“No it works, trust me!” were the words of Aidan Gorrell ’18 to his mother when he explained to her over the phone how Wig and Candle’s new production would be an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, with the omission of the play’s title character.
For those unfamiliar with the story of Macbeth, as I was before shamelessly plugging the title into Sparknotes, it’s essentially about a man’s greedy rise to kingship. After three witches issue a prophecy on his future reign, the general Macbeth murders the current king, Duncan, and kills anyone standing in his way to royalty. In the end, however, he meets his demise at the hands of the families he has wronged.
It’s an interesting decision from writer and director Evan O’Donnell ’20 to remove the eponymous Macbeth, who causes most of the action in the play. In Secret Macbeth, two witty detectives discover that the power hungry general is behind a series of murders but are unable to locate the man anywhere. Witnesses, upon interrogation, do not even remember seeing Macbeth in the days or weeks prior to the killings, prompting the duo to ask the group: “Has anyone seen Macbeth… ever?”
O’Donnell’s reasoning for Macbeth’s absence was simple: “it’s humorous,” and I wouldn’t argue with him there. The play is hilarious. Gorrell, who plays Banquo, Macbeth’s foe and second murder victim, in the production, describes the change as “inherently absurd,” stating that “[the play] lends itself to comedy really easily because it’s missing the most important part of the show.” Sharon Van Meter ’20, who plays Duncan’s son, Malcolm, stated that the play illustrates “the importance of the central character and what happens when they’re taken away.”
Secret Macbeth pokes fun at one of Shakespeare’s most well-known works, highlighting how, to today’s youth, the events within the story seem more laughable than realistic. O’Donnell says that the lofty image the public holds of Shakespeare and his plays makes the material “very easy to make fun of” and that “if you’re making jokes in that context, they land easier.”
The play sticks to the original plot of Macbeth, but the characters all use modern English. This puts added emphasis on the more wild actions and phrases in the play that would usually be masked by poetic, and sometimes confusing, sentence structure. With this change, Gorrell hopes audiences will question the story more and hopefully exclaim things like: “why is this like this? It’s so stupid!” By jabbing at the original, iconic storyline, the play is made incredibly entertaining.
Only Macduff, a lord played by Katie Rooney ’21, speaks in long-winded, dramatic old English, much to the dismay of the other characters, who can never understand what he is saying. At another point in the play, Macbeth’s hired mercenaries, who usually are just present to murder Macbeth’s enemies, have existential crises and consider changing their career paths.
The play reminded me a lot of the musical comedy Something Rotten! which is currently on a national tour after being on Broadway a few years ago. This show depicts Shakespeare as a rockstar who is ridiculed by other playwrights who don’t understand his immense appeal to the public and are frustrated that his crazy plot lines and befuddling language make his plays more popular than theirs.
Secret Macbeth certainly demonstrates that Shakespeare is easy to make fun of. But is it important to read? Titles like Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream have become staples in middle and high school classrooms across America, but are they worth all the comprehension struggle to understand? Van Meter seems to think so, adding that, in addition to the plays’ “universality of themes,” they are also incredibly “open to interpretation.” She believes that the creative freedom artists have to work with and to adapt this material into new and unique outlets makes the literature pieces worthy of remaining a part of today’s society. O’Donnell’s response to the question, however? “I don’t think everyone needs to read Shakespeare,” he says. He confessed that: “I’m not super connected to Macbeth, I read it in sophomore year and I just thought it would be silly to write something about it.” However, he further noted that people with an interest in theatre should definitely take a look at the texts.
Whether you’re a fan of the famous bard or not, it seems that a good laugh can always be had when making jokes about these recognizable works that just seem to keep popping up in modern society.
