“Something wicked this way comes… to a theater near you,” stated a member of the Maggie Walker Drama Club, regarding the upcoming fall play. As a way to start off the school year with a bang, the Drama Club annually performs a fully produced play, bringing in experienced local directors, designing costumes, and hand-building sets to put together as professional a production as possible. One particular tradition that the thespians have carried on for years is that of biennially performing a work written by William Shakespeare. In fall of 2020, the Drama Club performed Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and following last year's production of The Laramie Project, this year marks the return of the Shakespearean tradition; this fall, the Drama Club will perform Shakespeare’s Scottish tragedy, Macbeth.

“Macbeth is a play about a man who gets so consumed in his own greed and the greed of his wife that he commits treason against his King and ascends the throne… based on a prophecy he heard from some witches in the woods,” described Brie Lawson (‘24), when asked about the plot of the play. Overall, Shakespeare’s Macbeth is strikingly close to Lawson’s quick summary, with a nobleman named Macbeth seeking to become the King of Scotland after being told that he was fated to do so. However, the story contains scenes of grief, madness, betrayal, and humor that can only be properly conveyed through acting. The twenty-nine person cast of the show has been working tirelessly to sharpen their on-stage skills, with three-hour rehearsal sessions being held after school every day since September. Actors have not only been learning how to verbally and physically convey emotions but also how to faint on stage and fight hand-to-hand without getting injured. Behind the scenes, student-led teams have designed costumes for every character in the show and planned lighting sequences to convey mood and tone in every scene.  The cast and crew have even been coming to the school building on weekends and building an originally designed set for the show, with students constructing entire ramps and platforms to run, jump, and fight on during the performance. 

\Most every Maggie Walker student is familiar with Macbeth, the freshmen especially with their study of the work in their English classes. However, the upcoming performance will have a few tweaks to the original play. The script and overarching story will be no different from Shakespeare’s work, but the biggest change to the play is that this rendition of Macbeth will not take place in eleventh century Scotland. Instead, the story will take a more postmodern, apocalyptic approach, conveying the decaying of a modern-day country in the midst of war. Cast members have advised the audience to expect to see grungy set designs and clothing, instead of the traditional puffed sleeves and laced bodices.

“The audience, I think, should look forward to the spectacle of the show,” commented Annie Bosher (‘26), when asked what possible viewers should expect to see in the play. “There is going to be a lot of violence, but it is going to be very cool. It’s going to be theatrical, [and] it’s not going to be boring, so the audience should definitely come and just see what we’ve got.” As described in Bosher’s comment, the Drama Club is incredibly excited to perform this play, so do come and see this tragedy reimagined on November 17th, 18th, or 19th, in the Maggie Walker auditorium.