Macbeth

Do I have to harden myself to endure reality? Must I banish my inner child, thicken my blood, and deny all compassion so as not to break myself? In William Shakespeare’s*Macbeth*, the world order is turned upside down—“Fair is foul and foul is fair.” It is the story of a couple who shed their own humanity to seize power. Empathy is weakness, and hesitation is fatal—until the unleashed violence turns against its creators and drags them to their downfall.
What does it mean to retell*Macbeth*today, in a present marked by war, the lust for power, and desensitization? Is Shakespeare right in his grim diagnosis? Does the world seem to us like “a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing”? And when horror has become the backdrop of everyday life, what role do we play? Are we Shakespeare’s witches—standing idly by as the world fulfills one prophecy after another?
Tristan Linder presents*Macbeth*with a small cast, bringing together playfulness and gravity, comedy and cruelty, to examine power, violence, and a lack of empathy. How much further must we harden our hearts before the forest finally stirs?

A play based on William Shakespeare