Katelyn Moorman
Staff Writer
For those who have seen Shakespeare before, “[they]’ve probably not seen it like this,” said Theatre and Dance Department Head, Leigh Selting.
An adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth will be shown in the Buchanan Center for the Fine Arts Main Stage on Oct. 25 and 26. Starring Paul O’Mahony and Troels Hagen Findsen, this production is “fast, furious and only 80 minutes long,” Selting said.
The actors have “had to be very creative in terms of coming up with different characterizations to make the delineations between characters clear,” since there are two actors playing around 20 characters. O’Mahony and Findsen said there is still a challenge in figuring out how to go between characters since they do not have certain pieces of costume to indicate character as they have had in previous productions with small companies.
O’Mahony said they asked themselves, “How can we physically and vocally create these different characters so we can jump between them and people will instantly know what’s what?”
O’Mahony said having only two actors “brings out the core elements of the story,” because of the strong “pairs of relationships” found in Macbeth.
“We love taking our shows to lots of different places,” Findsen said, even though it provides a new set of challenges. While on tour, Out of Chaos has to accommodate their production to different types of theaters and technological challenges. Having to switch from performing in proscenium arch theaters to studio theaters to village halls can mean not all elements—such as lighting, sound and space—are consistent throughout every production.
“We take shows to places where they don’t access to the arts, typically,” O’Mahony said, “so you just pitch up in the village hall, and the whole village comes—which might only be 20 people.”
O’Mahony said since he trusts Findsen on the stage, “that gives us an allowance to make new choices within a performance.” Findsen said with live performance, the audience is “right there, and you’re telling the story together.”
As for what is at stake in the production, Findsen said, “Once you get power, it becomes about maintaining that power at all costs. I think that’s something we still find in society today with certain leaders.”
Findsen said the play questions what ambition does to people, and what “the result of blind ambition” could be. O’Mahony said life is another thing that is at stake in the play, because “there’s a feeling, in Shakespeare, that everyone is ten seconds away from death.”
O’Mahony said if a production has been “sort of entertaining and moving, then we feel that we’ve done our job.” The audience is a large part of what the actors focus on, and O’Mahony said “we try to make them feel integral to the story.”
Selting said “people are not going to be disappointed” if they come to see Macbeth. Having productions like these, Selting said, is a great experience for not only students interested in Shakespeare, but also for the community.
“I think people will love it,” Selting said. “I know Paul, I’ve seen his work before—both as a director and an actor. It’s going to be an outstanding evening of theatre.”
Friday night is sold out, Selting said, but tickets are still available for the Saturday performance. Tickets are available at the box office in the Buchanan Center for the Performing Arts, or online.
