Converse Presents Outdoor Production of Macbeth
NOTE: Sunday evening’s performance will be held at 7:30 PM as scheduled.
Converse College presents Macbeth, William Shakespeare’s classic dark and bloody tragedy of ambition, murder and deceit; all suffused with a strong undercurrent of the supernatural. Featuring an all female cast, Converse will present its version of the play outdoors on the patio of the Blackman Music Building on the college campus April 22—25. All performances will begin at 7:30 pm. Lawn chairs or blankets are recommended. Tickets are available onsite for a suggested donation of $8 for adults and $4 for children and students. Performances will be cancelled if rain occurs. Rain dates will be announced should a regularly scheduled performance be rained out.
The first Shakespearian play to be performed at Converse in over 29 years, Macbeth is a collaborative production between the Theatre & Dance Department and the Petrie School of Music. Directed by Brent Glenn, assistant professor of Theatre at Converse, the play has been edited to a run time of eighty minutes. Glenn, who adapted the script, maintained the language and storyline of the original, but sought to streamline the content for the purpose of this outdoor event. “As a college for women, I wanted to offer our students the opportunity of performing Shakespeare in this setting, particularly since it has been decades since Shakespeare has been performed at Converse,” says Glenn. “When one considers that Shakespeare’s plays never featured women in his day as they were not allowed to perform on stage, I suppose we are having a bit of revenge on those antiquated notions.”
Scott Robbins, associate dean of the Petrie School of Music and professor of Musicology and Composition, composed an original score for the play.
While featuring an unconventional all female cast, this production of Macbeth maintains all of the usual thrills associated with Shakespeare: broadsword fighting, black magic, murder and deceit. Originally written in the early 1600’s, Glenn feels that the message behind Macbeth still resonates strongly with the audiences of today, “The tale of the quick rise and even quicker fall of the murderous Macbeth offers an excellent parallel of today’s world and the uninhibited greed and ambition that causes so much societal discord.”