University of Notre Dame Stages 2-Man MACBETH

Just in time for Halloween, an exclusive 2-man production of William Shakespeare's Macbeth will be performed in Notre Dame's Philbin Studio Theatre, October 30 & 31, 2019.

This one-of-a-kind staging features the entire play performed by two actors, Troels Hagen Findsen and Paul O'Mahony, in a dynamic contemporary production that reveals fresh new layers in the timeless story. Highlighting Shakespeare's themes of manipulation, guilt, and power with boundless energy and surprising wit, Macbeth is both enormously entertaining and chillingly relevant.

Macbeth is produced by Out of Chaos in association with Mac Birmingham, Oxford Playhouse & The Civic, Barnsley, and supported by Arts Council England.

PERFORMANCE LOCATION, DATES, AND TIMES:

Philbin Studio Theatre in the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center, on the campus of the University of Notre Dame

Wednesday, October 30 and Thursday, October 31 at 7:30pm

Tickets: Regular $20, student $10. Visit shakespeare.nd.edu or call 574-631-2800.

Why two actors?

According to Out of Chaos, the decision to stage Macbeth for just two actors helps focus attention on the play's binary relationships between its most important characters, such as Macbeth/Lady Macbeth, Macbeth/Banquo, Macbeth/Macduff, and Macduff/Malcolm. This creative constraint directly includes and involves the audience in the story, and challenges the actors to create a heightened, highly theatrical world which illuminates new aspects of the story.

"One of the joys of playing Shakespeare is that he does so much of the work for you," notes performer and Out of Chaos artistic director Paul O'Mahony. "Each character's thoughts are there in the lines so inhabiting different characters isn't too challenging if you follow the language. It felt important to tell the story clearly by creating clear physicalities and vocal qualities for each character. We talked about establishing each character's physical silhouette - so that you could recognise them if you only saw their shadow on a wall."

About the cast:

Associate artist Troels Hagen Findsen is a Danish actor, performer/creator, writer, director and musician. He's created and performed in a number of works in Denmark and abroad. Troels is an associate artist of Out of Chaos in London, and has worked with such artists and companies as BBC Radio 4 Drama, Kitt Johnson's X-Act, Rapid Eye, Erik Pold (Teater Momentum Ensemble Vol. 8) and The Figura Ensemble. Troels is a graduate of The Jacques Lecoq International Theatre School in Paris and has trained with members of The Siti Company and Complicité. He is on the artistic board of Forsøgsstation and the faculty of The Academy of Modern Circus (AMOC). In 2012 Troels received a research and work grant for his research in autofictive storytelling and performance from The Danish Art Foundation's Statens Kunstfonds Film- og Scenekunstudvalg.

Paul O'Mahony is artistic director of Out of Chaos, with whom he has devised, written, and performed multiple productions that have toured worldwide. Theatre credits include several seasons at The Orange Tree; Othello (RSC); The Taming of the Shrew (Plymouth Theatre Royal); Suppliants (BAC); Ice (ETO); Next Door (Out of Balanz); and Under the Hammerbeam Roof (ETO). With Richard Twyman, he translated and adapted three Greek tragedies to create The House of Atreus (Barbican). He is an associate producer at Jermyn Street Theatre, where his credits include All That Fall, St John's Night, and Mother Adam. In 2015, Paul directed Much Ado About Nothing as Eminent Artist-in-Residence at the University of Wyoming. Paul has also toured with Actors From The London Stage in 2010 (A Midsummer Night's Dream), 2014 (Much Ado About Nothing), and 2016 (Richard III).

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