Macbeth
2010
Brian Riggs as Macbeth and Kate LaConti as Lady Macbeth.
Playbill and Publicity Photos by Michael J. Walline.
Macbeth
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Kelli Bocock Natale
With Brian Riggs, Kate LoConti, Eric Rawski, John Kreuzer,
Caitlin Coleman, Darryl Hart, Adam Rath and Marie Costa
THREE STARS
THE BUFFALO NEWS
"Darker than dark and crackling with violent sexual energy"
"[Kelli] Bocock-Natale's breathless version of the show... succeeds largely on the performances of leads Kate LoConti and Brian Riggs with support from the gifted Eric Rawski as well as Caitlin Coleman, Marie Costa, Darryl Hart, Adam Rath and John Kreuzer...helped with live electric cello music beautifully performed by Emily Elkin."
"The interplay between LoConti and Riggs is as sexually charged as it can get."
"[Rawski's performance] is a demonstartion of excellent chops from an actor too rarely seen in non-comedic roles."
"If it's a night of tense, physical drama you seek,
this production won't disappoint."
-Colin Dabkowski
MACBETH, already Shakespeare’s shortest tragedy, is here pared down to a bare-bones version that allows director Bocock-Natale to present a highly physicalized production featuring an adroit, ensemble cast. Buffalo’s celebrated Brian Riggs and Kate LaConti play Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, while the remainder of the ensemble take on multiple roles in a version that traps the principals in a taut mechanism of superstition, paranoia, and of course relentless murders. Eric Rawski, John Kreuzer, Caitlin Coleman, Darryl Hart, Adam Rath and Marie Costa play the witches, murderers, heirs, victims that ensnare the Macbeths in the bloodthirsty drive for power that ultimately, and tragically, turns against them.
With dramaturge Joe Natale, director Bocock-Natale shapes a version that stresses the physicality and versatility of her company and allows the power-driven machine of ambition, murder and resistance to work to its foregone but thrilling climax. The production is typical of the theatre’s mission “to present new and classic works in ways that speak to our community, [and] to rediscover the experience of theatre through the spirit of collaboration.”
Kelli Bocock-Natale is a celebrated local director and radio host (for WBFO) who has helmed some of the New Phoenix Theatre’s most celebrated productions, including Fool for Love and Blackbird. This production rides on the heels of her most recent production, SKIRMISHES, Red Thread Theatre’s inaugural production, also at the New Phoenix.
Publicity Photos by Michael J. Walline