MACBETH
But though there are plenty of ways to mess up Macbeth, there are more means to play to its strengths; and every good production, including this inaugural venture by the European Repertory Company, adds to those assets. Though uneven in performance and aggressively streamlined in concept, this staging by Yasen Peyankov (a Bulgarian theater artist who came to Chicago in 1990 to seek asylum) presents an old play in bold new ways; and given the innovations, it’s less crucial that every role deliver the goods.
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Two other English actors provide surefooted work: Simon Perry is a superb Banquo, delivering his lines with infectious confidence and a tight grasp of their content, while Mark Guest gives the besotted Porter’s fall-down comedy monologue a rambunctious self-pity that comes right out of the man’s hangover.
