Macbeth: Washington Shakespeare Company

Gniewek, Ray, American Theatre

Jose Carrasquillo, DIRECTOR: I've had this production of Macbeth in my head since the 1990s. Holinshed's Chronicles, from which the play is drawn, showcases a society that was very primal, animal-like, of the earth. But we usually see the play through the more civilized prism of Elizabethan England. I wanted to tell the story in a way that expressed the play's primitivism, its elemental quality. In our production we used the witches not as plot devices, but as forces of nature directing the action. The three witches were omnipresent and played many of the supporting characters. One patron wrote to tell me that, for him and his wife, it was not a cultural experience, but a visceral one: …

Questia, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning. www.questia.com
Publication information: Article title: Macbeth: Washington Shakespeare Company. Contributors: Gniewek, Ray - Author. Magazine title: American Theatre. Volume: 24. Issue: 7 Publication date: September 2007. Page number: 40+. © 1999 Theatre Communications Group. COPYRIGHT 2007 Gale Group.

This material is protected by copyright and, with the exception of fair use, may not be further copied, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means.