Shakespeare Magazine 11

Insane Root
For the audience, Insane Root’s Macbeth
offers a rare opportunity to experience Bristol’s
caves that “physically transports us back in time to
an older way of living”. The cavernous hall where
much of the play’s action takes place is reminiscent
of a medieval chamber where the physical nature of
power is emphasised – kingship won by gore. Here
Macbeth is comfortable at its basest: swords, shouts,
bloody hands and raucous drinking are perfectly
complemented by the shadows cast on the walls.
“Down in the caves,” Justin says, “it is possible
to go on a slightly different journey than in a
theatre”. But what is most striking about this
subterranean Macbeth is the internal journey.
Under the ground, in the close atmosphere, we
become enthralled by the psychology of Macbeth’s
crumbling kingship. Unlike other Shakespearean
rulers who go down with regal poise, we see
Macbeth battling in a hellish bunker, raging and
raving, and we are all locked away down in the
caves with him. His words fly out in quiet precision
as his castle becomes his prison, the loud clang of
swords ringing so close that audience members
have to step back. Macbeth is reduced to jumping
on his own banqueting table, finally dying against a
rocky outcrop where lately he seemed to rule. It’s at
this close range that you truly appreciate his fall.
This Macbeth loses the vast battle scene
shakespeare magazine 61