The Court Theatre Opens Dark, Contemporary Staging of MACBETH Tonight

By: BWW News Desk Mar. 05, 2016

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A contemporary, urban staging of Macbeth, Shakespeare's dark tragedy is set to invade The Court with Mark Hadlow in the lead role.

Artistic Director of The Court and director of Macbeth, Ross Gumbley, has long wanted to stage the play "in a society that has been ravaged by conflict in a long civil war and infused with the sort of images we have seen in recent history in Eastern Europe and the Middle East".

Gumbley firmly believes that the story of a decorated general who seizes power and then destroys all threats to his authority is starkly relevant.

"Macbeth is almost a 'how to' playbook for dictators", says Gumbley. "Rulers like Stalin and Gaddafi; countries like Syria and Chechnya - the pattern of someone assuming control and transforming into a tyrant has echoed through history."

"The play is a fascinating study of self-corruption. Once you give yourself license to act on your darkest impulses, where - and how - does it end? Macbeth gives himself that license and as a result his internal conflict is the heart of this tragedy. He's an incredibly imaginative character, so when he surrenders to his dark thoughts we see up close the toll it takes." says Gumbley.

Casting Hadlow and Lara Macgregor as Lady Macbeth, was the key. "With Mark as Macbeth, you see a man for whom murder is his last roll of the dice to be King," says Gumbley. "The best part for us is that Mark's abilities only get better with age. He can convey the danger and power of Macbeth while simultaneously deeply invoking the audience's sympathy."

Macgregor, former Artistic Director of the Fortune Theatre, recently directed The Court season of Winston's Birthday and last performed with Hadlow at The Court as a married couple in When the Rain Stops Falling. Having also played a couple in Gods of Carnage, Gumbley felt the actors' chemistry would be perfectly harnessed in the lead roles in Macbeth.

With the leads and creative vision secure, the remainder of the cast fell into place, with Gumbley assembling "a strata of mature actors with a wonderful blend of young actors coming in that gives this production a fantastic energy."

Numerous actors return to The Court for Macbeth, including Owen Black (who played Malcolm almost twenty years earlier, now playing Macduff); Michael Keir Morrissey and Adam Brookfield. Making their debut at The Court are British actor Tom Peters (with numerous UK stage roles under his belt) as Macbeth's best friend and comrade Banquo; and New Zealand-born Raewyn Lippert (Game of Thrones, Call the Midwife and Suffragettes) as one of the witches who prophesy Macbeth's ascension.

"When you delve into Macbeth you unlock doors that lead to other doors, and that's one reason it's Shakespeare's most popularly-produced play - it constantly reinvents itself with each production," says Gumbley.

"400 years on Macbeth still feels like it was written for today."

Cast:

? Mark Hadlow: Macbeth

? Lara Macgregor: Lady Macbeth

? Tom Peters: Banquo/Seyton

? Owen Black: Macduff

? Michael Keir Morrissey: Duncan/Doctor

? Tola Newbery: Malcolm/Third Murderer

? Barry de Lore: Ross

? Adam Brookfield: Lennox/Second Murderer/Siward

? Kim Garrett: Lady Macduff/Gentlewoman

? Jared Corbin: Angus/First Murderer/ Porter/Lord