Event

Macbeth

Like all great literature, Shakespeare's Macbeth is a complex interweaving of several stories. There is the story of the Scottish noble who betrays all he stands for and holds dear out of devotion to his wife. There is the story of the ambition-blinded Lady who drives her husband to the murder of his king, his friend,women and children in her relentless pursuit of power. There is the story of a nation embroiled in a bloody civil war and the young prince who rises to avenge his father and save his homeland.

Outside of the narrative, there is also the story of William Shakespeare, seeking to honor (curry favor?) with James the First of England (lately James the Sixth of Scotland) featuring a character (Banquo)whom James was said to have descended from, and including a clear nod to James as the English monarch who has the ability to heal through the laying on of hands (a grace that James claimed) and who comes to suffering Scotland's aid,setting the stage for a grand partnership of the two countries.

More obscure,and often lost in production either to it's obscurity or the director's knife, is the Porter's riff on Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot.

Then, of course, there are the Witches who appear out of nowhere, disappear into nowhere, and,in the meantime, wreak general havoc for no discernible reason.

Rather than attempt to tell all of these stories, we have chosen to focus our new production of Macbeth on one specific story: the story of a group of people, tribal, tight-knit, passionate and violent in a passionate and violent world, who are maliciously preyed upon and systematically destroyed by an insidious and sinister force that seeks nothing more than to feed its own malevolence. Ours is a story of Evil and the men , women, and children who are its victims, caught in a world they can only hope to survive.

Please note that this production does contain mature themes that may not be suitable for pre-teen viewers.