Think you know Macbeth? That it’s going to be all Shakespeare’y and true to the Scotland of it all? Think again.
The Fountain School of Performing Arts’s production of Macbeth, hitting the David Mack Murray Theatre stage in the Dalhousie Arts Centre this week, offers a radical re-telling of Shakespeare’s famous tragedy.
In their adaptation, Dalhousie acting and technical theatre students worked with faculty director Matthew Walker to devise a new way of looking at an old story. Then they set it inside an old-timey carnival tent.
“The Dust Bowl era was a time where humanity felt at odds with nature, with bigger forces in the universe,” says Walker. “Faith and mysticism were big. Those ideas of man versus higher powers fit with the source material in Macbeth.”
Walker tasked students with researching the vaudeville era. They then created collages of characters with imagery from the time, of who they related to in terms of performance abilities, but also class distinctions and cultural backgrounds. Authoring their own troop of vaudevillian inspired characters gave the actors a voice in the process.
“Seeing what our setting and our Macbeth has become has humanised the story a lot more for me,” says Aidan Cochrane, who’s playing Macbeth.
Textured and diverse perspectives
Knowing little about African-American vaudeville history, third-year acting student Safiya Doyle from Trinidad and Tobago did significant research on her vaudevillian version of Lady Macbeth. She wanted to be sure her choices were both historically accurate and relevant today.
Safiya Doyle as Lady Macbeth and Aidan Cochrane as Macbeth.
“Studying very famous text from Shakespeare, I was always closed off. It
had never been presented to me in a way that I could find myself in the work,” says Safiya. “But with this adaptation, being able to find representation within the Shakespearean text has been a very enjoyable experience for me.”
Research on the era also influenced Assistant Set Designer Phoenix Bradley’s choices while designing carnival act posters for inside the tent. “I needed to recognize the tropes that were used back then that are not kosher today, making sure none of that imagery reflected back into our space” says Phoenix.
Confidence building collaboration
As part of the adaptation process, faculty and students played with ‘offer and response’ technique, a method use in devised theatre tradition, furthering a sense of ownership in the resulting work.
“Matt will ask you these mind-blowing, open-ended question about this one individual line or scene, and have you pondering for the next three days,” says Aidan. “And then you answer him and watch your ideas being built into the show.”
Third-year technical theatre student and Macbeth’s Lighting Designer Grace Watson feels growing confidence in their choices. “There are fantastical elements that are executed with lighting that I knew would be a big part of the show,” says Grace. “Being in this role, I’ve had to turn to myself for the answers and make decisions. It has been very affirming to know that I can do it.”
Above: Katherine Alexander as First Witch and Safiya Doyle as Lady Macbeth.
Telling a huge story in a tiny space
The Fountain School’s David Mack Murray Theatre is a true “black box” theatre: an intentionally flexible learning and performance space with black walls, floor, and ceiling. It pushes the team to create bold theatre from a blank slate, working within tight space and budget constraints.
“It's the most exciting thing ever to see how that theatre transforms into our little vaudeville setting,” says Safiya. “It always looks significantly different for every production. That theatre specifically is very magical for that.”
Working with faculty Set Designer Sean Mulcahy, Phoenix has learned how “to see a space that's grand without filling it with gold.” Designing a small space that allows room for actors to then build out their world in has broadened Phoenix’s design perspective.
Without giving too much away, Phoenix teases the show is “loaded with cool visuals that can happen in this particular show because of the small space and its sharp sight lines.” And Safiya reassures she’s completed her safety training on prop dagger use. With the audience so close “you can’t just be swinging your arms around.”
Macbeth opens tonight at the David Mack Murray Theatre. Curtain is at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 3-5 with shows Saturday, Feb. 7 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available at the Dal Arts Centre Box Office.
View full production credits for Macbeth. Photo credit: Kate Hayter Photography.