Thrice at Tramway, Glasgow: Haunting the stage in time of true witchcraft (Theatre review) 5 stars *****

‘Thrice to thine, and thrice to mine. And thrice again, to make up nine.‘ Nine witches haunted the stage at the Tramway. Three trios of women, all dressed in rag and bone, starred in Thrice. They hovered through the fog and filthy air as they danced in cyclical rhythms, reciting lines from Macbeth and using Shakespeare’s language to extend the Scottish Play. This production is a poetic response to Macbeth – more of an interpretive dance performance. But what appeared on stage was a pagan ritual the witches of Macbeth may have been forced to cast in order to maintain their prophetic magicks.

As Thrice begins, the witches dance out in groups of three, moving around each other in a triple pattern. When we think of the witches of Macbeth, we think of their ability to perceive time, and sees the three as past, present, and future. In Thrice, they are individually split in this fashion as they merge and separate to create symbolic scenes of Macbeth’s beheading, his burial, and what appears to be a celebratory ceilidh afterwards.

All the while, we are in Scotland’s past, present, and future. As we review Shakespeare’s play, we see its aftermath, and hear a ghostly narrator beseech, ‘look into the seeds of time, say which grain will grow.’ This, in the first act of Macbeth, is Banquo’s line of questioning for the witches. In Thrice, Shakespeare’s words are transformed into an intent cast upon a magic spell, asking of what will be the future of Scotland.

If you are wondering whether you should revisit Macbeth before seeing Thrice, don’t worry about it. Central to Thrice are the incredible scenes created by the nine talented dancers. Their ability to create visually striking movement with the use of minimal props is the thing that turns this from an artful dance into true witchcraft.

Thrice at Traverse, 23rd and 24th October

Photo credit: Alberto Santos Bellido