Comments | fashion_piranha: Ashland 2009: Macbeth by William Shakespeare

fashion_piranha

Ashland 2009: Macbeth by William Shakespeare

Aug 13, 2009 18:26

Macbeth by William Shakespeare

The stuff of nightmares. Black magic. Murder. Ghosts. Madness. Death. Shakespeare's brooding tragedy digs into the dark territory of a man's shocking choices. Emboldened by the enigmatic visions of three witches, Macbeth and his lady slaughter their way to the Scottish throne, but attaining it brings no glory. Fresh ( Read more... )

william shakespeare, ashland 2009, shakespeare, oregon shakespeare festival, theatre, murder, tragedy, ashland, gale edwards, peter macon, murell horton, witches, play, robin nordli, classics

Comments 17

cathubodva August 21 2009, 04:30:42 UTC

I always find costuming for Shakespeare productions to be fascinating. It's one of the ways that directors can really make the show their own.

saru_kage August 21 2009, 04:44:45 UTC

"I mention this at this time because Lady Macduff is played by an Asian actress."

Just because you're Asian doesn't mean you can't be Scottish too. My friend, Donald McKinnon, is living proof. Also, there's that Starburst commercial.

k00kaburra August 21 2009, 04:53:32 UTC

I've never seen that Starburst commercial before, but it is awesome. Also, Chinese + Scottish = Nany Kwan, 60s sex symbol.

Generally, I don't have much trouble with colorblind casting. Both Macbeth and Macduff were African-American in this production. It just struck me as odd because Lady Macduff was dressed up to emphasize her Asianness. I mean, it's not like Macbeth was stomping around in clothes made with kente cloth.

saru_kage August 21 2009, 05:30:10 UTC

I think I missed the kimono part of that sentence (I just got home from work a while ago, and my brain isn't exactly operating at peak efficiency right now), but that would probably strike me as odd too.

Thinking about Macbeth and kimonos suddenly has me really wanting to go dig up a copy of Kurosawa's Throne of Blood. I always thought it was kind of cool how easily Shakespeare translates to feudal Japan.

kiri_l August 21 2009, 05:07:52 UTC

I would like recommendations for staying somewhere up there.. *purposely skipping entry for the moment*

fashion_piranha August 21 2009, 05:11:11 UTC

:-/ Man, wish I could help with that. I went through as part of a class at school so we stayed at the University dorms.

Whenever I walked past The Shrew's House I thought it was totally cute, but I have no idea what it's like to stay there.

kiri_l August 21 2009, 05:13:36 UTC

wait.. you were just up there with a class? *mutters quietly* you could have quietly grabbed me as you drive past ya know *STARE* :D

k00kaburra August 21 2009, 05:17:33 UTC

Curses! If only I'd thought of it! I coulda used the company. Everyone on my trip was either over 60 or under 20. AWKWARD!)

Thread 6

narrelle August 21 2009, 06:32:36 UTC

Thanks for this! I've seen this play maybe six or seven times, so I always find it interesting to read about other stagings. We try to see versions of Shakespeare in other lanugages when we travel too - we're familiar enough with the plots that the production values are interesting enough to look at, even if we don't speak the language.

My hubby once saw a production of the Merchant of Venice performed in Stratford on Avon in Japanese (so complete with kimono/western combined outfits) but directed by a Romanian. And we saw a superb and disturbing Midsummer Night's Dream in Poland a few years back.

Anyway, thanks for the insights. Have you seen the Australian film version of Macbeth done a few years back? Flawed but with some interesting ideas.

fashion_piranha August 21 2009, 15:45:54 UTC

I haven't yet seen the Australian film! It's actually at the top of my Netflix queue now - I have a feeling I'll be going through a huge Shakespeare phase for the next month or two. That Merchant of Venice that your husband saw sounds so cool.

How many of Shakespeare's plays have you seen? I was so excited to get Henry VIII on this trip, because I've never seen that play before and I don't think it's been performed locally during my lifetime. I'd love to see every single play, of course, but at this point I think I've seen at most a dozen of them live.

narrelle August 21 2009, 16:07:50 UTC

Good lord... I don't suppose I could add them up! I've been seeing Shakespeare for about 30 years now. Measure for Measure was one of the first I ever saw live, for school, and Hamlet soon after that (at the Sydney Opera House - it was a school excursion!). I saw a Macbeth a year or two later, in Newcastle, as we were studying it that year. I did walk out of once Macbeth production for being too awful to bear (and I almost never walk out of theatre). Between film versions and stage productions, I suppose I must have seen dozens, at least. WE've also seen Antony and Cleopatra in Italian, only a month or so after seeing the Melbourne Theatre Company (MTC) perform it. WE'd seen it a year or two prior to that as well ( ... )

anonymous August 25 2009, 04:33:13 UTC

I was so excited when I saw your Ashland posts, because my husband and I just got back from there last night! We saw Henry VIII and Macbeth.

ext_138899 August 25 2009, 04:34:43 UTC

I guess it would help to let you know who I am! Haha! I was so excited to see that you had written about the Shakespeare festival in Ashland that I posted my comment before signing in. Oops. Yeah, that last comment was mine. :)

fashion_piranha August 28 2009, 20:46:30 UTC

How'd you like Henry VIII? That was such a beautiful show, and I thought the actress playing Katharine was phenomenal. But the rest of the actors were a little on the 'meh' side of things :-/ Or maybe Katherine just got all the best lines...