by Geoffrey Paddy Johnson on May 9, 2012
New York City is host to two concurrently running productions of Shakespeare’s Macbeth this Spring: Aquila Theatre‘s presentation at the Gym at Judson (April 18th – May 6th), and Epic Theatre Ensemble‘s interpretation at the 47th Street Theatre (April 20 – May 26th). A stable of many a theatrical company’s portfolio, apart from its matchless, vivid language, Macbeth as drama has much to attract aspiring ensembles, not least the challenge presented in portraying two of Shakespeare’s most unsympathetic lead roles. We watch as Macbeth and his wife are enticed into evil by the lure of power and then, as good stage villains, are punished for their crimes. The trick, however, is in making them into more than stage villains, for in that resides the case for tragedy and its capacity to ennoble human existence. It is a tricky bit of the equation as both of these productions can testify.
Continue Reading…
Related Posts:
by The Happiest Medium on January 19, 2012
The Knocking Within
ANIKAI Dance Theater
Texts from William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, MacBeth, Titus Andronicus and Othello
Selected and compiled by Wendy Jehlen
Direction, concept: Wendy Jehlen
Choreographer: Wendy Jehlen with Pradhuman Nayak
ANIKAI Dance Theater premieres “The Knocking Within,” a new text-based work looking at insanity and a dysfunctional relationship through texts from three of Shakespeare’s tragedies – Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello and Titus Andronicus.
The scenes will not play out in a linear manner, but rather will be woven into each other, so that the effect is of the disorientation of unmitigated mental illness and a relationship out of control, or is it the nightmares of two lovers?
Show Times:
- Tues 1/17 @ 6:00pm
- Fri 1/20 @ 8:30pm
- Sun 1/22 @ 3:00pm
Answers by Wendy Jehlen
Artistic Director
ANIKAI Dance
Karen Tortora-Lee’s Question
This is an international festival. What part of the world are you coming from … and will your show tantalize the NYC audience with a taste of your nation’s culture?
Wendy Jehlen:
We are from India and the US, by birth. However, this work, and all ANIKAI works, draws on influences and deep study of traditions from throughout the world. The subjects are also universal – dreaming, the space between waking and sleeping, relationship, love, fear. I believe that our work speaks to that culture of people who do not identify themselves with any one place, but rather with a global community.
Continue Reading…
Related Posts:
by Karen Tortora-Lee on August 18, 2011
Here’s the story … of The Bardy Bunch: The War Of The Families Partridge And Brady.
It’s 1974 and two families, one Brady, one Partridge are at war. Their battlefield exists in cancelled sit-com land and their weapons consist of killer dance moves, cut throat ballads and production numbers meant to slay you in the aisles. Their story is a mash up of well-known Partridge and Brady references retrofitted into such Shakespearean plays as Hamlet, MacBeth, Romeo and Juliet, among others.
The result is everything Fringe has come to be celebrated for: an innovative, enjoyable, hilarious night of theatre written by Stephen Garvey and directed by Jay Stern that isn’t afraid to push the envelope.
Continue Reading…
Related Posts:
by Karen Tortora-Lee on August 16, 2010
Cast of Macbeth (photo by Ben Strothmann)
This may not be a popular theory, but I always felt that if Shakespeare were alive today and writing this Scottish play the plot might very well be the same . . . but the title would be Lady Macbeth and the emphasis would be completely different. For without the devious, devilish, deliciously deceitful Lady at his side Macbeth would be just another Hamlet, wandering about the castle wondering when his future was ever going to relieve him of his everlasting present.
Director Will Le Vasseur has done two things with Redd Tale Theatre Company’s Macbeth that I applaud him for. One, he’s “tightly edited” the original Shakespeare in ways that leave the story in tact while still getting the audience back on their feet before numbness sets in. However, the bigger triumph lies with point two. What Le Vasseur has done here – which I have yet to see done in other productions – is give this traditionally male-dominated Shakespearean Tale to the women. He’s managed to make a Feminist Macbeth. Now if I could only lobby to get him to change the title . . .
Continue Reading…
Related Posts:
