Review Roundup: MACBETH with Machine Guns at Shakespeare Theatre

Provocative director Liesl Tommy brings Broadway savvy, storytelling flair and a revolutionary sensibility to Macbeth, Shakespeare's masterpiece of suspense. In a world beset by civil war and invasion, Macbeth and his artful lady begin a series of murders, designed to further their own ambitions, only to plunge their lives into madness.

Check out an exclusive trailer from the show below!

Liesl Tommy's projects include Eclipsed by Danai Gurira (starring Lupita Nyong'o and nominated for a Tony Award for Best Direction), Appropriate by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (Signature Theatre New York, Obie Award for Best New Play), Ruined by Lynn Nottage (at the Huntington Theatre Company, Berkeley Repertory Theatre and La Jolla Playhouse), and the world premiere of Party People by Universes at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

Macbeth is playing now through May 28. For more information visit www.shakespearetheatre.org.

Check out what the ctitics had to say below!

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BroadwayWorld (Roger Catlin): In addition to more people of color in the production, Tommy's "Macbeth" also features more women in positions of power as well, from soldiers to the the play's first victim, Duncan, now the Queen of Scotland (Petronia Paley). That takes away some of the pressure off of Nikkole Salter as the sole woman in the spotlight, who would otherwise take blame for inflaming the murderous ambition. As Lady Macbeth, she enters wearing her headscarf as if already a crown (and Harvard T shirt). She seems more caught up in the whirlwind of ambition than engineering it sinisterly on her own.

Jesse J. Perez as Macbeth led the cast with a powerful performance. He embodied the character wholly and portrayed his struggle with ambition and power transparently. Perez played equally Macbeth's many sides, from his beginnings as the kind and humble general to the end as a power-hungry ruler." target="_blank">Md Theatre Guide (Maria Materise): Jesse J. Perez as Macbeth led the cast with a powerful performance. He embodied the character wholly and portrayed his struggle with ambition and power transparently. Perez played equally Macbeth's many sides, from his beginnings as the kind and humble general to the end as a power-hungry ruler.

Washington Post (Nelson Pressley): Director Liesl Tommy's action-packed production is a tale of Africa suffering at the hands of Western interventionists. It is never more alive than during its battles; this show is notably fluent in the vocabulary of African violence. Child soldiers? Yes - that's who Macbeth recruits to assassinate his erstwhile sidekick Banquo and Banquo's son. Necklacing? Yes - a tire is tossed over the head of a victim and doused with gasoline as she's wrestled offstage.

Metro Weekly (Kate Wingfield): Many of the elements are in place: a so-called nontraditional or "colorblind" production, the cast is almost exclusively of color (save for the three witches, whose whiteness carries its own significance in this interpretation). Though it is not the first such rendering of Macbeth, its placing of the action in contemporary Africa - in which cell phones, jet-setting finery and modern music mix with traditional dress, custom and song - feels exceptionally fresh and unique. In fact, some of the most affecting moments are those in which director Liesl Tommy sets past and present side by side."

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