After the sensational success of Hamlet in 2017, Pieter Toerien proudly presents Abrahamse & Meyer’s dazzling take on Macbeth– William Shakespeare’s shortest, darkest and most thrilling tragedy.
This production comes to Johannesburg hot on the heels of its European debut at the world’s largest and most prestigious International Shakespeare Festival. Macbeth is currently being studied by Grade 12 English Additional Language as well as Grade 11 English Home Language learners.
Macbeth,(full title The Tragedy of Macbeth) is a tragedy by William Shakespeare; it is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those who seek power for its own sake. Of all the plays that Shakespeare wrote during the reign of James I, who was patron of Shakespeare's acting company, Macbeth most clearly reflects the playwright's relationship with his sovereign. It was first published in the Folio of 1623, possibly from a prompt book, and is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy
The story is about a brave Scottish general named Macbeth receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders King Duncan and takes the Scottish throne for himself. He is then wracked with guilt and paranoia. Forced to commit more and more murders to protect himself from enmity and suspicion, he soon becomes a tyrannical ruler. The bloodbath and consequent civil war swiftly take Macbeth and Lady Macbeth into the realms of madness and death.
Tickets for the production begin at R100, and can be bought from Computicket or the theatre's box office.