Riot Grrrls march on Dunsinane!
It’s always a delight to speak with and hear from the tremendous array of creative artists and performers who make our local theater community thrive at every level. But there is a special thrill that comes from the chance to talk to two supremely talented, veteran theater-makers about an exciting project when they also happen to be cherished longtime colleagues, co-conspirators, and friends.
This was the case when I managed to wheedle a few spare minutes from the rehearsal process for the Riot Grrrls upcoming 10-actor staging of Shakespeare’s Macbeth–produced by DC’s wildly imaginative Taffety Punk and directed by Michelle Shupe, running Sept 25 through Oct 12–to chat with the actors playing the play’s titular duo: Lise Bruneau as Macbeth and Tonya Beckman as Lady Macbeth.
The two shared reflections on the Riot Grrrls as an original impulse and an enduring endeavor (you won’t want to miss that tea!), plus their thoughts on how they are finding that Macbeth lands now, here, for them and perhaps for audiences as well. On what it means to explore roles so familiar and infamous while keeping them fresh, personal, and particular. On what difference it makes when women and female-presenting actors embody roles conceived for men (which of course historically includes all the women characters too, in Shakespeare’s own time–notwithstanding the delightful fun of Gwyneth Paltrow’s Juliet). And, among other observations, on the play’s tragic account of a good marriage gone terribly awry.
Shupe’s production takes inspiration in part from Nordic mythology to embrace the play’s mystery and magic, as well as its sometimes uncomfortable questions of fate or free will; it also draws for its signature violence (combat and otherwise) from Eastern traditions. And of course, even with a tightly compressed acting company, at the heart of it all lie Shakespeare’s dynamic, raw, urgent verse; the vivid central figures of the action; the mysteries of their motivations and the bloody consequences of their choices; and the same questions of power, justice, ambition, betrayal, hope, despair, and more that have kept the play in circulation so long.
But don’t take my word for it. Hear from Bruneau and Beckman here
Then follow the promptings of fate and destiny to find more information or acquire tickets here.
