Beginning Thursday April 11, University Theatre offers a new and innovative take on one of the Bard's best:
University of Georgia Theatre will conclude its 2012-2013 season with a media-rich production of Shakespeare's "Macbeth" directed by David Saltz. The play will be performed April 11-12 and 17-20 at 8 p.m. and April 14 and 21 at 2:30 p.m. in the Fine Arts Theatre.
Saltz, head of the UGA department of theatre and film studies, describes Macbeth as "Shakespeare's most relentlessly gripping and accessible play." Putting a postmodern twist on the Bard's tale of treason and ambition, the University Theatre production will employ large, translucent LED curtains that display animations and video flying into various positions over, behind and in front of the actors to achieve Saltz's vision for freshly staging Macbeth's more sinister and stunning events.
University Theatre teamed with UGA alumnus Rick Clark of EDG (Entertainment Design Group) in Atlanta to furnish the stage with a towering and moveable three-piece, multi-level set.
Interactivity and experimentation have become the calling cards of our theatre department under Saltz and this production will be no different. Our students are learning an age-old craft even as they learn how to build new audiences for it - and for that, the faculty deserves our thanks and attention.
Now "Come, you spirits..."
Image: Senior theatre major Dane Alexander as Macbeth in the University Theatre's production. Photo by John Paul Gallagher