BY MICHAEL SOMMERS

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

The National Theatre of Scotland comes to Broadway with an essentially one-man version of “Macbeth,” which opened on Sunday at the Ethel Barrymore Theater.

The production’s present-day concept is viable enough for this 100-minute edition of Shakespeare’s bloody tragedy: An obviously disturbed man, bearing wounds that might be self-inflicted, is confined in an observation ward at a psychiatric hospital.

Initially docile and mute, the man eventually acts out the story in sundry throes of madness. In his various frenzies, the man strips off his clothes, throws himself into a tub, disembowels a dead bird, repeatedly scrubs his hands until they bleed and otherwise madly struts and frets around the room.

Other than providing a tour-de-force challenge for an actor, however, the point of this production escapes me. It sheds no fresh light on the drama.

Alan Cumming stars as the lunatic. Speaking in different Scottish burrs, Cumming summons up more than 15 of the play’s characters as he ragingly enacts the story. Suspended overhead, three television screens provide live and video close-ups.

Some people believe that Cumming is an exceptional and magnetic artist. I think that Cumming is an all right actor, but a little bit of him goes a very long way.

So for me, at least, watching Cumming doing a lot of crazy Shakespeare was not an edifying experience. Better read somebody else for a more balanced opinion on Cumming’s performance, which I certainly admire for its febrile energy. In support of the actor, Jenny Sterlin and Brendan Titley silently depict two not unkindly hospital attendants who inject, restrain or otherwise deal with the madman.

Directed by John Tiffany and Andrew Goldberg, the production provides suitably creepy circumstances. Merle Hensel’s expansive setting for the hospital ward involves plenty of moldy, mint-green tile and vintage institutional equipment. Natasha Chivers’ often dusky lighting design defines locations with varying intensities and shadows. The sound design by Fergus O’Hare lends an unsettling mood.  

“Macbeth” continues through June 30 at the Ethel Barrymore Theater, 243 W. 47th St., New York. Call (212) 239-6200 or visit www.macbethonbroadway.com.