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Why Seeing Macbeth at the Merrimack Repertory Theatre Is the Perfect Spooky Treat

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“Double, double, toil and trouble;

Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.“

It’s not until mid-way through the cursed Scottish play that these words are uttered by the three witches on stage. Over 400 years ago, this play was first performed, and yet Macbeth (like much of Shakespeare’s work) has continued to appear in pop culture today. Some artists and writers take inspiration from the text itself, while others reference the curse that lingers on and on when Macbeth is uttered in a theater outside of a performance.

With this retelling by the Merrimack Repertory Theatre, you’ll have the chance to experience the Scottish play with a new perspective and it’s the perfect way to end spooky season.  

Macbeth

By William Shakespeare

Dates: October 19th to November 6th

Schedule: Times vary between 2 pm and 7 pm 

Details:

  • Adapted and Originally Directed by Lee Sunday Evans
  • Directed by Rosa Joshi
  • Original Music by Heather Christian
  • Recommended for age 14 and older.
  • Approximately 90 minutes in length with no intermission

The cursed and dreaded Scottish play like you’ve never seen it before. 

Something wicked this way comes . . . In this brisk, unnerving version of Macbeth, the three witches, or weird sisters, play out the entire story of a man who becomes so possessed by power and ambition that he will destroy anyone who gets in his way. Are these witches ancient prophets or contemporary witnesses? Double, double toil and trouble. 

Learn More Before the Show:

Interested in learning more about Macbeth before you enter the theater for this brilliant retelling? The Merrimack Repertory Theatre has created a guide for exactly that! Learn more about the play through interviews with the director, Rosa Joshi and one of the actors, Milicent Wright. The guide provides activities for various grades to help students build their understanding of the work. 

The guide also provides additional context on the text itself and explores questions scholars have been discussing for years. One of the articles called “Is Macbeth a Tragic Hero?” explores the qualities that make a tragic hero since ancient Greece. As the philosopher Aristotle believed, a tragic hero should have 5 characteristics that influence their behavior and their place in the story such as virtous, hamartia, peripeteia, anagnorisis, and catharsis. Unlike his teacher and predecessor Plato, Aristotle studied less of the epic hero and wanted to explore heroes who struggled to remain ethical and search for existential truth about themselves

The guide also discusses the importance of race, the weird (or weyward) sisters of the play, and the influence of King James I on the play. Surprised? You shouldn’t be because King James I was actually obsessed with witchcraft and wanted to eradicate it. He began hunting for witches in 1589 and the ramifications continued for many years. 

While you don’t have to write an essay on it (or maybe you do if your teacher has asked you to), having a deeper understanding of what pieces were in motion to create the play will help you come to your own conclusions and find a new appreciation for the cursed Scottish play this spooky season. 

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