{"id":1770,"date":"2022-10-03T11:26:53","date_gmt":"2022-10-03T15:26:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/?p=1770"},"modified":"2022-10-03T11:26:55","modified_gmt":"2022-10-03T15:26:55","slug":"macbeth-fall-2022-tour-entry-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/macbeth-fall-2022-tour-entry-3\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cMacbeth\u201d Fall 2022 Tour: Entry #3"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Michael Wagg<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So foul and.. foul.. a day I have not seen.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last night during the fight at the end of our play a sword snapped in half. Roger and I battled on as best we could. The swords we use reflect the style of this work and are perhaps slightly less dangerous than the real thing, but still it was a shock and I\u2019m pretty sure I\u2019ve been holding my breath ever since. At least until I plunged into the hot tub this morning. Everything\u2019s fine and we\u2019ll have new swords soon, but it was hard not to see the mishap as a sign of the coming storm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A hurricane, ridiculously named Ian<\/em>, has caused devastation in Florida over the past 24 hours, and our thoughts have been with those affected there. We\u2019ve had it a lot less harsh here, but heavy rain, high winds, and wise caution meant that our show was cancelled this evening. We were disappointed, particularly for the students we\u2019ve been working with throughout the week who were due to come and see the show in the intimate Black Box Theatre. Even beyond Shakespeare, we\u2019re told that for many of these students our performance would be their first experience of live theatre, so as much as the cancellation is put into perspective by the hardship and loss in Florida, we still felt the disappointment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, sitting here in the shelter of the hotel lobby in Charlotte, North Carolina, we\u2019ve pause for thought, before we head back to base next week for our residency at Notre Dame. I thought I\u2019d take the opportunity to do what I probably should have done long before blog three, and tell you who we are, and what the hell we\u2019re doing here. Some of you reading may have a working knowledge of the AFTLS (Actors From The London Stage) experience, but even so its particular peculiarity is worth remembering; and for those who don\u2019t know here\u2019s, I think, what we\u2019re up to!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Twice a year AFTLS, in collaboration with the University of Notre Dame in Indiana (Shakespeare at ND) put five UK-based actors in a room in south London for five weeks and hope they’ll neither murder each other nor fail to make a production of a Shakespeare play. The play is decided in advance: in our case, The Tragedy of Macbeth<\/em>. There\u2019s a playful feeling of being locked in and left to get on with it, like kids in a rather wordy candy store, but the truth is there is great support from the extended company alumni, and particularly now from the magnificent Jennifer Higham.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is no director in the room; no designer, musical director or stage management. It\u2019s just the five of us left to thrash it out before flying off with what we\u2019ve got to our university venues – in this case a mouthwatering list of nine places. In addition the five, who also control the show budget, can choose to briefly bring in an outside specialist, and we opted for the fight director Philip d\u2019Orl\u00e9ans \u2013 a lovely man who appears a sort of Zen-like personification of war and<\/em> peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond that the five of us are the director, designer etc. But rather than thinking of the scenario as having five different directors (which has, let\u2019s be honest, nightmare<\/em> written all over it) I prefer to think of it as one director split into five complementary parts. And as much as the work is highly collaborative in this way, I think it\u2019s also a lot more than that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once the fretful five have finished the five weeks of making, we\u2019re off on the road and in the air, with all the ups and downs that may bring. The need to look after, and out for, each other is absolutely to the fore. I make no apology for quoting Sister Sledge in suggesting that at its best we are<\/em> (a strange Shakespearian) family<\/em>! At its worst too, I\u2019m sure. But I feel very lucky to report that I\u2019ve felt fully supported by the other four from the off, and I hope I\u2019m providing the same. I also know that we\u2019re very proud of the show we\u2019ve made. But enough of the niceness; who are these losers?!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are 31 named characters in Macbeth<\/em>, plus messengers, soldiers etc, and while we\u2019ve cut a few of them, that means an awful lot of hat-switching, so bear with me:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roger May plays Macbeth, the bloody Sergeant, Old Man and a messenger, as well as taking the off-stage role of education co-ordinator (in our world, Thane of Education). Claire Redcliffe plays Lady Macbeth, Donalbain, Ross, Fleance, Second Witch, Young Siward and a messenger, and is our Thane of Travel. Annabelle Terry is Banquo, Lennox, the Porter, the Doctor, Son, Menteith, Siward and Hecate, and Thane of Tech. And Anne Odeke takes on Malcolm, Lady Macduff, First Witch, First Murderer, Caithness, the Gentlewoman and a messenger, is Thane of Tech (2) and looks after our hectic social life! Finally, I\u2019m Duncan, Macduff, Third Witch, Second Murderer, Angus and Seyton, while also keeping an eye on Covid guidelines and scribbling here. I also do a lot of swimming\u2026 But hang on a minute!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my \u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was about to introduce you to our brilliant colleagues at Notre Dame, tell you a bit about the style of these productions and about the other significant part of our work, as the play is just the half of it – but that\u2019ll have to wait for another blog. We\u2019ve just been plunged into darkness, scuppering a competitive game of Exploding Kittens. Power cut. Storm Ian<\/em> really has got the better of us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Light thickens, and the crow makes wing to the rooky wood \u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ll see you in South Bend. All being well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By Michael Wagg So foul and.. foul.. a day I have not seen. Last night during the fight at the end of our play a sword snapped in half. Roger and I battled on as best we could. The swords … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1086,"featured_media":1775,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47489,514264],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-actors-from-the-london-stage","category-macbeth-fall-2022"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1086"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1770"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1770\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1776,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1770\/revisions\/1776"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}