Kentucky Shakespeare opens its final full-scale production of the summer season tonight Friday, a Scottish-infused version of "Macbeth."
It’s sometimes known as “the Scottish play.” Kentucky Shakespeare Artistic Director Matt Wallace said this production emphasizes that connection, including bagpipers and live drumming.
“We’re setting this production at the time that the real Macbeth died. A little context, that’s about 200 years before "Braveheart," so a medieval feeling to it,” Wallace told WUOL, one of WFPL's sister stations.
"Macbeth" is the final mainstage show for Kentucky Shakespeare this season, following "The Tempest" and "Taming of the Shrew." The cast includes 23 actors, a larger group than performs the other two plays.
Wallace said he researched the time in which "Macbeth"was written, including the interests of England’s monarch during Shakespeare’s life.
“King James was a writer of the occult and witches and he even wrote a book on demonology, so I started thinking about how were witches perceived in Shakespeare’s time, how was Scotland perceived in Shakespeare’s time?” said Wallace.
"Macbeth" opens Friday at the C. Douglas Ramey Amphitheatre in Louisville's Central Park and runs through the end of July, in rotation with the other two mainstage plays. The complete schedule is here.
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