It will be breathless. It will be bloody. It will be bold. State Theatre Company brings one of Shakespeare’s greatest dramas to the Dunstan Playhouse stage, exploring its commonalities with the brutality of modern warfare, in a limited season from 25 August 2017.
Macbeth. The perfect embodiment of ego and ambition? Or a grief stricken soldier trying to fill a hole in his heart that has no end? Lady Macbeth. The mistress of manipulation and power behind the throne? Or a shattered not-quite mother, fractured from the world around her? This extraordinary tale charts the brutal rise and fall of one of the theatre’s most complex couples as we follow them on their increasingly merciless path towards the crown.
“Macbeth is an extraordinary study of what happens when trauma intersects with ambition. But most of all it is about the nightmare that lies before those who take life,” says director Geordie Brookman. “Designer Victoria Lamb and I have created a thoroughly contemporary psychological landscape for the Macbeths to inhabit. There are no escape routes in this world and no avoiding the horror of one’s own self.”
Shakespeare’s grand tragedy will be jump-started by the State Theatre Company Ensemble, with Nathan O’Keefe (Things I Know To Be True, Betrayal) and Anna Steen (The Importance of Being Earnest, The 39 Steps) as the conjoined, madly beating hearts around which a vengeance-soaked world spins. They will be joined on stage by veteran actor Peter Carroll (Krapp’s Last Tape), Resident Artist Elena Carapetis and Christopher Pitman (Straight White Men, Othello).
Director: Geordie Brookman Featuring: Rachel Burke, Elena Carapetis, Peter Carroll, Miranda Daughtry, Rashidi Edward, Dale March, Nathan O’Keefe, Christopher Pitman, Anna Steen Set & Costume Designer: Victoria Lamb Lighting Designer: Geoff Cobham Composer: DJ TR!P Sound Designer: Andrew Howard
Macbeth
Dunstan Playhouse – Adelaide Festival Centre, King William Road, Adelaide
Season: 29 August – 16 September 2017 (previews: 25 – 28 August)
Information and Bookings: www.statetheatrecompany.com.au
Image: State Theatre Company presents Macbeth (supplied)