Review: MACBETH at Guthrie Theater

A chilling new adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth has taken up residence on the Guthrie Theater’s Wurtele Thrust Stage and it is certain to entrance and horrify Twin Cities audiences.

When Macbeth, a celebrated Scottish warrior, receives an unexpected prophecy, it plants a seed of ambition that begins to shape his choices, pulling him into a tense struggle between desire, loyalty, and the consequences of pursuing power too fiercely.

Helming this production is a titan of the Twin Cities directing scene, Joe Dowling, who has thrown his entire being into creating this ambitious piece. There is never any doubt that the cast and creatives are in good hands with Dowling due to the result he has produced through his masterful staging. Focusing the audiences attention on the text and his actors throughout by rarely playing the scenes far from center stage. When he does choose to move the action to the wings, it is purposeful.

Additionally, Dowling’s staging of the play really allows his fellow creatives’ talents to shine. He has given lighting designer Philip Rosenberg full reign to play with the audience emotions through his brilliant lighting design. Rosenberg knows exactly what kind of show this is and he constantly plays with mood as he casts the theater into deep and horrifying hues of purples and reds throughout, drawing us in and making us feel unsettled in the best way.

Joining Rosenberg in setting the tone of the piece is scenic designer Riccardo Hernández who

has ensured that the audience is fully entrench in the moodiness of Macbeth throughout. Hernández’ use of stage fog filling the theater provides the perfect atmospheric haze needed for such a famously dark story.

Hernández’s design utilizes the movement of two large onyx pillars that move in and out to widen or narrow the audience’s depth of focus on each scene. The expansion and reduction of view is especially powerful when the audience feels as though they are being constrained in a small area with the characters. Even when the entirety of the stage is used, there is still a powerful intimacy at play.

This feeling is only heightened by the talent who fills the stage uttering this chilling script.  Namely, Daniel José Molina who assumes the role of the ambitious, and yet, ill fated Macbeth with the prowess that Twin Cities audiences have come to expect from him after his previous Shakespearean performance in 2024’s The History Plays.

From the moment Molina steps on stage, the audience is in the palm of his hand. His ability to navigate between various emotions at a moment’s notice demonstrates his ability to not only understand the text and motivations of the Thane of Glamis but to convey it to the audience in a way that is so easy to understand, and relate to, that we can’t help but feel his raw emotion right along side of him.

Molina’s passion is on full display throughout the entire production. From his gleeful elation during the news that he is destined for greatness, to his tragic decent into madness while coming to terms with the consequences of his choices. It is easy to see why Molina has tackled countless Shakespearean characters throughout his career - simply put, he is one of the best doing it in the American theater today.

Matching Molina’s energy and tragedy beat for beat is Meghan Kreidler who embodies Lady Macbeth with an abundance of grace and fierceness. Each time she is left on stage alone or given a chance to monologue to the lords around her, the audience finds themselves entranced. As her descent into her own madness begins to take hold, the audience is treated to a masterclass in playing insanity while not overplaying it. They really are a deadly duo.

Furthermore, the production wouldn’t be complete without the extremely effective costume design by Judith Dolan. Moving away from the traditional Shakespearean garb, Dolan seems to have taken some inspiration from Star Wars. The costume design is very reminiscent of the uniforms worn by the Empire as they attempt to take over the galaxy. It may seem like an odd comparison but it is meant as the highest of compliments, as it suits this production’s design to a T.

The talent on display by the entire cast and creatives is quite impressive, making this production of Macbeth a worthy journey to the Guthrie Theater.

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