‘Macbeth’ as a tech bro? This Crow’s Theatre revival takes a big swing but succumbs to its own ambition - Toronto Star

Stratford Festival veteran Evan Buliung struggles to play almost every role in Shakespeare's Scottish tragedy, often veering into camp. 

Evan Buliung stars in this new adaptation of “Macbeth” at Crow’s Theatre, which he co-created with Christopher Manousos.

Here’s the thing about “Macbeth”: Much like whatever’s cooking in the witches’ cauldron, Shakespeare’s tragedy is a malleable recipe. Want to throw in an eye of newt and toe of frog? Sure! Set it in a Soviet-style abattoir? Why not! Turn Macbeth into a burly, Quebecois motorcycle gang leader? Weird … but OK! 

All that to say: Many things have to go wrong for this recipe to turn out sour. And yet, that’s what has happened in the ill-conceived revival at Crow’s Theatre, in a staging that’s packed with Icarian ambition but ultimately succumbs to a series of compounding missteps. 

The critical issue with director Christopher Manousos’ production, which uses a text adapted from Shakespeare’s original by himself and the actor Evan Buliung, is that, unwittingly or not, it others its central anti-hero. 

Macbeth, the thane who consolidates his power through murder, is a character who lies at the extremities of the human condition. He’s extremely ambitious. He’s extremely overconfident. When the witches proffer a series of ominous prophecies pointing to his undoing, he becomes extremely paranoid.   

But what’s crucial to any revival of “Macbeth” is that the play’s protagonist needs to feel like an us, not a them. No matter the setting nor the framing, no matter how far removed Macbeth’s story may feel from our own, audiences need to see themselves in him. His ambition is our ambition. His folly is our folly. Therein lies the tragedy. 

Manousos and Buliung’s creation, however, distances the audience from Macbeth, presenting the show as a play-within-a-play, set in what’s seemingly the present or the near future.

This new adaptation of “Macbeth” at Crow’s Theatre runs without an intermission, for a taut 85 minutes. 

Buliung first appears not as Macbeth but as an unnamed man, lonely and relying on AI for companionship. “I’m pissed off. I feel like I’m not progressing and I don’t know what to do about it,” he says in an early scene, added by Buliung and Manousos, that does little to establish who this man is or what exactly he’s struggling with.

Soon, Buliung’s character is goaded by his possibly sentient AI system into flinging himself headfirst into the world of “Macbeth.” He plays most of the roles in the show, while the AI bot voices the three witches, occasionally stepping out of narrative to egg on their hapless subject. (“You’re doing great. Let’s keep going!” the AI voice interjects throughout the show.)

There’s great potential to explore the parallels between the perils of technology and Macbeth’s thirst for power. But this “Macbeth” is rarely more than a shallow, 85-minute PSA about the dangers of AI. 

We’ve heard these warnings before. And shows like the a cappella musical “Octet” and the sci-fi drama “Marjorie Prime” explore these themes with far more depth and nuance. (The latter, in particular, was well ahead of its time, premiering more than a decade ago.) 

All this makes it increasingly difficult to empathize with Buliung’s Macbeth. Even in the way he moves, with a lazy, swaggering gait, he comes across like a Silicon Valley tech bro — most certainly a them, not an us. On opening night, I felt as much sympathy for Buliung’s Macbeth as I do for Nvidia’s Jensen Huang (which is to say, none). 

A solo performance of this tragedy requires a tour-de-force central turn, and Buliung falls short. He was simply exquisite (and terrifying) earlier this year as Iago in “Othello,” but here he struggles to juggle the many demands of the various roles. 

In particular, Buliung doesn’t do enough to distinguish between all the male characters. His Macbeth, Macduff and Malcolm look and sound the same — with the same haggard demeanour, arms swinging aimlessly like a rag doll. (The only thing distinguishing the three is that his Malcolm wears glasses.) 

Evan Buliung stars in a new solo production of “Macbeth” at Crow’s Theatre. 

He isn’t helped by the fact that Manousos’ staging often strays into camp. The director has Buliung play Lady Macbeth like a drag impersonation of Moira Rose, with odd syllables stretched like raw noodles. Later, one of the most serious moments in the play — when Macbeth gets a group of assassins to murder his confidante Banquo — is so garishly staged that it earned laughs on opening night. (Why, for one, do the assassins sound like Darth Vader?) 

Other elements of the production also don’t cohere. The blinding lights (designed by Chris Malkowski) look better suited for a Space Mountain ride. Scott Penner’s sets, featuring three wooden chairs and a raised, circular platform, do little to suggest a digital, AI-inspired world. 

Most puzzlingly, Manousos’ staging never answers a crucial question: Why is Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” the right vehicle to explore these thorny questions about the pitfalls of technology? In a cultural, moral and ethical discourse already so saturated with AI-talk, this “Macbeth” adds little to the conversation.

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Joshua Chong is a Toronto-based arts critic and culture reporter for the Star. Follow him on X: @joshualdwchong.