blog post by Rosie Dutton
A classic tale of greed and guilt
Now more than ever you would want to see this play,
The examination of what it means to be a man and what it means to be a woman.
Directed by Henry Maynard, ‘The Tragedy of Macbeth’ touches on themes of patriarchy while also combing elements of the supernatural, the pagan, order, and chaos, and the upside-down world of tyranny.
Flabbergast theatre welcomes its first text-based production and a fresh new interpretation of Shakespeare most wretched tragedy.
I interviewed Simon Gleave, a member of the team who put this piece together and when asked what makes this piece special? Why should people take their time to see this production? He responded, ‘we wanted to offer something vital, interesting and original to audiences; the last thing we wanted was to offer another clean, simple, modern adaptation’ and the play has done exactly that. While being a text- based production the performance still offers excitement through puppetry, clown, mask, and physical theatre so you will get a feel for the theatre we all know and love!
The play focuses on themes of misogyny and power, carrying on from the original play which is still very much present today. Despite Macbeth being written in 1606, the struggle of misogyny is still a conversation we are having in the 21st century … Depressing I know.
However, this production sheds a light to that while also providing the audience with entertainment.
Simon Gleave also mentioned actress Briony O’Callaghan who plays Lady Macbeth ‘was reading a lot about murder of thousands of women across Briton and Europe in the Middle Age witch trails’ and went onto to further mention ‘all the masculine violence in Shakespeare echoes the masculine violence of men in history’.
So as a modern audience this play will not only be ridiculously intriguing but informative too. Will leave you asking how far have we really come? Yes, women are not being executed for witchcraft but the conversation of women’s role in the world is still a conversation we as the 21st century are having.
Date: Wednesday, April 26, 8:00pm
Venue: University of York St John,
Tickets: £10 full price, £5 concessions
Director: Henry Maynard