Macbeth

PRESS

Theaterkrant *****
Corina van Eijk, the artistic director at Spanga, which nowadays rightfully refers to itself as ‘the Verona of Weststellingwerf’, has once again truly outdone herself. With minimal means and few people she has managed to produce a perfect production of Verdi’s 1848 opera Macbeth, based on the play by Shakespeare. Her staging is surprising, witty and moving from the first note to the last. Her extreme interpretation is also extremely logical. Actually it is difficult to understand why no one has come up with it before.

NRC ***
Despite the limited means at her disposal, Van Eijk has managed to create a coherent whole, paring Macbeth down to a tale about power. The main roles are also interpreted by excellent singers. As a baritone, Marcel van Dieren is often relegated to a back seat, but as Macbeth he flourishes. Francis van Broekhuizen really looks too nice to inspire fear, but vocally she is captivating with what for her is a light sound. … But this summer opera in the southeast of Friesland is anything but ordinary. The production takes place in a tent which opens onto a kilometer of the landscape, complete with a herd of sheep and, if you are lucky, a stunning pink sky with an occasional stork whisking past.

Leeuwarder Courant ****
Verdi felt that his throne-obsessed Lady Macbeth’s voice needn’t be beautiful, but certainly expressive and effective. In this regard Francis van Broekhuizen more than fits the bill. This soprano, who has interpreted numerous roles at Opera Spanga, reveals Lady Macbeth’s true nature right from the word go in her first aria. With her unique sound she sketches in broad lines a character who stops at nothing and no one. Verdi would have been proud. This goes for the title role interpreted by Marcel van Dieren as well. Van Eijk’s Macbeth is no shilly-shallyer, but a strong, power-oriented man, hardly a hair better than his wife. This is reflected, among other things, in his many decibels and underhanded sneers. Also in a duet, against the backdrop of smoking car wrecks, where he proves himself to be his Lady’s equal.

Friesch Dagblad
…The two main roles are magnificently interpreted by Marcel van Dieren and Francis van Broekhuizen—no microphones taped to their cheeks just sung out, and how!…
Van Broekhuizen was incomparable in the sleepwalking scene. The way in which she showed the audience her hands, sat down and stared at her hands, turning them over and over in time with the music—all this before she had sung a single note-- led to something unique: at the absolute climax of the whole opera there was no singing at all! That says a lot about the quality of David Levi’s orchestra and of course a great deal about Van Eijk’s directing as well. It often gets quite heavy, with disgusting blood stains and a raw mixture of violence and fondling. One huge illustration of the quote by Bertha van Suttner which adorns the cover of the program booklet: “No reasonable person would consider removing an ink stain with ink or an oil stain with oil. Only blood seems to have to be washed away with blood.”