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First performed around 1606, \u201cMacbeth\u201d is the story of the brave Scottish general Macbeth, who chances on a prophecy from three witches that he will one day become king of Scotland. Even for a loyal soldier, such a prediction can go to your head. Consumed by ambition\u2014and egged on by his wife, Lady Macbeth\u2014they kill King Duncan to take the throne and keep killing to keep it, going mad in the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s one of the best plays Shakespeare wrote,\u201d says Wolpe. \u201cIt\u2019s very short. It\u2019s very dark. Certainly, it\u2019s the darkest play that he wrote. After \u2018Macbeth,\u2019 he started writing lighter material. I think having written \u2018Macbeth,\u2019 he had to take a break because living with those characters for a playwright is even worse than living with them as an actor or a director\u2014the spirits are in your heart.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s production, the lead roles of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth will be played by Isaiah Agabi, a freshman theatre and civil engineering major from Warwick, and Abraphine Ngafaih, a sophomore theatre major from Providence. As they\u2019ve explored their roles, they\u2019ve seen both sides of the murderous couple.<\/p>\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDespite all the unhinged murdering, Macbeth is sensitive to the things that happen to him throughout the play,\u201d says Agabi. \u201cWho wouldn\u2019t go crazy after seeing the ghost of your best friend who you just murdered?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ngafaih played another doomed monarch as the title role in 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s fall production of \u201cMarie Antoinette,\u201d and she sees both characters as grappling with public judgment. \u201cLady Macbeth wrestles with deep guilt while Marie faces external challenges,\u201d she says. \u201cThe characters challenge traditional gender norms. Lady Macbeth is more overt and Marie embodies royal opulence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n A director, actor, scholar and activist, Wolpe has been \u201cunpacking\u201d the Bard\u2019s texts for more than 45 years while championing diversity and inclusion in theatre. Along with garnering numerous awards, her work includes 23 years running the all-female, multicultural Los Angeles Women\u2019s Shakespeare Company, where she played probably more of Shakespeare\u2019s male roles than any woman in history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She also knows \u201cMacbeth\u201d by heart. She has directed it, played Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, even turned the 50-character play into a three-actor adaptation that has pushed the envelope on casting and has been staged in Edinburgh, New York, London and Los Angeles, among other stops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s production, Wolpe says, has been a \u201chumanistic journey,\u201d working with the 17 actors, who play about 30 characters. She likens the students\u2019 experience of taking on \u201cMacbeth\u201d to going on a walkabout. \u201cI think doing Shakespeare can be that massive opportunity for something huge to call on a young person and give them space to become as large as they can be,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Agabi says Wolpe\u2019s expertise has helped him and his fellow actors in many ways, including understanding details that might be hidden to them in Shakespeare\u2019s language and creating a full story arc for their characters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s been like opening a box of acting secrets,\u201d adds Ngafaih. \u201cShe\u2019s guided me to discover the nuances in this character. I\u2019m trying to soak up as much as I can because there\u2019s just so much to learn from her, and applying these techniques goes beyond Shakespeare.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe show is super creepy and has many elements that allow for creative liberty,\u201d adds Agabi. \u201cOur production will be very visually pleasing with all the costumes, lighting, set design and all the parts that make \u2018Macbeth\u2019 what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n For their parts, the set and costume designs echo the play\u2019s dark themes. Visiting artist Robert Hamilton\u2019s scenery plays off a gothic, horror and apocalyptic feel. \u201cIt\u2019s a gorgeous design,\u201d Wolpe says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Karl Aspelund, associate professor in Textiles, Fashion Merchandise and Design at 溏心vlog免费B站, designed costumes that reflect a world where no one is safe from the slaughter, he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis is a harsh world at war, so things are a bit rough around the edges,\u201d he says. \u201cThe rules of the realm don\u2019t apply to the witches, however. They slide in and out and can do whatever they please, so their costumes reflect a more complex sensibility. And then there\u2019s Lady Macbeth. Let\u2019s just say she flares up in the darkness.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n For Aspelund, it\u2019s his first theatre production in more than 20 years, after having designed for over 40 productions and four films while living in Iceland, and more after moving to the U.S. Over the years, he has talked with Paula McGlasson, theatre department chair, about designing a show at 溏心vlog免费B站, but with work demands and the pandemic, the timing didn\u2019t work out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTo have the opportunity to dive into \u2018Macbeth\u2019 was hard to resist,\u201d he says, \u201cand then I learned that Lisa Wolpe would be directing \u2013 well, who could say no?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/X7w_2m8fjSY\/maxresdefault.jpg\")
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