klarke, Rob Kenyon, Matt Lord, Norman Murray, Aimee Robertson, Fahad Salman, Emmy Rose, Francesca Woods, Peckham Shed Theatre Company.
Director: Cassie Vallance. Assistant Director: Niall Costigan. Designer: Emma Wee. Producers: Norman Murray, Bertie Watkins, Helen Hamer.
Venue: The Last Refuge. Partners: The Hob Pub in Forest Hill. The Etcetra Theatre in Camden. The Creative Networks: Hackney Downs Studios.
First Review (Londonist
If you ask me, you can keep James McAvoy and his outing at the Trafalgar Studios, because last night I went along to the first night of a much more edgy production of Macbeth in Peckham, performed by the Company Of Shadows with help from the kids of the Peckham Shed Youth Group.
Staged in and around the Last Refuge venue (found in the warren of alleyways opposite the railway station), Marcus Adolphy (Comedy of Errors at the National and Twelfth Night at The Nursery Theatre) gives a very muscular and powerful performance as Macbeth, perfectly paired with Greek actress Tania Batzoglou who plays a thickly-accented Lady Macbeth brimming with hot Mediterranean passions. They make a striking couple – the sparks that fly between the two really have to be seen to be believed.
Also notable are John Fagan, who fills the boots of Macduff with an alarming level of grief and fury, Norman Murray playing the disarmingly loyal Banquo (whose death scene involving the rapid clicking on and off of hand-held LED torches in the darkness gives it a stark stop-motion quality) and Rob Kenyon, who makes the most of the porter’s walk-on part with an uncomfortably intense and intimate performance.
Of course the witches can’t escape a mention, with the five actors involved in the roles alternately dashing about between the members of the audience and sliding menacingly around the walls of this dusty old warehouse space…
That’s not to say that the whole cast don’t deserve credit – for a first night it was a remarkably polished affair with solid performances all around, and I was particularly impressed by Simon Johns’ bone-crunching fight choreography which made for some very uncomfortable watching.
So, my advice to you if you need a Shakespearean fix is to keep most of your money in your pocket and instead head over to The Last Refuge in Peckham for the Company of Shadows value-for-money production of Macbeth – it runs through until 10 March and I can highly recommend it.
Full Rehearsal 2 & Workshop.
Dress Rehearsal Day
First Night – Waiting for Cues.
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