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When performed by the Cripplelink Kids, 'Macbeth' is no ordinary Shakespeare play. As you may suspect from the name of their group, the Cripplelink Kids differ from most upcoming actors in that they sport an assortment of physical and mental imparements. However, despite these difficulties, they managed a spirited performance let down only by the upcoming actors' refusal to speak any of their lines, and tendency to, when dead, come back to life with thumbs up to reassure anyone who may have been troubled by their demise. This was on each occasion greeted with a loud roar of appreciation from the drunken college students comprising by far the minority of the crowd, which largely consisted teachers and the principle.
That the Kids did not speak once during the one hour play did not matter thanks to a large number of narrators, largely kind generous Christian youth. Aside from narrating, they also performed such duties as appearing upon the stage to quell Macbeth's anger upon his realisation that King Duncan was being treated as the star of the show. Duncan was so popular because of the manner in which, everytime he entered or exited the stage, he sported a grin of delight and held his majestic hands spread high to acknowledge his adultation. This was also used to great effect onstage after he had just been killed by Macbeth’s assassins. Hopefully he will be visiting again with another performance sometime soon.
The majority of the play is rather hazy, largely due to the fact that the upcoming Kenneth Branaghs and Emma Thompsons did not know what was happening as they had not and could not read the book. Throughout the performance the actors had to look towards those helping in the wings for guidance. Those helping gave plentiful instruction, extending to facial expressions, which proved rather hard to employ as those of the cast requiring this assistance shared only one: rather dazed and periodically drooling.
This whole play was accompanied by a making of video in the break, which would have been thoroughly entertaining if I had been asleep. However, I was not and had to suffer another ten minutes without King Duncan. This play was made possible by a £5,000 donation from Barclay's Bank.
Article by Matt.
