Steampunk "Macbeth" comes to Kenilworth

The Hudson Shakespeare Company returns with the third and final installment of the 10th annual "Bard on the Boulevard" summer series with a new twist on a old favorite - "Macbeth" directed by Noelle Fair. The show will be presented at the David Brearly Middle School Football field, 401 Monroe Avenue, Kenilworth or in case of inclement or very hot weather at the Kenilworth Public Library, 546 Boulevard, Kenilworth on Thursday, August 22nd @ 7:30pm
        
Director Noelle Fair has taken the familiar story of a dutiful general and nobleman Macbeth (David C. Neal) and his ambitious wife Lady Macbeth (Rachel Alt), who sell their souls and conscience to darker forces to become the king and queen of Scotland.

This production is given a new twist incorporating the gothic style known as "Steampunk". This fashion and comic-con staple combines styles of English Victorian dress with sci-fi tropes of gears, machinery and technology. adding to the play's already dark and Halloween-like sensibilities. Black and red palettes, phantasmagorical music and disjointed imagery dominate the scene as murder plots are hatched and executed with every mounting regularity and tension, ever egged on by three mysterious women simple known as "the weyard sisters" (Emily Dalton, Siobahn O'Loughlin and Lisa LaGrande). Are they human women casting spells or something more otherwordly?
        
Written in 1605-1606, Shakespeare loosely based a story of a historical 11th century nobleman's rise to the Scottish throne with a commentary on his contemporary political scene. James I, king of Scotland had recently succeeded Queen Elizabeth, but in 1605 an assassination plot was discovered that would have, literally, blown up him and his entire parliament. Known as the "Gunpowder Plot", the conspirators became known as "equivocators", saying one thing or doing another. However, scandal followed the arrests as charges that members James' own government had put them up to it.

Whatever the truth, Shakespeare wove a story tailored made for the new king as a warning against such two-faced people and also pandering to King James' taste in the subject of witches. The king had written a book on the subject and with the unsettling, equivocal atmosphere and subject matter, "Macbeth" remains one of Shakespeare's most popular, studied and produced works.

Funding for 9th annuanl “The Bard on the Boulevard” has been made possible in part by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, Department of State, a partner agency of the National Endowment of the Arts, through a grant administered by the Union County Office of Cultural and Heritage Affairs. The Kenilworth Chamber of Commerce has also signed on as a platinum sponsor for this series.

Hudson Shakespeare Company is now in its 22nd season of traveling theatre, touring to various parks, classrooms and other unique venues through North Jersey.
    
Patrons are encouraged to bring a lawn chair or blanket and all performances are free. For more information, please call 973 449 7443 or visit hudsonshakespeare.homestead.com