February 2011

Dear Subscriber: 

To heat up the middle of winter we turn to Shakespeare’s thrilling play full of vaunting ambition, murder, greed, backstabbing politics, evil plotting, witchcraft, regicide, ghosts and so much more. Macbeth is a play packed with action and excitement. It is a lawless time in Scotland and we see all aspects of it. This play thunders through a very violent landscape that makes it one of Shakespeare’s most popular tragedies.

Director Paul Mason Barnes wrote about some of the historical background of the play which is quite fascinating and something that I think is worth sharing (this comes from his remarks on the first day of rehearsal):

"Shakespeare’s source for The Tragedy of Macbeth was the chronicles of Holinshed, according to which Lady Macbeth was married prior to her alliance with Macbeth, and had a child by her first husband. Both husband and child died, so she was childless when she came to her second marriage, and for reasons not really documented or illuminated in Shakespeare’s text, remained childless with her second husband. (This may help to explain Lady Macbeth’s statement ’I have given suck.’) Children and childlessness are mirrors through which the Macbeths see themselves reflected in the play, especially Macbeth himself who is surrounded by men with children: King Duncan; the Thanes Banquo and Macduff; and Siward, Earl of Northumberland. Macbeth orders the deaths of Banquo’s son, all of Macduff’s children, and kills Siward’s son in battle. Although Duncan’s sons, Malcolm and Donalbain, flee Scotland after the murder of their father, Macbeth wishes to see them dead as well.

"Gary Wills posits in his book, Witches and Jesuits, that Macbeth—like all plays—is a direct or indirect reflection of the times, and especially the politics of the times in which it was written. Shakespeare attempted to flatter his patron, King James, who succeeded Elizabeth I as monarch of England, by writing a play that incorporated witches and witchcraft, a particular obsession of James’.

"James himself had written a treatise on witchcraft, and was directly or indirectly responsible for the examination, trial and execution of a large number of people accused of being witches. The Elizabethans believed in witches, and James hated and was terrified of them. His wife, Anne of Denmark, who married James by proxy in her native country, had experienced a very rough sea voyage to England following the marriage. Details of that voyage are alluded to in Act I, Scene 3 of Macbeth. It makes sense that a play about a king who murders, who is himself murdered, and who wreaks havoc on King James’ homeland would attribute that king’s actions to an alliance formed with witches. And although Shakespeare’s witches in Macbeth seem to have little power themselves, other than the ability to foresee the future, they are definitely the earthly conduit to otherworldly powers, inhabitants and experiences.

"Wills reminds us that King James uncovered, at the last minute, the Gunpowder Treason, by which a group of conspirators plotted to blow up Parliament with the royal family as well as all the members of the British government present. Some of the conspirators were instantly put to death upon being identified and caught; others were brought to trial and suffered grisly public executions, several of which are alluded to in Macbeth. The term "equivocator" came into popular usage during this time, signifying people who seemed on the surface to be one thing but acted in completely opposite ways under the surface and behind people’s backs. Macbeth is peppered with references to equivocation—we hear it, for instance, when the porter goes to answer the knocking at the door.

"Chief among those tried and executed were a number of Catholic Jesuits, who James, a Protestant king who outlawed the practice of any religion except Protestantism, felt were his enemies because they could withhold the truth of their motives and actions under the guise of their devotion and faith, and/or due to laws or accepted customs of religious protection.

"The one thing Shakespeare didn’t get right in Macbeth, at least in terms of opportunities to flatter his royal patron, was the amount of brandishing of steel that occurs throughout the play’s battle scenes and homicidal incidents. James abhorred sword fighting, and although Shakespeare insured that any kings who perished in his play (Duncan at the beginning, the title character at the end) did so off stage, he miscalculated James’ distaste for combat, real or theatrical. As a result, Macbeth was banished from performance for the five years following its debut at Hampton Court.

"Originally the witches were portrayed by male actors in Shakespeare’s company, as was the tradition. Women were not allowed on stage for a full century or more after Shakespeare’s death, so he had in his troupe a number of skilled boy actors who portrayed the women in his plays. Banquo tells the witches that they should be women but that by their beards he sees they are not, which is the playwright’s clever and transparent way of acknowledging gender needs in an acting company producing work with women’s roles. Given the scope of Shakespeare’s women—Rosalind, Kate, Juliet, Beatrice, Viola, Lady Macbeth—we can only assume that those were some really talented teenagers!"

The play opens at a time when there is civil war in the land. Macbeth is returning home from battle when he encounters the three weird sisters. They may be witches or some other kind of apparitions, but there is no question they are odd and are both male and female, which adds to their oddity and sense of danger. They tell Macbeth that he will be king, but first will be named Thane of Cawdor.

After hearing from an injured soldier that it was Macbeth who won the battlefield, King Duncan resolves to promote the warrior to higher status. A messenger from the king informs Macbeth that the king has named him Thane of Cawdor, thereby fulfilling the first of the witches’ prophecies. Also, the king plans to visit Macbeth and his wife at their home right away. Macbeth sends word to his wife of everything that has transpired, and she is immediately resolved to make sure her husband reaches the throne. She urges him to murder the current king, and though he wavers, she guides his hand with her strength and cunning.

This is a violation of the rules of hospitality that were part of the landscape at that time. To kill the king in your home would have registered with the audience at the Globe Theatre as a huge violation of their rules of society. Furthermore, the audience would have also been aware that some of the incantations the witches spoke were actual words that witches of the day used. Witchcraft was part of the world at this time. Their foretelling that "something wicked this way comes" would be proven during the course of the play.

Indeed, once Macbeth and his wife kill the king, the killing doesn’t stop. One cruel act leads to another, and before long husband and wife are embroiled in a murderous spiral that begins to play havoc on their minds. The king’s sons flee the country as they do not trust Macbeth. He spins their flight as evidence that they were involved in the murder plot, giving him the perfect reason to kill them. Further, any other noblemen who might have a claim to the throne or simply mistrust Macbeth must be eliminated. And not unlike we see in some current crime movies and books, you can’t just kill the adults, the children need to be dispatched also, so no one grows up harboring a grudge against the ruler. Thus, the ground runs red with blood of adults and children alike.

As Macbeth slips further into his obsession with power, he again visits the witches for clues as to how to hold on to his kingdom. The weird sisters foretell that he will not be killed until Birnam Wood moves on Dunsinane. Macbeth doesn’t understand how a forest can move on a castle. It is interesting to see how that happens. He is also told that he will only be killed by a man who is not born of a woman. That seems like nonsense to him, but he finds that Macduff was delivered by Caesarean, and so was not technically born of a woman. By the time Macbeth realizes that he has misread the prophecies, it is too late.

This is a dark and violent story. We are pleased to have Paul Mason Barnes back to direct the show. His Saint Joan was one of the highlights of the work of the theatre. Michael Ganio has devised a striking set and he is aided by Kenton Yeager’s lighting and Dorothy Marshall Englis’ costumes as well as Rusty Wandall’s sound design. Fight Directors Brian Peters and Shaun Sheley team up to produce plenty of sword fights and also lots of blood in the show.

This production is being portrayed by a large company of actors—many of the company will be portraying more than one character in the play. You will be introduced to them and their various roles in a special prologue to the production. Playing Macbeth is Timothy D. Stickney, who has been at the Shakespeare Festival at Stratford Ontario for the past three seasons. Lady Macbeth is Caris Vujcec, who is with us for the first time. They are joined by Michael Keyloun, David Graham Jones, Nathaniel McIntyre and Chris Bolan. We are pleased to have St. Louis actors Nancy Bell, Jason Cannon, Shanara Gabrielle, Christopher Hickey, Ben Nordstrom, Michael James Reed and Jerry Vogel joining us. There are also several Webster Conservatory students rounding out the cast as well as several young children who are having the best time being part of the Macbeth mayhem.

This is a play I’ve been wanting to bring to our stage for several seasons. Paul Mason Barnes’ vision for the piece and quick pace of this text will make it come alive for you in powerful ways. Is it kind of The Sopranos or The Godfather with poetry? Maybe. But those also were like the revenge tragedies of the age. This has the elegance of Shakespeare as well as the violence of a rough and tumble world. Be prepared to see strong images and lots of blood. What good fun!

See you at the theatre,

Steven Woolf 
Artistic Director

P.S.  Our world premiere production of High starring Kathleen Turner opens at the Booth Theatre on Broadway on April 19 with previews starting March 25. You might want to check out the show again to see what the changes are. It’s very exciting to say the least.

P.P.S.  For this month’s Talk Theatre event, we will be getting behind the scenes with Macbeth technical and production staff including our technical director, props manager and costume shop manager. See how it all comes together to create what you see on stage. Call our Box Office at (314) 968-4925 for tickets.

Coming Soon: Watch your mail for a sneak peek at the 2011-12 Rep season and a special early renewal offer!