Performance review – Cheek by Jowl masterclass on how to walk and complain on a Shakesperian stage | Video

DDocumentary filmmaker Sophie Fiennes returns with another meditative, unhurried and intelligent film about art; in this case, the process of doing – or more specifically, repeating and discussing ideas. Actors are shown developing acting techniques Macbeth under the cool eye of Cheek and Jowl director Declan Donnellan.

This is the “doing” part that the movie looks at in detail; it doesn’t involve the other business of auditions, table reading, technical rush, dress code and nightly practice. With its clear, daylight lighting system, it is comparable to Fiennes’ 2010 study of German artist Anselm Kiefer, Over Cities Your Grass Will Grow – but it’s very different from Fiennes’ films that have films, The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema and The Mind Twisting Bookwhose style is largely influenced by their irresponsible presenter, Slavoj Žižek.

Donnellan and his silent director Nick Ormerod are shown directing rehearsals using the derelict grounds of Twyford Abbey – the crumbling interior of which could be described as Inverness Castle – with the occasional game outside the grounds. Eight actresses are in the cast: Grace Andrews, Amber James, Sophie Khan Levy and Hannah Young are in different versions of Lady Macbeth, and David Burnett, Orlando James, Jonathan Livingstone and Ekow Quartey are different versions of Macbeth. The scenes they encounter are from before Duncan was killed, and from long ago, they include monologues such as “Is this a sword?”, “Unsex me here” and “Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow”.

Donnellan sometimes makes great statements about the nature of the word, and the futility of trying to explain one or any meaning (“it is not the law of something”); he is interested in the stigma of overacting, showing how viewers watch 9/11 on 9/11, sighing and pointing (“Who directed this?”). The speech is delivered very subtly, without any major complications or conflicts. (For example, we don’t get the traditional argument about how to say: “We have failed? But strengthen your courage to the sticking point and we will not fail.”) There is something very refreshing about the calm, harmonious balance that is presented here.