Review Roundup: Folger's Restoration-Era MACBETH

Rampant ambition and minds unhinged. Shrieking owls and prophesies foretold. Folger Theatre begins its 2018/19 season with Macbeth, Shakespeare's murderous tragedy seen anew and here, set in London's famous Bedlam asylum for a groundbreaking production integrating period music into a famous variation of the play. The Restoration-era adaptation by Sir William Davenant, which mesmerized audiences from the re-opening of London theaters in the 1660's until well into the 18th century, blends music performed by Folger Consort and the seminal tragedy of the Scottish king.

Directed by Robert Richmond (Antony and Cleopatra, Othello, Henry V), Macbeth has a limited run of only 24 performances from September 4 through 23, 2018. Tickets are available online at www.folger.edu/theatre or by calling the Folger Box Office at (202) 544-7077.

Ravelle Brickman, DC Metro Theater Arts: It's Act Two. And the audience, by now, is aware that this is not your usual Macbeth. Instead, it's an adaptation written during the Restoration, when Cromwell and his lot were finally thrown out, the Stuarts were back and the theaters were finally reopened. In this version, there are real women on stage, recognizable music (Purcell et al, played by the fine musicians of the Folger Consort) and some new dialogue. And yes, the witches now sing.

Nelson Pressley, Washington Post: Richmond is setting the play in London's notorious psychiatric hospital Bedlam with inmates acting the show for visitors. In part, that choice is to accommodate the extravagant physical style of Restoration acting - even though, as everyone involved points out, this revival is not going to be a thoroughly old-fashioned imitation of Restoration style. The project may have begun with scholars trying to make a case for Davenant's 17th-century theatrical liberties, but the goal is to make a show that can hold the stage now. To that end, Richmond has a trick up his sleeve - no spoiler here - that he hopes will help the murderous plot "get real."