DC Theater Arts
- Highly Recommended
"...The American Century Theater (TACT), under the Artistic Direction of Jack Marshall, pulls it all together with a stunning and audacious production of "that Scottish play" - William Shakespeare's tragic tale of the murderous Macbeth. This Macbeth - Voodoo Macbeth - is even a deeper and more complex re-working by Director Kathleen Akerley - of the infamous and provocative adaptation by Orson Welles in 1936. Producing rigorous yet engaging productions of any work by Shakespeare is a challenge unto itself but, here, Director Akerley pushes the envelope by dropping what did not work as well and developing aspects of the play that today's audience can be challenged by and relate to. As the press release so aptly states," Akerley accepted the challenge. Her battalion of Christian marines is stationed in Scotland, circa 2,033 A.D., where, after eleven years of fighting, foreign culture has seeped into their day-to-day practices of faith and war.""
Washington Examiner
- Recommended
"...The result is a fascinating and curious combination, a cast of hard-core soldiers who are at the same time deadly serious Christians, a cutthroat band whose exhaustion after 11 years of fighting allows them to put personal gain above allegiance to a once meaningful social structure."
MetroWeekly
- Recommended
"...Adapting an adaptation, The American Century Theater puts an intelligent and provocative spin on Orson Welles's Voodoo Macbeth, itself a radical interpretation of Shakespeare's Scottish play. Instead of Welles's dangerously all African-American, magic-filled Haiti, director Kathleen Akerley sets her tragedy in a war-torn Scotland of 2033 in which, for reasons left to the imagination, all-male American troops have been dug in for a decade. They are tense, battle-weary and living an insular and uneasy existence among an unseen local population. Like Shakespeare's medieval Scotland and Welles's closely held Haitian culture, it is an isolated and deeply hierarchical community. With soldiers so bored and stressed from danger and (most of them) far removed from their families, it's not surprising they have devolved into a new normal, which includes strange rituals, self-harm and the potential for delusional fervor. And like the earlier plays, it's a credible pressure-cooker for Macbeth's ambition and the malevolent magic that feeds it. It is a Macbeth by way of Apocalypse Now and it's a premise that works exceedingly well."
WeLoveDC
- Somewhat Recommended
"...Voodoo Macbeth is certainly a unique take on Welles' take on Shakespeare. However this particular version strays so much from Welles' original to the point that the most powerful elements of Shakepeare's tragedy are lost in translation. The charm is indeed wound up but whether or not the spell worked still remains to be seen."
Talkin Broadway
- Somewhat Recommended
"...The director's notes set the production in a futuristic Scotland under occupation by U.S. soldiers. They take shelter in a ruined church and seem to have reverted to old Catholic practices (they pray in Latin), but they also make pronouncements about the impending apocalypse and engage in possibly pagan rituals (the witches prophesy after consuming drugs; most of the characters cut themselves and draw blood). Adding to the ancient feeling is the fact that Akerley's cast consists of 13 men and no women: Gruoch (Matt Dewberry) represents Lady Macbeth, but it's never made clear whether the character portrayed is male or female."
MD Theatre Guide
- Recommended
"...The result is an eclectic mix of pistol fire and medieval-style combat, post-Catholic, Wiccan-like ritual stirred in with a gallon or three of stage blood, topped with a garnish of Latin Chant and snatches of the King James Bible, all to go with the main course of Shakespearean verse. If the preceding menu intrigues you, by all means go; if it leaves you confused, however, perhaps you're better off with Netflix."
DCTheatreScene
- Somewhat Recommended
Akerley has proven herself more than once among the area’s smartest creative thinkers, and a talented cadre of actors (all men) populate the blackbox stage at the Gunston Arts Center. So, wherefore this ponderous pace?
