The Company Theatre takes a stab at Macbeth

Print More
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

The Company Theatre is still a new presence on Rochester’s theater scene, but in its third season, it has already made a mark. Its second production of the season, the Shakespeare perennial “Macbeth,” opens this weekend and runs until Feb. 16.

Carl Del Buono as Macbeth and Jill Rittinger as Lady Macbeth (Photo by Sammi Cohen)

The Company Theatre’s first Shakespeare production was its first production of any kind: “Richard II,” which was followed by “Romeo and Juliet” in its second season.

“I’ve always wanted to direct it,” says Director Philip Detrick, who also directed “The Man Who Came to Dinner” for the Company Theatre last season. “It’s a really cool play! It’s like a punch in the gut. I wanted the challenge of directing a beefy play like this.” He sees Macbeth’s story as “the struggle between nature and the human will–can you control your fate?”

The Company Theatre’s home is in the heart of downtown, in the Temple Theater at 50 Liberty Pole Way. (If you’re old enough, you may remember it as the former site of the nightclub Heaven.) The Temple Theater’s stage is large and wide, and Detrick’s unit set and open staging plan for “Macbeth” exploit this ample space. (There’s no overt reference to the play’s setting, the director adds, other than the subtle use of Scotland’s symbol, the thistle.)

“We’ve all seen overcooked ‘Macbeths,’ with too many moving parts,” says Artistic Director Carl Del Buono, who also plays Macbeth. In contrast, the Company Theatre’s production is like Lean Cuisine: “We want it to be fast-moving and stripped down, and to let the words take center stage,” says Del Buono.

He admits that’s appropriate for this group, which he describes as “a literary society that happens to put on plays.” Along with Shakespeare, the Company Theatre has already put on ambitious productions of such great plays as “Oedipus Rex,” “The Seagull,” and “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” as well as the premiere last autumn of Kate Royal’s “The Summer Land. The season continues with a new adaptation of Charles Dickens’ “Great Expectations” in April and a rare Rochester presentation of Molière’s “Tartuffe” in June.

This “Macbeth” features gender-swapped casting, which is increasingly common in theater. For example, the characters of Banquo, Macduff, and the Porter are played by women, and the “three witches” are perhaps “three sorcerers,” as they’re played by two women and one man (Jael Lopez Acosta, Vicki Casarett and Kidane Vida-Malik).).

These characters, who urge Macbeth to fulfill his destiny, not only have scenes of their own, but Detrick has them onstage frequently, hovering over other scenes and occasionally assuming small roles. 

“It’s obvious that the witches influence the action of the play,” he says. “In this production, they add to the overall aura of superstition and magic, as they mess with the human psyche.”

Additionally, “there’s no Macbeth without Lady Macbeth,” says Del Buono, whose Lady will be played by Jill Rittinger. They’ve performed together often in the past, and both of them have numerous Shakespearian credits, but this will be a debut for both of them as the Macbeths.

This famous, tragic couple is sometimes characterized as the ultimate toxic relationship. This production sees them as not wholly evil but as characters in a love story gone (extremely) wrong.

“From the beginning, it’s clear that everything he does is about her and for her,” says Del Buono of Macbeth.

“At first, they’re thick as thieves,” agrees Rittinger. “But when Macbeth becomes king, he shuts Lady Macbeth out, spending more and more time alone with his thoughts. That begins her unraveling.” Lady Macbeth’s story crescendoes to her famous sleepwalking scene, which sets the play on to its calamitous ending.

For centuries, theater lore has decreed that disasters occur onstage, or backstage, at every performance of “Macbeth. This reputation has led superstitious actors to refer to it euphemistically as “The Scottish Play.” But this “Macbeth” company is not skittish about the Scottish Play.

“This has been the best rehearsal process I’ve ever had,” says Rittinger.

Detrick agrees: “I’m having the best time with this cast. I’m thrilled.”

The Company Theatre presents Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” from Jan. 31 – Feb. 16 at the Temple Theater, 50 Liberty Pole Way. For information and tickets, click here

David Raymond is a Rochester Beacon contributing writer.

The Beacon welcomes comments and letters from readers who adhere to our comment policy including use of their full, real nameSee “Leave a Reply” below to discuss on this post. Comments of a general nature may be submitted to the Letters page by emailing  [email protected].

One thought on “The Company Theatre takes a stab at Macbeth

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *