Photo Flash: Orlando Shakes Presents MACBETH

William Shakespeare's Macbeth, produced by Orlando Shakes in partnership with UCF, runs from October 9 - November 24, 2019. Tickets (starting at $30) are available now by phone (407) 447-1700 ext. 1, online at orlandoshakes.org, or in person at the John and Rita Lowndes Shakespeare Center (812 East Rollins Street).

"Something wicked this way comes." Experience a visually striking production of Shakespeare's Scottish play in an intimate setting. Blind ambition and twisted prophesy lead Macbeth to murder the Scottish king and seize the throne. An impulse for destruction and a loose grip on sanity define Lord and Lady Macbeth's foothold on power that can only end in tragedy.

"I love the way a subtly different performance of one gesture can radically change the meaning of the text it accompanies and I like the puzzle of inventing the movement vocabulary that is necessary to cast a spell or conjures ghosts. Dance can convey the passage of time, the temperature of fear, and the havoc of the heart in the moment of first attraction," says Choreographer Christina McCarthy. "Because our work is based in an ephemeral staging style that relies only on the actor and the text with minimal support from abstract scenery and costuming, we use a lot of physically embodied images that tell the audience where we are, what time of day it is, and finish the story with layers of content that are normally addressed by externalities. We do this through the actors' bodies to help us see the whole world being created on stage."

Director & Sound Designer Irwin Appel is Professor and Chair of the Department of Theater and Dance at UC Santa Barbara. As a professional director, Equity actor and composer/sound designer, he has worked with Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Shakespeare Festival/LA, the New York, Oregon, Utah, New Jersey and Colorado Shakespeare Festivals, The Acting Company, Theatre For a New Audience, Hartford Stage, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Arizona Theatre Company, PCPA, both the National Theatre Conservatory and Colorado New Play Summit at the Denver Center of the Performing Arts, the Bread Load Acting Ensemble, and other prominent regional theaters. . Most recently, he acted the role of Pandarus in Troilus and Cressida in the Czech Republic with the Prague Shakespeare Company at the renowned Estates Theatre where Mozart premiered Don Giovanni in 1787. He is the founder of Naked Shakes producing Shakespeare's plays at UCSB and on tour since 2006. He has also has led workshops and lectured about Naked Shakes in China, Greece, Switzerland, Poland, and Czech Republic. He is a graduate of Princeton University and the Juilliard School.

The artistic team also includes Choreographer & Mask Designer Christina McCarthy, Scenic Designer & Costume Designer Ann Sheffield, Lighting Designer Kevin Griffin**, Fight Director Tony Simotes, Fight Captain Kenny Babel*, and AEA Stage Manager George Hamrah*.

*Member of Actors' Equity Association
**Member of United Scenic Artists