Mr & Mrs Macbeth of Dobson Valley Road

Reviewed by Malcolm Calder

Mr & Mrs Macbeth of Dobson Valley Road

By Gregory Cooper

A Professional Theatre Company production

With Mark Hadlow, Lara Macgregor

Director Gregory Cooper

Design Mark McEntyre

Lighting Sean Hawkins

Costumes Pauline Farley

Sound Bob Bickerton

Choreography Natalia Harrington

StarCity Theatre, Auckland

Until Sat 29 July (then other regional centres)

Reviewed by Malcolm Calder

25 July 2023

Vying for one of the longest titles of new work in 2023, Gregory Cooper’s Mr & Mrs Macbeth of Dobson Valley Road opened this week at SkyCity Theatre – an Auckland venue that appears to be losing a little of its dormancy these days.

Cooper has followed a mainstream bent trodden by many.  He firmly establishes the stale, apparently disillusioned marriage of erstwhile and ageing actor-couple Jo and Tom in their shared dressing room just before opening their own production of Shakespeare’s Macbeth.   They snipe, they criticise and they are endlessly dismissive of each other’s foibles and of pretty much everyone else.  Together they represent an anachronism between that ancient theatrical world where tyrannical actor-managers ruled and a much more recent one inhabited by ‘interns’, Instagram and starstruck wannabees.

Be that as it may, their relationship is really what this play is about.  While initially carping and contradicting each other – most of Act I in fact – underneath lies a bittersweet understanding, acknowledgement and appreciation and of each other built on three-decades together as people.

Yes, it’s been done before, but Cooper adds a different twist by introducing Shakespeare’s Macbeth as the device that opens the door to their eventual realisation and appreciation.  As well as to all manner of theatrical one-liners, customs and references which enable him to easily maintain an ever-present bubbling undercurrent of humour.  In fact all of the humour, as this is only a two-hander.  Huge ginormous laughs however, there are few.

The pedigrees on display in this production are indeed impressive and well-known to Auckland audiences.  One of Aotearoa’s finest actors Mark Hadlow gives us a carefully-crafted and nuanced Tom.  At some points he is considered and rational, and at others he becomes a ranting whisky-bottle inspired, near-alzheimic blusterer.

Hadlow’s Tom is partnered by Lara Macgregor as Jo, perhaps most-recently known to Auckland audiences for her direction of ATC’s recent Heartbreak Choir, and many years of outstanding work on both stage and screen, particularly with Court Theatre in Christchurch.  The waxing and waning of power and put-downs and the finely-honed timing between the two is delightful at times.

Playwright Gregory Cooper is also largely Christchurch-based, has worked as an actor, director and writer and many will recall his MAMIL with Hadlow a few years back  Of further note is a very simple set, skilfully-conceived by Mark McEntyre, that enables the SkyCity stage to occasionally become Shakespeare’s stage.

If I have a criticism of this production it is that I feel it may have sat more comfortably in a smaller venue – although hopefully one that still has a proscenium of some type.  And while the ever-present chuckles and smiles never stopped, a really big chunk of belly-wrenching laughter may have enhanced it further.

Interestingly, Mark Hadlow is largely behind the establishment of this new regionally-based company – the aptly named The Professional Company.  Based at Wakatū,near Nelson, it has a clearly articulated regional focus and, if this production is anything to go by, aims to tour extensively.  So congratulations to The Professional Company.  Its new work is not ‘new’, nor ‘leading edge’, nor ‘culturally-focussed’.  It is traditional.  And a lot of people will like that.