Word: macbeth
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Like Dogg's Hamlet, Cahoot's is a play within a play; it is set in the living room of a flat somewhere in Prague. The actors are performing Macbeth for an audience of other displaced actors when the snide, cynical government Inspector (Andrew Watson) enters the apartment and interrupts the act. He chides Landovsky (Chuck Cannon) for being an actor who must sweep factories and sell newspapers to make money...
Watson is excellent as the fast-talking and critical interrogator who loves to give the actors a hard time. After he insists on watching the rest of the play with the audience, Macbeth continues. But the disgusted and frustrated actors refuse to emote, providing a humorous rendition which far outstrips their first, deadpan performance. Jeffrey Wise as Banquo loosens up and Linus Gelber, as Ross, becomes delightfully cynical. Cannon makes a marked improvement here as well since he no longer tries to convey Macbeth's determination by unnecessarily shouting the lines...
...Again Macbeth is interrupted when Easy, the character from the first play, enters the apartment delivering wood. Easy now speaks Dogg and tries desperately to catch the attention of the actors who are in the middle of their performance. The only actor who understands Dogg is Cahoot (Wise), who never learned the language, but rather, as he puts it, "caught" it. Eventually the rest of the actors "catch" Dogg and continue Macbeth in Stoppard's language...
...BOTH PLAYS, the actors aptly demonstrate their flexibility with character changes, but they excel most in hamming. Cannon, for example, tries too hard to aspire to the dramatic ideal of Macbeth but does well as the frustrated and displaced Landovsky. Kimberly Estes performs vigorously whether she is Mrs. Dogg or the nagging "Jewish mother" Gertrude in Hamlet or the cunning Lady Macbeth...
...both plays is basic. For Hamlet, boxes are piled up to form a wall, which creates a backdrop for scene changes. These consist of different symbols held up on a pole, including a moon; this silliness keeps the play's atmosphere light. For the Macbeth set, the JCR becomes a simple living room; both plays utilize the narrow space to its full potential...