The combination of Macbeth and bluegrass music sounds so promising. The Bard’s immortal prose, with some of his most dramatic storytelling and devastating lines, combined with the rhythms and dark heart of Appalachian bluegrass. Disappointingly, The Barden Party don’t seem to quite have the courage of their convictions to see it through, and the result is rather less than the sum of its parts.
The show starts promisingly, with immersive, foot-stomping tunes, witches in double denim and the audience roaring along. The bluegrass aesthetic and blending of the play’s themes with the music feel natural, each augmenting the other.
However, as the production goes on, the bluegrass elements start to feel bolted on, or even absent altogether. The play becomes an increasingly straight version of Macbeth, albeit performed by actors who struggle with the clarity and rhythms of the text. The script feels hurried through to get to the next audience-pleasing hit.
With the exception of Macbeth herself, too many of the performers rush their words, or are lost underneath the music, although they are never less than whole-hearted. It is hard to see this interpretation pleasing either fans of bluegrass or Shakespeare.
One feels that the company would have been better off leaning harder into the bluegrass and being less reverential with the text. The play’s strongest parts come when they are confident enough to move away from the original and put their own irreverent spin on things with improvisation and modern interventions.
There is no denying the skill of how the songs are played, and they smartly chosen to keep driving the play’s narrative forward. This does mean that maybe there isn’t the need to rely on many of Shakespeare’s actual words. The best-known soliloquies are enjoyable, when audible, but beyond these, significantly more could have been cut or changed.
There is plenty of straight Shakespeare in the world, and plenty of it arrives in Edinburgh in August. Macbeth: Blood and Bluegrass makes an effort to give this immortal story a different spin, to make it accessible through bluegrass music rather than RP diction. Unfortunately, it never manages to reshape it into something genuinely striking, instead hitting a rather flat note.
Performed at Surgeon’s Hall on 10 August as part of the Edinburgh Fringe
07-29 August (not 12, 19 or 25), 15:55
Running time: 1 hour and 25 minutes, no interval
Created and performed by The Barden Party