Pennsylvania Shakespeare Fest's Macbeth a cut above
Aaron Sakulich
Issue date: 8/6/04 Section: Entertainment
Every summer the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival is held at DeSales University, near Allentown.
Although that may seem like quite a distance, it's only a stone's throw from the turnpike, and you can actually make it there in a car faster than you can make it to Old City on SEPTA. I've been going to PSF plays since I was in grade school, and I've never seen them put on a bad show. This year's production of Macbeth was no exception.
To begin with, the venue itself is great. The Labuda Center for the Performing Arts has two stages: one standard stage that provides an intimate atmosphere and where even my very tall, overweight family and I are hard pressed to find a bad seat. The other stage tries to eliminate the 'fourth wall' by having the action take place at the center of a U-shaped ring of seats. This is where I saw Macbeth, and I have mixed feelings about it. The shape of the stage certainly makes you feel as if you're at the center of the action, hip-deep in Scottish foot soldiers along with the other Thanes, but at the same time, there's always a back or two facing you. Every side of the stage sees the same amount of actors' backs, in theory, but they are backsides nonetheless.
Technical considerations aside, I have to first mention that Macbeth isn't my favorite Shakespearean play. Othello, which I saw a few years ago at PSF, is, although I'll be the first to admit that, towards the end, Macbeth has some great one-liners. All of the actors are first-rate, a combination of students at DeSales, graduates from the University, professional actors and a scattering of others (mostly the children of MacDuff, who get slaughtered near the end.)
The leading couple, Thane and Lady Macbeth, put on a powerful show. This may sound like an insult at first, but when watching Macbeth speak, the only person to whom I can compare him is Patrick Stewart as Richard the Lionheart at the end of Robin Hood: Men In Tights. Since Stewart specialized in Shakespeare for a long time, that's more of a badly-worded compliment than anything else, but what I mean is that they both have an 'R'-rolling, regal bearing and magnificent presence. They make good kings.
Although that may seem like quite a distance, it's only a stone's throw from the turnpike, and you can actually make it there in a car faster than you can make it to Old City on SEPTA. I've been going to PSF plays since I was in grade school, and I've never seen them put on a bad show. This year's production of Macbeth was no exception.
To begin with, the venue itself is great. The Labuda Center for the Performing Arts has two stages: one standard stage that provides an intimate atmosphere and where even my very tall, overweight family and I are hard pressed to find a bad seat. The other stage tries to eliminate the 'fourth wall' by having the action take place at the center of a U-shaped ring of seats. This is where I saw Macbeth, and I have mixed feelings about it. The shape of the stage certainly makes you feel as if you're at the center of the action, hip-deep in Scottish foot soldiers along with the other Thanes, but at the same time, there's always a back or two facing you. Every side of the stage sees the same amount of actors' backs, in theory, but they are backsides nonetheless.
Technical considerations aside, I have to first mention that Macbeth isn't my favorite Shakespearean play. Othello, which I saw a few years ago at PSF, is, although I'll be the first to admit that, towards the end, Macbeth has some great one-liners. All of the actors are first-rate, a combination of students at DeSales, graduates from the University, professional actors and a scattering of others (mostly the children of MacDuff, who get slaughtered near the end.)
The leading couple, Thane and Lady Macbeth, put on a powerful show. This may sound like an insult at first, but when watching Macbeth speak, the only person to whom I can compare him is Patrick Stewart as Richard the Lionheart at the end of Robin Hood: Men In Tights. Since Stewart specialized in Shakespeare for a long time, that's more of a badly-worded compliment than anything else, but what I mean is that they both have an 'R'-rolling, regal bearing and magnificent presence. They make good kings.
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