I've been hearing so much about the top-notch theatrical productions at Dominican University, I thought I'd better get over there and check one of them out.
Saturday, I stepped into Lund Auditorium, on the Dominican campus in River Forest off Division Street, just as a rehearsal for the contemporary, urban Macbeth was about to commence. I was invited to watch this beehive of theatrical activity, which is Dominican University's first play of the academic year, by Krista Hansen, instructor of all Dominican's performance classes and director of an updated spin on the Shakespeare classic. As I take my seat, Hansen is standing in the auditorium, addressing a stage filled with performers.
"There is to be no cellphone use and no checking of messages or texting at any time during rehearsals or performances," the director states emphatically. "Why is this necessary - even if you're offstage and you're not in the scene?" she then asks the cast of 29.
"That would take you out of the world of the play," one actor answers.
"Yes!" Hansen says. "You have two very intense hours to build energy in this show, so you need to stay focused even off-stage. You cannot be distracted by anything."
Hansen's large cast seems to clearly understand.
The entire on-stage company begins doing extensive exercises: shaking, yawning, stretching, cawing like crows, deep breathing, bending and jumping. The director herself gets up onstage with her large cast to choreograph and even participate in this warm-up movement.
But before the actual rehearsal of Shakespeare's speeches can begin, there is one more vital phase of preparation: a run-through of all episodes of stage fighting. Since there are many realistic, extended scenes of violent activity in Macbeth, it's extremely important that all stage fighting is meticulously planned and executed.
Adam Miller-Batteau, a professional actor who also plays Macduff the avenger, is the fight director. Stage violence requires incredible acrobatics and agility. There are thrilling extended interludes of slashing, shooting, fighting and stabbing. One character is struck with a hub cap. Another is dragged by a noose.
"Yes," director Hansen admits, "Shakespeare didn't flinch when it came to violence in this play. But we're so used to it now in our current culture. There's violence in everything from video games to our TV programs. Our fight director is amazing, and every single bit is very controlled and carefully choreographed."
The violence, vividly portrayed, isn't hip or trendy - it's in the play. Shakespeare wanted to upset people, showing life at its most cynical and brutal. Some consider this play to be his darkest work. Nothing is depicted that isn't mentioned by Shakespeare. The plot grows increasingly brutal, showing Macbeth's bloody rise to power. A child is stabbed. A husband and wife are so driven they will not let anyone stand in their way. They murder a sleeping man - their guest. There is also drug use - but that, too, is in the drama: Lady Macbeth keeps a strong sedative in her home, unknown to her husband.
No lords or ladies here
The play illustrates the results of unchecked ambition: one man's bloody rise to power. Once violence is chosen as a means of achieving power in Macbeth, it's impossible to stop. Only the time and setting have been switched. Instead of a military camp on the Scottish moors, we're in an urban war zone.
Chances are you already know the play because Macbeth has long been required reading in high school literature classes. It's Shakespeare's shortest tragedy, half as long as Hamlet, and there's no distracting subplot.
Those familiar with the tragedy may also recall a lot of medieval Scottish politics, with Scottish nobles and military men in conflict over the leadership of the land. This exciting new Dominican production, however, is cutting-edge urban. To create an entirely new spin on the characters and conflict, Hansen has done some slight pruning of the script without altering the work in any significant or harmful way.
"I think our audiences will find our interpretation exciting and relevant," Hansen explains. "It's very present-day. The issues and struggles are being portrayed in ways people can more easily relate to. They are not presented in a distant, remote historical period. By placing the story into an updated setting, it is more accessible for those who might find Shakespeare's heightened language foreign to them."
"These are not lords and ladies," Hansen says, "but people and types that seem familiar and recognizable to us now. The witches are homeless women who are living on the street. Sometimes, such street people blend in so well, we actually don't even notice them. These particular women read Tarot cards, for instance. Some folks in our own world claim to have a gift to read auras or tell fortunes. The conflict does not unfold in Scotland a thousand years ago. It's our modern world, with gang warfare, drugs, guns, and trafficked women."
Aly Foss, a psychology major from Alsip who plays Witch #2, discusses the perverse delight the three "midnight hags" take in their ability to foretell the future and manipulate key characters:
"We're pickpockets and unnoticed street people. One of us sees visions. We're in the present world where there are class conflicts. I think we're true to the text yet we're making the lines work for audiences now."
Each encounter with the three street women - the witches - initiates escalating episodes of conflict.
Jonatho n Hicks, who plays the title role, observes that "the Scottish politics of civil war translates perfectly into a turf war among gangsters. This updating makes the plot a lot more relevant than medieval history. Unfortunately, the 400-year-old language can become a barrier for some audience members. By providing this new environment and a more modern spin, the play is now much more accessible."
The issues and conflicts still apply, says Katie Moss, a theater major from Chicago who portrays sultry, intense Lady Macbeth. "Shakespeare's themes are timeless. We have not tampered with any of that," she notes.
Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are partners in crime who are deeply in love. Although she's high-maintenance, her influence over her husband is intense and sexual. She's really the more ruthless of the two and suffers none of her husband's uncertainty. In fact, she manipulates Macbeth by questioning his manhood.
"Our take on Macbeth is rather like CSI: Miami meets The Sopranos," Hicks says. "It plays like a modern gangster story."
Macbeth's a powerful egotist who commits atrocities. His response to every problem is violence and murder, yet he's never comfortable in his criminal role.
Would Shakespeare approve? I ask professional actor Jonathan Hicks.
"Very few lines have been dropped in our adaptation," Hicks admits, "but any author might have an issue with his words being cut. Yet I think Shakespeare would be thrilled that here, 400 years later, his themes, conflicts and characters still work, still move us. Audiences will connect. I'm sure of that."
Macbeth is a play filled with passion and superstition. It's long held a checkered, rather mystical reputation - perhaps because of the presence of the witches and their curses. When The Bard penned Macbeth, many still believed in superstition and the dark power of witchcraft.
In fact, merely saying the title of this play backstage became the most famous of theatrical taboos. There are numerous legends about careless actors who thoughtlessly uttered the title aloud and soon suffered horrendous accidents, injuries and even death. In order to avoid what's known as "the Macbeth curse," actors always refer to Shakespeare's tragic masterpiece as "the Scottish play."
Hansen, who has been teaching at Dominican for seven seasons, tells me there are six professional artists in her cast of 29. "They really stimulate the student actors," she says. "There are at least a dozen people on the production staff. And four stage managers. It's a big, complex show. There will even be a professional percussionist punctuating the drama. Everyone's done a splendid job, with an amazing level of research. I'm very proud of them."
Special effects that would've impressed The Bard
Macbeth's cold, dark castle is interpreted as an urban setting with a large, impersonal building and a street scene outside. This giant set opens up to show interior action.
"This Macbeth is an extraordinary show in terms of its size," says technical director and set designer Bill Jenkins.
"The set we've built is as solid as a house. It has to be - I have actors up there walking 8 feet in the air on the second level. We're also using a lot of special effects that are equal to what you'd find in the movies. I think audiences will be blown away by this production."
Dominican's production may not be for Macbeth purists who prefer their Shakespeare performed in the traditional Renaissance mode. I assume we won't be seeing actors in kilts. But judging from the thrilling rehearsal I attended, anyone who witnesses this production will find it hard to forget. I can't wait to see the finished product this weekend.
Macbeth opens Friday night. There are just three performances, alas, in this very limited run.
Doug Deuchler, a longtime educator, is an Oak Parker who, when not reviewing community theater for Wednesday Journal, is a stand-up comic, a local tour guide and docent, and author of several books about Oak Park and neighboring communities.
