Macbeth - Oregon Shakespeare Festival

March 19 – October 12, 2024 Angus Bowmer Theatre

Suitability and Accessibility Director's Notes Creative Team Cast The Venue Education Events

“Blood will have blood”

In this powerful exploration of fate, an unexpected prophecy sends Scottish general Macbeth on a feverish and murderous quest to become king. With startlingly beautiful language, Shakespeare’s revered tragedy reveals the underbelly of ambition in a world steeped in power mongering, war, and magic. This muscular, modern production—an ensemble-based showcase for OSF’s acting company—is directed by former OSF Associate Artistic Director Evren Odcikin (unseen, 2022) and plays all season in the Angus Bowmer Theatre.

Approximate running time: 2 hours and 30 minutes, including one intermission.

Notes to the audience: Theatrical smoke/haze and strobe effects are used in this production.

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Suitability Suggestions

A compelling cautionary tale about the corrupting influence of power, Macbeth contains frightening imagery of witchcraft, war, and violence, the onstage murder of a mother and her child, suicide, and a fight to the death. The play is exciting and straightforward, telling a vivid story that is easy for student audiences to follow. It is most suitable for well-prepared, mature middle school and high school students who can handle the violence, sensuality, and frightening imagery.

For additional content warnings regarding violence or graphic depictions that may be upsetting to some audience members, please see our Content Warnings page (may contain spoilers).

Accessibility

The Angus Bowmer Theatre is outfitted with an elevator that takes patrons to either Row E or Row K.

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival is committed to accessibility. We recognize the needs of persons with disabilities and strive to make our facilities and productions accessible to all. Please visit our Accessibility page for details about 2024 programs and services as they develop.

Immerse

A king wearing a crown yelling out in despair.

Macbeth | Official Trailer

Five people sitting around a table having a discussion.

Macbeth | Roundtable

A group of people in dark, medieval-style costumes are on stage. The central figure, standing with arms outstretched and holding a sword, is illuminated and appears to be shouting. The others around them are in various dramatic poses, some crouching and some raising their arms.

Photo: Macbeth

A group of people in medieval-style costumes are on stage. The central figure, wearing a crown and eyepatch, raises one hand as if making a proclamation. The others stand around attentively, with some holding weapons and shields. An ornate wooden chair is positioned to the left of the group.

Photo: Macbeth

Two people in dark, medieval-style costumes are on stage with blood on their hands. Both are displaying distressed expressions; one person with red hair is kneeling and looking upwards, while the other person is seated, looking down.

Photo: Macbeth

A person with crossed swords on their back supportively holding the arm of a pregnant person. Both are wearing medieval-style costumes.

Photo: Macbeth

Witches dancing around a person wearing a mask decorated with twigs

Photo: Macbeth

A king holding the crown on his head in dispare.

Photo: Macbeth

A person sitting with their hands held out crying.

Photo: Macbeth

Three witches standing together looking out from an archway.

Photo: Macbeth

Director’s Notes

Macbeth at OSF is a dream project in so many ways. This play has been a bit of an obsession since I first read it as a secretly-emo middle-schooler in Turkey. It was my first full-length production as a director—a way-too-big bite for a college student. And I often point to watching (and rewatching and rewatching) the madness monologue as performed by the brilliant Judi Dench in the 1979 film of Trevor Nunn’s production as what made me realize that this theatre thing might be my calling rather than a hobby. I remember thinking that if that performance were possible, then I could do this for my life’s work. Not a small realization for an immigrant kid with no financial safety net studying engineering on a full scholarship.

Shakespeare’s amalgamation of Scottish and English history with Greek myth is filled with big magic and war sequences, but despite the grandiosity of its setting, it manages to capture humanity at its simplest. It answers the question of what it means for your soul if you negotiate your humanity to win. A question that feels even more timely now than ever as we face an unprecedented time where fame and fortune is idolized above all else and our leaders are celebrities first. In such a world, “blood will have blood” feels like a painfully accurate warning of the brutal wars and genocides we are watching in real time, often built upon centuries of savagery and hatred.

This production pulls from many divergent fantastical inspirations: Nordic myths, horror films, and graphic novels. It’s set in a cold and timeless world that is marred by layers of war and violence, in which Nature must fight back with magic against blood-hungry humans and their most recent effort to “civilize” it. Despite this stylization, the center of the production will simply be the humans as Shakespeare demands. I cannot dig into the darkness that this play requires without a real commitment to ensemble. And that’s what OSF does better than anyone else: Led by the fearless Kevin Kenerly and Erica Sullivan as the Scottish couple, this cast is filled with longtime collaborators and those I’ve long dreamed of working with. And with an all-star creative team as my artistic partners, I know we will make a production that has a sharp sense of history, physical and linguistic rigor, and a bold imagination.

—Evren Odcikin