Carolyn Kruse and Mikha'el Amin Photo by Aaron Reese Boseman Photography

Central to Vecchio's vision is tapping into the strong themes of violence in nature, human and otherwise. The scenic design by Manuel Ortiz accomplishes this by surrounding the cast and audience with Birnam Wood itself. The upstage wall is thickly covered with dry, spindly trees with bits of bone strung throughout. The stairs and tops of curtains have tufts of encroaching moss, and tall grasses and reeds line the railings that front the audience. Hannah Wien's extremely well-done lighting design illuminates these elements in lurid colors and from eerie, effective angles.

The other main element of the set is wide, irregular stone steps upstage left, topped by an imposing stone doorway leading to the interior of Dunsinane. Inside the main entrance, Ortiz nests a series of lintels that get smaller and smaller as they recede from the stage. The telescoping effect impressively suggests that characters are drawn helplessly into the madness or are launched from the very heart of it.

Petter Wahlbäck's sound design provides great support for the visuals, conjuring up storms, the drums of war, and the unearthly as needed. Jay Donley and Amber Wuttke of Violent Delights do terrific work with the fight choreography, especially given the large weapons and small space.

Cindy Moon's costumes are, for the most part, well done in capturing the historic (or historically imagined) Scotland. For the Thanes and soldiers, Moon works with tunics, loose pants in muted colors, belted mail shirts, and short hooded cloaks, adding indicators of office as Macbeth ascends the ranks and as Malcolm is named Duncan's heir. Interestingly, Lady Macbeth's costume is red and white, depicting her as a neat, well-off woman, but once she comes into her own as Macbeth's queen, Moon shifts her dress into the dusky orange/rose of Macbeth's garments. Despite the crown and gold emblem across her chest, she looks much more the warrior, as is appropriate to the bloody action she has spurred her husband to.

There are a few minor missteps in the costuming. The first is in adding fur elements. The impulse to do so makes sense: Vecchio wants to keep the production firmly grounded in the past, where Scotland is only just balanced between a “tribal” past and the “kingdoms” to come. Furthermore positioning the characters as very much a part of nature, not apart from it, is well within the show's mission statement. But the colors, particularly for Macbeth's fur accents, seem too obviously unnatural, and the way the elements cover just the lower legs doesn't look quite right.

The other costuming aspect that does not quite work is for the witches, though it's worth noting that the minor hitch transcends just costuming. The three are on stage as soon as the house opens. Each has heavy black makeup on their face and body, and their costumes are not dissimilar from those for the Thanes and soldiers, though they are far more ragged. Before the play opens with a slow-motion battle, the three engage in an extended interaction that ends with them clothing one another in long, hooded cloaks that serve to disguise them, letting them roam the perimeter of the action throughout the play.

Christy Arington, Tessa Dougherty, and Julia Rowley, effectively go all in on the scene, which has elements of dance and unearthly speech, but it simply goes on too long (the same is true of Macbeth's second encounter with them, when they deliver the prophecies that convince him of his invincibility and there is an echo effect to the dialogue that does not quite work) and wears out some of the otherwise eerie and effective ways the direction intimates that the weird sisters are maintaining an active hand in ensuring their prophecies come to pass. Moreover, there's a visual disconnect when, late in the action, rather than wearing their cloak disguises, the three appear as sword, spear, and standard-bearers for Macbeth, wearing the simple white caps of servants, which reads as a somewhat heavy-handed gesture.

But Vecchio's concept is overwhelmingly well-done, and the cast does well by it. Without at all flattening or simplifying the character to some kind of villain by nature, Mikha'el Amin imbues his Macbeth with a sharp, dangerous charm, even in the early scenes when all is supposedly well with him and his place in Duncan's court. Amin's performance is particularly strong in the immediate aftermath of Duncan's murder and at the banquet when Banquo's ghost appears to torment him.

Amin is very well-matched with Carolyn Kruse, who does not shy away from Lady Macbeth's wickedness and yet conveys an intriguing, cold practicality that unearths some unexpected and highly effective comedic moments buried between the lines. Vecchio serves Amin and Kruse well in the interleaving of scenes, allowing the couple's scheming conversations to play out simultaneously with the realization of their ambitions, which really capitalizes on the chemistry the two actors have.

As Banquo and Macduff, Charlie Diaz and Michael B. Woods, respectively, are especially good. Diaz weaves fatherly affection, soldierly duty, and his own ambition into the performance with great nuance and makes for a spectacular ghost. Woods makes the most of Macduff's rather compressed scenes to convey that he is a man of honor and action, and yet he is a husband and father truly devastated by the price he pays as he flees to try to save all of Scotland.

Whitney Minarik is good in several roles, but most especially as Lady Macduff, whose own fury at her husband's abandonment of the family, however well-justified or imperative it might be, lights up the stage. Michaela Shapiro who plays “Kid Macduff,” among other roles, matches Minarik's skill, and the two performances mutually enhance one another.

Joseph Beal treats the audience to a rollicking turn as the porter and makes for a chillingly cold-blooded assassin alongside Robert Koon, who cannily lets some of his performance as the doomed Duncan peek through into his murderer role. Similarly, Koon's Old Siward reads effectively as a real individual and yet a variation on a theme of masculinity within the world of the play.

Diego Longoria (Malcolm) and Layke Fowler (Fleance and other roles) add depth to the roles played by those of the older generation by allowing their characters to both strut and stumble. Fowler's brief gawky moments not just with Banquo but also with Macbeth early on add an element of aching sadness to the tragedy, and Longoria's bluster is an effective mix of real leadership and naive, over-the-top attempts to inspire.

Invictus Theatre Company's The Tragedy of Macbeth runs through December 15, 2024, at Windy City Playhouse. 3014 W. Irving Park Road, Chicago IL. For tickets and information, please visit www.invictustheatreco.com.