Stage Door News
Stage Door News
[Mississauga ON, March 2013] Theatre Erindale has already produced a farcical (Farndale Avenue!) version of Macbeth this winter. Now the company ends their “Mayhem!” season with the real thing: Shakespeare’s most exciting tragedy. Mystery and magic meet bloodthirsty ambition at the Erindale Studio Theatre March 14 to 24.
Director David Matheson has set this production in the Scotland of the Dark Ages, among the painted warlike Picts who once held the Romans at bay. The ancient and sinister rituals of three witches both propel the action and salve the conscience of the title character, as – urged on by his wife – he drives ruthlessly forward toward the life he has envisioned for himself. Matheson calls this production “an exploration of the dark powers of the imagination. It celebrates our ability to imagine ourselves into our own future, but warns that … there are always unintended consequences to all of our actions, each choice has both foul and fair, and what is done cannot be undone.”
Matheson is the latest artist to join the full-time Sheridan faculty of the Theatre and Drama Studies Program. A former actor trained at Acadia, York, and LAMDA, with years of teaching experience at York University and Seneca College as well as his own Odyssey Studio, he is also the director of the Toronto Fringe hits (sic) and Bluebeard and such shows as Julius Caesar, A Streetcar Named Desire, and the Dora-nominated Brothers Karamazov. He is ably supported by Theatre Erindale’s resident Fight Director, Stratford veteran Daniel Levinson, who has created the most exciting battle scenes seen at the Erindale Studio Theatre in many a year. Bring on the bucklers and broadswords! Add to that Joanne Massingham’s period costumes, and audiences can look forward to a visual feast!
Shakespeare took many dramatic liberties with the source of his tale, Hollinshead’s Chronicles, and Hollinshead in turn had freely embroidered what we now surmise was the historical truth. The real Macbeth appears to have enjoyed a peaceful seventeen-year reign. In the hands of the bard, he is a Scottish warlord who commits murder to attain the crown, and must then go on – despite being haunted by the ghosts of his victims – to slaughter all opposition. His wife, initially even more ambitious than her husband, eventually goes mad and commits suicide. Even then, Macbeth’s confidence in the predictions of the “Weird Sisters” is unshaken – until those predictions turn out to be a cruel trick. And thus the most compact and thrilling of all Shakespeare’s tragedies took shape.
Theatre Erindale productions feature the performances of senior Acting students in the Sheridan-UTM Theatre and Drama Studies Program, with the design and direction of seasoned professionals. Evening and weekend parking at UTM is $6.50, but at only $10-$15, single tickets for Theatre Erindale are still the best entertainment bargain in Mississauga! Macbeth runs March 14 to 24 in the Erindale Studio Theatre. For tickets and information, call 905-569-4369 or visit www.theatreerindale.com .
MACBETH
by William Shakespeare
Directed by David Matheson
Treachery and murder expose the darkest reaches of the human soul!
Preview Mar 14; Opening Mar 15; runs Mar 16 and 21-24, 2013
Thurs 7:30; Fri 8:00; Sat 2:00 & 8:00; Sun Mar 24 2:00
$10.00-$15.00
Erindale Studio Theatre, UTM
(3 lights north of Dundas off Mississauga Road)
www.theatreerindale.com or 905-569-4369
2013-03-03
Mississauga: Theatre Erindale presents “Macbeth” March 14-24