Director: Chen Gang
Playwright: William Shakespeare
Institution: Central Academy of Drama - China
Venue: Teatro Municipal “Enrique Buenaventura”
Time: 20:00, May 20, 2015
Event: ATEC 9th International Forum
Director’s Notes
Without the prophecy of the witches, Macbeth wouldn't have vaulting ambition; there wouldn't be the regicide and the subsequent series of tragedies. Macbeth can be considered as an experiment of Shakespeare to fully reveal human ambitions and desires through the witches.
The play reflects how ambitions and desires can bring devastating catastrophes to human beings through scenes of unjust regicide and subsequent slaughters by Macbeth, as well as the "justice-fraught" purge of Macbeth and his followers by Malcolm in order to regain his power and reinforce his position.
"Desire" is a double-edged sword, which on the one hand promotes human development, but on the other destroys humanity. Think about the current problems of environment, society and war, which are caused precisely by irrepressible human desires. As desire brings us advanced technology, abundant materials and other things we crave, it stifles our happiness as well. Through the words of the witches, Shakespeare says, "Fair is foul, and foul is fair...", which can be seen as warning for us.
"Witch" also means actor in ancient China. In our stage version of the story, we perform Macbeth using the five types of roles in Chinese traditional opera: male characters, female characters, painted-face characters, middle-aged male characters and clowns, as well as other performance methods from the Chinese traditional opera. It is an experiment and exploration of Eastern elements to interpret a Western classic.
Synopsis
Macbeth is one of Shakespeare's four great tragedies. Its tells the story of a Scottish general named Macbeth who, on his way home with Banquo after a counterinsurgency, receives a prophecy from three witches that one day he will become Thane of Cawdor and King of Scotland, but will have his throne passed to a descendant of Banquo for he will have no son as heir. Afterwards, King Duncan grants the title of Thane of Cawdor to Macbeth as expected, and the first prophecy becomes true Spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders King Duncan when the latter visits his castle, and he and his wife finally become king and queen respectively. To deceive the public and protect his throne from being usurped, he kills Banquo and the wife and son of Thane Macduff, throwing Scotland into civil war. The bloodbath takes Macbeth and his wife into the realm of guilt. Finally, Lady Macbeth goes mad and commits suicide, while Duncan's son Malcolm and Macduff lead his army from England to Scotland and put Macbeth to death.