'Macbeth' Gets Twisted at Stratford Library Aug. 24

Information courtesy of this announcement posted on Stratford Patch.

The Hudson Shakespeare Company returns with the third and final installment of the 8th annual Shakespeare summer series with a new twist on a old favorite - "Macbeth" directed by Noelle Fair. The show will be presented at:
      
Saturday, Aug. 24 @ 2 p.m.
Stratford Public Library, Stratford, CT
2301 Main Street
(Rain location Stratford Public Library Lovell Room)
  
Director Noelle Fair creates a new movement and music based adaptation on the familiar story of a dutiful general and nobleman Macbeth (David C. Neal) and his ambitious wife Lady Macbeth (Rachel Alt), who sell their souls and conscience to darker forces to become the king and queen of Scotland.

This production is given a new twist incorporating the gothic style known as "Steampunk." This fashion and comic-con staple combines styles of English Victorian dress with sci-fi tropes of gears, machinery and technology, adding to the play's already dark and Halloween-like elements.

Black and red palettes, phantasmagorical music and disjointed imagery dominate the scene as murder plots are hatched and executed with every mounting regularity and tension, ever egged on by three mysterious women simple known as "the weyard sisters" (Emily Dalton, Siobahn O'Loughlin and Lisa LaGrande). Are they human women casting spells or something more otherworldly?

Written in 1605-1606, Shakespeare loosely based a story of a historical 11th century nobleman's rise to the Scottish throne with a commentary on his contemporary political scene.

James I, king of Scotland had recently succeeded Queen Elizabeth, but in 1605 an assassination plot was discovered that would have, literally, blown up him and his entire parliament. Known as the "Gunpowder Plot," the conspirators became known as "equivocators," saying one thing or doing another. However, scandal followed the arrests as charges that members James' own government had put them up to it.

Whatever the truth of the plot, Shakespeare weaves a story tailored made for the new king as a warning against such two-faced people and also pandering to King James' taste in the subject of witches. The king had written a book on the subject and with the unsettling, equivocal atmosphere and subject matter, "Macbeth" remains one of Shakespeare's most popular, studied and produced works.

Hudson Shakespeare Company is now in its 22nd season of traveling theatre, touring to various parks, classrooms and other unique venues.

Patrons are encouraged to bring a lawn chair or blanket and all performances are free. For more information, please call 203.385.4164 or visit hudsonshakespeare.homestead.com.

Photo caption: Macbeth (David C. Neal) and Lady Macbeth (Rachel Alt), with bloodied, murderous hands, are surrounded by the three mysterious witches (From left Emily Dalton, Siobhan O'Loughlin, and Lisa LaGrande) in Hudson Shakespeare Company's "Macbeth"