Using the aftermath of war as a starting point for discovery, Long Wharf Theatre Associate Artistic Director Eric Ting is entrenched in a workshop of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth this week that he has conceived for five actors.
The workshop, running from Nov. 3-14, was made possible by a generous grant from the Seedlings Foundation.
With increasing numbers of soldiers coming back from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq reporting symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder, Ting felt the time was especially right to engage the topic. “We often forget that Macbeth begins with two soldiers returning home from a war,” Ting said.
The heart of this particular interpretation of the play comes from the play’s third scene, where Macbeth and Banquo, on their way back from war, encounter three witches. The two weeks will be spent investigating the manner in which Shakespeare’s text might live in this context. “We are going to be asking a few questions and trying to find those answers. Given this is the place we are starting, where can we go? ” he said.