Killing Swine is a promising ode to Macbeth, performed by a young company full of potential. Rating
Ok
The premise of Killing Swine is ostensibly very similar to Pemberton and Shearsmith’s Inside No. 9 episode, The Understudy, where the themes and plot of Macbeth seep out and become the woes of the cast. However, Killing Swine approaches the parallels to Macbeth from multiple angles and offers an interpretation with more characters, more themes, and more flexibility.
The cast are mostly strong, but there is some room for improvement. The actor playing Ethan has a genuine and compelling earnestness that conveys a realism the production often lacks. Whilst Nancy’s actor sometimes runs up against some rhythmic issues, these are easily improved upon, and generally she has a strong and impressive conviction, especially during her immediate reflection upon and argument about the loss of her baby. The writing requires her to peddle many similar rhetorics in the run up to this moment, which dampens it’s impact slightly, but it is consistently well delivered.
Harold has moments of genuine expression that are very dramatically effective, especially during his monologue in the birth scene. This scene generally has potential, but is interrupted by the ensemble’s ridiculous wigs which take dramatic power out of the sequence considerably.
Natalie gives a stand out performance throughout; she is believable, sincere, and has an easy eloquence that allows her to slip from prose to Shakespeare’s verse seamlessly. Her rendition of Lady Macbeth’s speech from Act 1 Scene 5 needs slightly more careful guidance, she certainly has the potential to deliver a powerful performance at this moment.
The writing and the acting generally do not complement each other, though both have the potential to improve as individual elements. There is a carelessness to the switches back and forth between the depiction of the Macbeth rehearsal and Nancy and Harold’s storyline. The rehearsal sections painfully spell out the meaning of the source material and chuck out key themes at the end of the scene, only to then clumsily over explain Nancy and Harold negotiating that same issue. This could be done more elegantly, and the Shakespeare needs to be far more artfully integrated to pay off.
Another grating issue with the Shakespearean sections, is when actors “read” from their play texts, but completely misquote the actual lines. Although this is only an issue for people who know Macbeth well, it is a shame. However, the intentional altering of Shakespeare’s words is a nice method of opening up an exploration of Macbeth as an expression of reproductive anxiety. This pays off when Nancy re-enters rehearsals, after losing her child, and, having not studied the play up to that point, reads a section of Act 1 Scene 7 without understanding it’s meaning. The tension in the room is palpable and should be leaned into more. Natalie’s reaction is particularly effective.
The young company clearly has the ability to develop their practice, and for all of them, this is just the beginning of a career doing what they so clearly love.
Produced by UpStaged Theatre Company
Killing Swine has completed its run for this year’s Camden Fringe
