soulsticetheatre.org
When acting is true to acting, anyone can be anything onstage. Men can be women. Women can be men. People can be gods or inanimate objects or whatever. It’s okay. It’s the stage. I’d like to think we’re all okay with that. Granted, there are a few prominent people who aren’t. Mamet’s people recently pulled an all-male production of Oleanna from the Alchemist Theatre not too long ago. People seem a bit more okay about Shakespeare, though. I rather liked an all-male Taming of the Shrew that I saw a few ages ago with the now defunct Milwaukee Shakespeare. I don’t recall any specific controversy surrounding that production.
Suffice it to say, the upcoming all-female production of Macbeth being staged by Soulstice should make very few people upset. On the contrary, the cast that’s been assembled for this show looks exceptionally appealing. Amy Hansmann has shown the kind of gravity onstage in previous productions that should work magnificently in the title role. Alicia Rice has a cool stage presence that should serve Lady Macbeth quite well. The aesthetics of a production based in post-WWII Scotland sounds like it’ll provide a sweetly anachronistic mood to things. This is one of a few productions coming-up in January that I started looking forward to the moment I heard about it.
Soulstice Theatre’s production of Macbeth runs Jan. 15 - 31 at 3770 S. Pennsylvania Ave. in St. Francis. For ticket reservations and more information, click here.
