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Local Guides
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RETOOLED: MACBETH
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by S. James Wegg
December 3 - 9, 2009 |
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Even as the dust, blood and gunpowder recently settled on the
Stratford Shakespeare Festival’s seismic production of Macbeth,
the three weird sisters will be stirring up another cauldron of
hideous intrigue and ambition–feeding predictions as artistic
director Nicholas Walsh stokes up his singular vision with
Kitchener–Waterloo Youth Theatre.
As with previous KWYT productions (Romeo and Juliet
marked the company’s début last January), tickets are going fast.
A 2 pm matinée has been added on Saturday, December 5. As well
as the three performances at the Conrad Centre for the
Performing Arts, the troupe will take Shakespeare’s masterpiece
of madness into local-area schools December 1–8.
Reached by phone just a few days before opening night,
Walsh was happy to discuss the progress to date.
“After doing my Masters at U of T [in literature and drama]
and applying around for a PhD, I realized I didn’t want to spend
my entire life behind a computer. Eventually, I came to Kitchener–
Waterloo (the PhD at the University of Waterloo has been put off a
year) and decided to establish a theatre company for youth
[anyone up to 21; most of the ensemble members are in the 12–
21 range]. There were already a number of youth–oriented groups
in the community, but they did mostly musicals. When the first
casting call went out, I was amazed at the flood of applications.
For this season’s pair of offerings (Twelfth Night, directed by Deb
Stanson, will play the same venue December 11–12), 247 people
were auditioned. I felt really rejuvenated by the response from
everyone to last year’s production. Macbeth will be innovative and
fresh on many fronts,” said the enthusiastic director.
Reading through his carefully–crafted vision statement for
Macbeth, a number of highlights immediately capture the
imagination. “Our production will be framed by the metaphysical,
the debate between what is real and what is unreal,” he writes.
Ever conscious of our fast–paced society where “heavenly lengths”
frequently equate with boredom, the performance will “clock in at
just over 70 minutes” with no intermission. Most productions
have two hours of stage time, plus an interval.
Those unfamiliar with this tale of ambition–fulfilled–at–any–
cost but who enjoy a bit of action with their art will revel in the
bloody murders, numerous fights and wayward ghosts. Walsh
estimates that of the 50 people involved, perhaps half of those
have never seen a full production. Doubtless many of the
audience—especially during the school tour—will be hearing the
famous soliloquies and lines (e.g., “Tomorrow and tomorrow and
tomorrow” and “What’s done cannot be undone”) for the first
time. The special effects folk promise copious amounts of
crimson fluid as the daggers (seen and imagined) find their
targets. With so many scenes of bedlam, three different fight
directors have been engaged to ensure the safety of the cast,
even as their characters meet brutal ends or injuries. There’s
much wisdom in this approach to the wellbeing of all, methinks.
The live music, composed by ensemble member Giancarlo
Lisi, is scored for cello, violin, saxophone and waterphone (this
atonal instrument is built from a bowl with brass rods around its
rim, and it adds a marvelously eerie hue to traditional
orchestration). Employing just a few musicians to bring extra
colour and punctuation for this Scottish chamber of horrors
seems entirely apt.
When asked what the audience will walk away with, Walsh
didn’t hesitate for a moment: “Blood, sugar [all the better to make
eye candy], sex and magic. This show’s engaging and really
exciting. The cast loved my ideas and embraced them from day
one.” The scholar cum theatre advocate proposes to elucidate six
angles: personal, political, domestic, theological, historical and
metaphysical. That’s a tall order given the paring down of the
script, but like his subject, Walsh seems inexorably driven to
succeed with his quest of creating a unique view of the Bard’s
timeless play.
To entice newcomers to the production, Walsh was equally
clear, bold and straightforward with his reasons to grab a ticket:
“It’s a shot of adrenaline—you’re on the edge of your seat for the
entire show. If you want a drug for the weekend, it’s the perfect
place to start.”
Indeed, the high–stakes action, cruelty, death and witchcraft
seem more fuelled by an overdose of substances–most–foul than
the creative genius who, centuries ago, understood the human
condition better than most others before or after.
Get ye hence to the theatre!
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