By Michele Markarian

 

MacBeth. Written by William Shakespeare, in a modern verse translation by Migdalia Cruz.  Directed by Dawn M. Simmons. Presented by Actors’ Shakespeare Project, The United Parish in Brookline, 210 Harvard Street, Brookline through November 11. 

 

As you walk into the nave of The United Parish of Boston, the setting for Actors’ Shakespeare Project’s “MacBeth”, you feel a deep sense of foreboding.  Now okay, anyone familiar with the play has a pretty good idea of what they’re in for, but Actors’ Shakespeare Project’s productions are always wonderfully and dramatically atmospheric, and this show is no exception. Jon Savage’s stark, wood beamed set suggests both elegance and gloom, augmented by Laura Hildebrand’s lighting design and Elizabeth Cahill’s sound design. What follows over the next two and a half hours is one of the more accessible and affecting productions of “MacBeth” that I have ever seen.

Read more “ASP Delivers a Stunning, Satisfying “MacBeth””

 

By CJ Williams

 

‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’ – Directed by Patrick Swanson; Written by William Shakespeare; Stage Management by Marsha Smith;  Composition & Sound Design by David Reiffel; Set Design by Eric Levenson; Puppetry  & Design by Elizabeth Rocha; Costume Design by Jessica Pribble; Lighting Design by Deb Sullivan. Presented by Actor’s Shakespeare Project at the Multicultural Center, 41 2^nd Street Cambridge, MA through June 4.

 

Actors’ Shakespeare Project’s take on “Midsummer Night’s Dream” is both a faithful and thoroughly up-to-date rendition of a classic. But that’s what Shakespeare, performed and produced well, is in a nutshell: timeless. Not every cast or production team can pull that kind of rabbit out of the theatrical hat, though – even the best productions of the Bard often end up slogging through a sad stodgy seriousness in using the centuries old Elizabethan cant, costume, and anything else historical they can get their hands on. (Either that, or they blow it all on a modern spin that mangles the wordplay and subtlety of the language.)

Read more “This is a ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’ Worth Seeing Multiple Midsummer Nights”