Now Through Sunday -- It's a Mini MACBETH Fest at the Normal Theatre

There are some very good Macbeths on film, but Akira Kurosawa's Throne of Blood from 1957 may just be the best. It's brilliant, no question, taking the Scottish lord to Japan as a general caught in a deadly spider's web of conflicted ambition and betrayal.

There is a lot to be said for the 1948 film directed by and starring Orson Welles -- his witches are really creepy even without bodies -- and the grim 1971 version directed by Roman Polanski is worth a look if you can stand the senselessness of the violence as he portrays it. I also liked a 2006 Macbeth set in contemporary Australia with Sam Worthington as Mr. M and a seriously nifty (and seriously bloody) stage Macbeth, starring Patrick Stewart, with an industrial chill that feels like Russia during World War II, captured for TV's Great Performances in 2010.

That means you can cue up the DVD player and do a Macbeth marathon with some excellent stuff included if you have a mind to. If you're content to do a mini-Macbeth-a-thon and you prefer your political intrigue, murder and mayhem on the big screen, the Normal Theater is here to give you exactly what you want. Tonight and Friday they're offering the Kurosawa samurai adaptation Macbeth, called Kumonosu-jô in Japanese or Throne of Blood in English, with Thursday, Saturday and Sunday showings of last year's international production of Macbeth, directed by Australian Justin Kurzel, starring Michael Fassbender, who is German and Irish, and Marion Cotillard, who is French, and filmed in Scotland and England.

Throne of Blood stars Kurosawa favorite Toshirô Mifune as Washizu, his Macbeth stand-in, with Isuzu Yamada as his Lady and Minoru Chiaki as Yoshiaki Miki, the Banquo of the piece. The film was shot on Mt. Fuji, purportedly to take advantage of the dark black volcanic soil that made for such stark contrast on film. There is atmosphere to burn, in everything from the mist and rain to the harsh silhouettes of samurai uniforms and towering castles, to the ghostly apparition Washizu sees spinning webs in the forest. This is a movie where sound -- or the absence of it -- and how it plays off the images in the frame are everything. The soft rustle of silk against silence or the ripple of a flock of birds leaving the trees makes as big an impact as the staccato stomp of soldiers' feet or the slash of a hundred arrows in the air. Kurosawa didn't use Shakespeare's words, but he interpreted them with sound and visual imagery that is simply stunning.

The 2015 Macbeth that airs tomorrow and over the weekend at the Normal Theater is more of a traditional Macbeth, sticking closer to Shakespeare in terms of the words, the characters and the plotline. Some of the text has been cut, as stage productions so often do, and an extra scene has been added at the beginning as a sort of prologue to give more motivation to why the Macbeths make the decisions they do later on. Kurzel has added a a film vocabulary of smoky, fiery visuals that turn his world into a rough, war-torn version of medieval Scotland. Fassbender's Macbeth seems to be pushed as much by grief and loss as by a hunger for power, and Cotillard brings an underlying softness and intelligence that helps makes her Lady M less of a monster and more compelling.

Seeing both movies is a great idea, mostly because they are so very different from each other. Steeped in different cultures and theatrical traditions, Throne of Blood and the Kurzel/Fassbender/Cotillard Macbeth make that much more of an impact seen side by side.

Click here to go to the Normal Theater website for details on showtimes and tickets.

Bloody MACBETH Goes Terribly Right at the Illinois Shakespeare Festival

Has there ever been a time when Shakespeare's Macbeth fell out of fashion? Just within the past few years, the Scottish lord and his murderous ways have been everywhere. A BBC/Great Performances Macbeth with Patrick Stewart in the title role and Kate Fleetwood as his ferocious Lady M was a powerful presence on US televisions in 2010; Sleep No More, an interactive Macbeth experience from England's Punchdrunk company, has had audiences wandering over five floors of what is supposedly an abandoned hotel in New York's Chelsea district since March of 2011; Alan Cumming currently has a one-man Macbeth on Broadway; and Kenneth Branagh just launched his own Macbeth, with Alex Kingston (Doctor Who, ER) as his Lady, at the Manchester International Festival.

In our own area, a "backwards" Macbeth made an impact at U of I in 2010, when director Robert G. Anderson put the audience on the stage and the dark, destructive action of the play on the apron and in the seats of Krannert Center's Colwell Playhouse. In Bloomington, Macbeth was on the schedule back in 1978 when the Illinois Shakespeare Festival first opened its doors, and it's come back to the Festival stage in 1983, 1992 and 2005.

The 2013 incarnation of Macbeth for the Illinois Shakespeare Festival is directed by Robert Quinlan, who returns to Bloomington-Normal, where he received his MFA in directing from Illinois State University. Quinlan's take on Macbeth is highly visual, vivid and dramatic, befitting this bloody tale of ambition gone terribly wrong. With falling banners, a thin crack of light, a twist of a doll's head, or spidery scarlet trails on Lady Macbeth's white gown, Quinlan and his designers ratchet up the theatrical tension.

Neal Moeller (Center) and Nisi Sturgis (R) as Mr. and Mrs. Macbeth

This Macbeth unspools a little slowly at the onset, but by the time darkness has settled over Ewing Manor, the action has kicked into high gear. Neal Moeller and Nisi Sturgis show good chemistry and interplay as Lord and Lady Macbeth, with his descent into paranoia and hers into madness given just the right dramatic punch.

Jordan Coughtry's Banquo, Lindsay Smiling's Macduff and Amanda Catania's Lady Macduff also make a good impression, while the two youngest actors in the cast -- 5th grader Will Lovell as Fleance, Banquo's son, and 4th grader Tré Moore as the elder Macduff child -- offer fine performances and add a great deal to the emotional toll of the play.

Fred M. Duer's simple set transforms a throne to a banquet table before your eyes, helping the haunted dinner scene come alive, while Sarah EC Maines' striking lighting design, Sandy Childers' terrific modern-meets-medieval costumes and Shannon O'Neill's atmospheric sound design combine to excellent effect.

All in all, this is a stylish, smart Macbeth that packs a punch. Especially when it gets dark.

MACBETH
By William Shakespeare

Illinois Shakespeare Festival
The Theatre at Ewing

Director: Robert Quinlan
Costume Designer: Sandy Childers
Scenic Designer: Fred M. Duer
Lighting Designer: Sarah EC Maines
Sound Designer/Composer: Shannon O'Neill
Fight Choreographer: Paul Dennhardt
Stage Manager: Jayson T. Waddell
Vocal Coach: Krista Scott

Cast: Eva Balistrieri, Preston "Wigasi" Brant, Amanda Catania, Jordan Coughtry, Joe Faifer, David Fisch, Martin Hanna, David Hathway, Kraig Kelsey, Carlos Kmet, Will Lovell, Drew Mills, Neal Moeller, Tré Moore, Cody Proctor, Thomas Anthony Quinn, Kevin Rich, Wendy Robie, Lindsay Smiling, Michele Stine, Nisi Sturgis, Andrew Voss and Arif Yampolsky.

Running time: 2:20, including one 15-minute intermission.

Remaining performances: July 12, 16, 20, 23, 26, 28 and 31; August 4, 6 and 8.

For ticket information, click here.

Please note that the performance of the Illinois Shakespeare Festival production of Macbeth which I attended was a preview, which the Festival treats as a final dress rehearsal. Over the years, I have at times written about productions based on dress rehearsals or preview performances if there was some reason I was unable to attend the official opening night. As with any production, my remarks reflect the specific performance I saw, which in this case was a preview.

Illinois Shakespeare Festival Returns with Mind-Boggling Array of Choices

The Illinois Shakespeare Festival sent out its season brochure this week, and there are some very new choices on the schedule under new artistic director Kevin Rich.

In addition to the usual Shakespeare mainstage shows performed during the summer at Ewing Manor -- Comedy of Errors runs from a special preview on July 5 to August 8 and Macbeth opens with its own preview on July 6, finishing up August 9 -- Illinois Shakes has added a brand-new option, Philip Dawkins' Failure: A Love Story, a "beautiful, whimsical, extraordinary" play about three sisters, the man who loves them each in turn, and an eccentric musical chorus, set in Chicago in 1928. Failure previews on July 11, followed by performances through August 10.

Ewing Manor

 But that's not the end of the surprises. For those three shows, ISF has also added a "flex" ticket option, so that you can buy an advance season pass (must be purchased before May 12, 2013) and then "spend" it on any performances you choose all season. And after last summer's heat wave, they're offering 1:30 pm matinee performances on Saturdays and Sunday, and moving them inside to the air-conditioned comfort of the Center for the Performing Arts on the ISU campus. That gives you the option of Macbeth during the afternoon of Saturday, July 20, Comedy of Errors on Sunday, July 28, or Failure on Sunday, July 21 and Saturday, July 27.

Other special projects include a staged reading of The Reign of King Edward III from the Shakespeare Project of Chicago, with ISF artistic director Kevin Rich reading the role of Edward. That's set for the CPA on Monday, April 22 at 5 pm as a kick-off for the new season and a celebration of Shakespeare's birthday, all in one.

The Improvised Shakespeare Company will offer just that -- improvised Shakespeariffic pieces made up on the fly -- on June 6 and 13 at Ewing Manor, and Lori Adams, will bring Shame the Devil, a one-woman show about 19th century Shakespearean actress Fanny Kemble, to Ewing Manor on July 1.

I feel like an informercial, but seriously, there's more! First, more improv with ISU's Improv Mafia and the Shakespeare Globetrotters Time to Make the Shakespeare, performed on the patio at Destihl Restaurant and Brew Works in Bloomington on Thursday nights in May and at Ewing Manor on Sunday evenings beginning July 14. Plus two new greenshows written especially for the Illinois Shakespeare Festival by local author Nancy Steele Brokaw. And a children's show called The Magical Mind of Billy Shakespeare, written by Kevin Rich, performed at 10 am on Wednesdays on the grounds at Ewing Manor starting May 29, with Saturday performances beginning June 1 split between Ewing,  Lincoln Park at the Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts and the Bloomington Farmers Market.

MooNiE

And there's more! MooNiE the Magnif'cent! Glenn Wilson and Friends! Adopt-a-Bard-Buddy! Costume tours! Puppet building! The John Stevens Memorial Golf Outing! Picnics with Two Blokes and a Bus and Kelly's Bakery!

Too many choices? Your mind spinning? Look out for the first event with Edward III on April 22, and then take it one step at a time through that last performance of Failure: A Love Story on August 10. And right now... Tickets are on sale. Call 866-IL-Shake or check out all the details at the Illinois Shakespeare Festival website.

Wondering What's Coming Up From Illinois Shakes Fest in Summer 2013?

Tonight was the night the Illinois Shakespeare Festival brought out the big red bus and gave us the news about what will be on stage when summer 2013 rolls around.

Back in September, I guessed Comedy of Errors, Hamlet and She Stoops to Conquer for the main season, and didn't hazard a choice for the Theatre for Young Audiences slot. This evening, at a special press conference held at Ewing Manor, the ISF and new artistic director Kevin Rich announced that the three mainstage plays will be Comedy of Errors, Macbeth and Failure: A Love Story, a "magical, musical fable" by Chicago playwright Philip Dawkins. The Theatre for Young Audiences choice is The Magical Mind of Billy Shakespeare, written by Rich himself.

All of that means I'm hitting .333. (It sounds better than 1-of-3, doesn't it?)

But, after all, the play's the thing. Or the plays are the thing. And in terms of plays, we'll be getting funny, silly, nothing-serious-about-it Comedy of Errors, the one with the identical twins separated at birth, wandering around not realizing everybody in town is mistaking one for the other, as well as Macbeth, Shakespeare's dark and scary journey into murder, madness, and ambition run wild.

You may remember Philip Dawkins as one of the authors invited down to Bloomington for a staged reading last summer as part of the "Midwestern Voices" Playwrights Festival. For that reading, Dawkins brought along Miss Marx, a new play about the daughter of Karl Marx. He is a resident playwright at Chicago’s Victory Gardens Theatre and the author of "The Homosexuals," presented by About Face Theatre at Victory Gardens last year in a very well-received production. The Chicago Tribune's Chris Jones called the play, "ambitious, substantial and deeply impressive." "Failure: A Love Story," the one we'll see next summer, takes the stage at Victory Gardens beginning November 16.

The play is about the lives of the three Fail sisters (if there are sisters in theatre, they usually comes in threes*), siblings who have lived their lives in a "rickety two-story building by the Chicago River that was the Fail family home and clock shop."

Because the Shakes Fest has traditionally focused on Shakespeare or plays that dovetail nicely with Shakespeare, Failure is a departure from the usual fare. I'm looking forward to hearing why Rich chose this piece and seeing how it works with Comedy of Errors and Macbeth. The play itself sounds pretty cool. I'm a big fan of new work, so the idea that our Shakes Fest is adding a contemporary play is good news, I think. And the fact that it centers on three women, to balance out the heavily male Shakespeare canon, is a bonus.

I believe Rich's Billy Shakespeare is a play he's had success with previously, so it ought to be a good match for Young Audiences and outreach programs, too. 

Very intriguing, all around. To keep an eye on what's happening with the Illinois Shakespeare Festival, you can visit their Facebook page here.

* I have this dream to produce King Lear, Three Sisters and Crimes of the Heart in repertory, with the same actresses playing the sisters in all three of them. If Dawkins' play catches my fancy, maybe I will add it to my imaginary repertory!