Chicago Shakespeare Theater presents SHORT SHAKESPEARE MACBETH Review: Thrilling Shakespeare Adaptation

The lights start to come down, and Cage Sebastian Pierre comes on stage. He plays Ross in the production, but for now, he is simply an actor addressing the audience full of students. He introduces himself, and explains that we are about to see an abridged version of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth. He asks that we turn off our phones, and let go of the concerns of the outside world for just a little while. For those who are nervous they might not understand all of the language, Pierre assures them it will be alright:

“Stay with us, and I promise it will all make sense in the context of the story.”

 Immediately the boundaries are broken, and the audience of young people are invited to join the ensemble along for the ride of this production. There is an understanding that this might be a different experience for folks, and that is okay. All the actors ask is that we lean in and do the best we can. It is a short speech, but Pierre, full of humor and kindness, creates the perfect introduction for that which we are about to experience.

Lyons and Choreographer Erin Kilmurray collaborate to make this sequence a truly theatrical event, complete with Sound Designer Mikhail Fiksel’s more modern score in the background. As we see Macbeth and his army fight, the witches dance in the midst – only “visible” to the audience. They weave in and out of the soldiers, signaling that their magical influence has already begun. Lyons interweaves the sisters into the story throughout the play, and immediately sets up this vocabulary at the very beginning with an intensely theatrical event. Looking around at the audience of young people surrounding me, they were clearly entranced, and this writer was not the only one to find this opening exciting to watch unfold.

One of the most striking examples of this double casting takes place during the famous banquet scene in which Macbeth sees Banquo’s ghost. As those who are familiar with the story might know, Macbeth has a hand in Banquo’s death, and we see a haunted physicalizing of his guilt. At first, each of the Weyard Sister actors seems to appear as a guest at the banquet, but with a sudden change in lighting, they swap roles and become the witches, maintaining their hold on Macbeth when he is the only one to witness both Banquo’s ghost and their presence in the room. Then with a sudden transition back in lighting, all returns to normal – the ghost is nowhere to be found, and the witches become typical guests at the party. Through this choice, Lyons heightens the magical tension in the scene, creating a frightening window into Macbeth’s slow decline.

Full of magic and deceit, Short Shakespeare! MACBETH is, in this writer’s opinion, a 75-minute event of non-stop theatrical excitement for students and adults alike.

About the Author:

Lauren Katz is a freelance director and dramaturge, and new to the Chicago Theatre Scene. She recently moved from Washington DC, where she worked with Mosaic Theater Company of DC in Company Management, as well as directed around town with various theaters.

Click here to read more Picture this Post stories by Lauren Katz.

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