PLSN: Is there a “normal” way to interpret Shakespeare in 21st century theater? The days of recreating Elizabethan England seem to be behind us, as today’s directors place their productions anywhere they like and use the Bard’s intricate language and story lines to create a new take on centuries-old material. In recent memory, we’ve seen an all-female production of Twelfth Night set in the roaring 1920s, A Midsummer Night’s Dream on post-apocalyptic Earth, and The Taming of the Shrew as part of a traveling circus… and that’s just in theaters around upstate New York.
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Shakespeare is known as a timeless playwright, but this does not necessarily mean that all of his plays are produced in the same fashion every time. His poetic text and universal themes are what audiences love, but they are often modernized or set in new contexts. Lighting designer and CMU alum, Thom Weaver, has implemented this notion into several Shakespearean productions he has designed for. He closely collaborates with the other designers and director to “go beyond his universe” and create the world of the play (Minetor). Weaver’s work on fantastical plays is juxtaposed by the smaller, more intimate settings he creates on shows such as Fun Home. Weaver discusses how different this production was from Macbeth, but this not imply that is was more simplistic—it was just subtler. Fun Home was an excellent example of “less is more” where Weaver created two separate color fields for the flashbacks and the present tense. I find it essential how he served to carry the story, without taking away from the action.
I think the idea of using illusions in theatre is a great idea. I love when the world of theatre is able to mix with other worlds to create something wonderful. Often times I see theatre mixing with technology, but theatre and magic together is something I have seen less of and I love that idea. I am also really interested in the new interpretation of old works like Shakespeare. Last year I had the opportunity to see Twelfth Night at The Globe in London where they set it in the 70s with disco, which I thought was so fun and I really interesting interpretation of that show. My favorite Shakespeare production I have seen was an all-female production of Macbeth where the entire cast was between the ages of 17 and 28. I love the new interpretations of old shows because they really show how universal the ideas and themes of the shows are and really speaks to how timeless they are. Something Weaver said at the end of this article was that he rejects the idea of servitude and as a designer, he is not there to serve the show but to help collaborate to create the universe of the show. I completely agree with this statement and believe it to be very important when everyone working on a show recognizes that everyone else is there to help create this show and it could not be done without anyone.
This article describes the process of crafting a modern take on Macbeth, one in which the supernatural is involved. I have mixed feelings about modern takes on Shakespeare; they often seem forced and like there is no basis in the script for some newer adaptations. There are, however, many adaptations which deftly handle the script and incorporate it into a more modern context. With the incorporation of the supernatural, I think it would be have to be seen before being judged. I think, though, if there was a Shakespeare that should include the supernatural or one that has already supernatural elements, it would be Macbeth and I think it would actually be very interesting to see how the directors decide to incorporate magic into the production. I also appreciate the emphasis they put on lighting. Macbeth already needs a lot of poignant lighting but, with the incorporation of magic, that need is elevated, and it’s very comforting to see the increasing amount of attention given to technical elements of theater.
I have to admit I find the whole putting Shakespeare plays in “interesting” settings a bit old. It sometimes feels like people are just drawing locations and time periods out of a hat and then just rolling with it. I think a lot of these productions can be interesting, and I have nothing against Shakespeare’s plays, but I feel like there are a lot of interesting plays that get overlooked because of our cultural obsession with Shakespeare. I’m sure it has something to do with not needing to pay for the rights in a lot of cases (such as high schools) but in this case, it obviously isn’t about avoiding cost. I also think that is this case it will be a really interesting production, though I still think much of what this production is achieving could’ve been achieved while also producing a new play or a play by an otherwise less represented playwright. That being said, I think the use of bringing a magician in to pull off illusions that feel like sorcery is a really cool idea, especially someone as skilled as Teller. It seems like a lot of the principles of theater lighting in general translate well as a way of supporting magic tricks. To be fair, stage magic is inherently theatrical. Separately, I enjoyed reading about Weaver’s process and how he thinks about creating a world.
When I first read Macbeth, I remember thinking that it seemed extremely "off" to me, as if nothing was quite right. I saw a production of the show at my high school, set in the historically accurate time period, and I remember feeling as if it was missing something. This production sounds like it has that creepy element that I was missing. While I think that sometimes these "different" productions miss the mark, this one does not seem to. The thing we have to remain conscious of is that we do not stage a show somewhere unique just for the sake of it. In high school we did a production of Romeo and Juliet, set in 1965 Haight Ashbury. While the show itself was extremely well done, now that I think back about it, the setting didn't make any sense, and I begin to wonder if we only changed it so we didn't need period costumes. That is one thing I think people should stay away from. If you're just staging it current day because it's easier, then you shouldn't be staging it at all. If you are changing the location to something that has more relevance to our culture today, or somewhere that might make the message more clear to an audience, then I can understand it. There's a difference between staging King Lear with a King who looks surprisingly like Donald Trump, and staging Much Ado About Nothing in the 80s because you're too lazy to come up with adequate costumes.
I had the pleasure of Stage Managing Macbeth last summer, and the possibilities that Shakespeare's work, and that show in particular, offer production teams are endless. Magic is a very tricky thing to incorporate into theatrical shows, and really does require experts in the field to be brought in for that specific process. I also recently worked on a production of Pippin, and even the small number of magic tricks that we included in that show altered how we handled the process: how knowledgeable we had to be in every detail with any effect including magic, how much time we allotted for figuring out the effects in the room and making the actors comfortable with them, how much time we allotted for each added element during the tech process, etc. I think it's such an interesting thing to bring into the conventional theatrical universe, and definitely allows the designers to explore new and exciting avenues for their work. This forced the designers to utilize their equipment in the most effective ways: eg. using LEDs which can change in an instant and transport you from one place to another. Additionally, they had to alter their way of thinking from "normal" productions, especially for Lighting Designer Thom Weaver: "It’s about what lurks in the shadows, and my job was the shadows.”
Honestly I love that Teller is an intellectual first before he is a magician, a storyteller before a performer. I know this was mainly about lighting the show, but I was more focused on the illusions. I always wanted to be a magician as a little kid so combining theatre and magic into a play or musical is a dream of mine. I agree with what Lenora said above, that Macbeth requires a horror/magic quality to have the right feel. As much as I want to populate the stage in kilts, this is not about a period piece this is a historical fantasy piece. When we as a class read it junior year, we read it aloud like it is intended to be experienced. My first thought was to have a completely empty stage with nothing but a starry sky and the deck covered in thick fog for the entire show. That was a crude first concept, but I knew that if I were to ever do it I would need to have this off quality on stage full of magic and pyro and trapdoors. I certainly want to do my own production of Macbeth and this was a great article to see how something like lighting goes into aiding the effects a industry legend of magic can create.
I love the concept and work that went into this production of Macbeth! One of my favorite things to do within the theatre world, is to try and interpret Shakespeare’s works in new, but logical ways, that excite the audience, and make then watch the show from a perspective they never considered before. This nontraditional rendition of Macbeth makes me happy, but also excited me because they lighting designer is a Carnegie Mellon alum! I know that many of the professors within the School of Drama have many connections to Shakespearean theatre companies, and I really hope I will be able to utilize those connections to be able to be involved in work in the future, just like Thom Weaver did. Overall, I really just love the idea behind this production, and the way the creative team focused on specific lines within the play about what is real and what isn’t, in order to inform their ideas behind their interpretation.
Shakespeare is the most famous playwright that has ever lived and his work will be produced for an immeasurable amount of time. Although the way his works are produced have been starting to change, and I for one, am here for all of this. Timeless classics like Romeo and Juliet are no longer being staged in Italy during the Elizabethan era, now directors and designers have found ways to modernize and even throw the production into the future with new design concepts and technologies that make it possible to alter Shakespeare’s view of the play when he wrote it. Some people, however, find it disrespectful to the playwright to alter the intended scenario of the play and believe that it should always be produced in the way that Shakespeare intended. This is a tricky situation because, on one hand, they are correct, but on the other, a designers job is to find new ways of visual storytelling and coming up with groundbreaking concepts that an audience has never seen before.
I love both horror movies and, of course, live theatre, so I always get excited when the two cross over, although that seems to be quite rare. While the genre is inherently more suited to the screen than the stage, mostly because of the increased control over audience experience and ease of creating visual effects, I think when horror is done well in live theatre it is particularly effective. I was lucky enough to work on a couple of stage adaptions of Edgar Allan Poe short stories last year, and it was one of my favorite experiences in theatre. Poe, however, is rather easy on the special effects and illusions as most of the horror is psychological, derived from the twisted minds of the characters, not horrifying monsters or supernatural effects. Other plays have elements of horror as well, including MacB, but staging one as a true supernatural horror play seems a much more complex endeavor. I hope I get to work on such a production at some point, as it sounds extremely fun, especially when working with a world-class illusionist.
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