Macbeth – adapted and directed by Sam Robinson, performed by the Southern California Shakespeare Festival Guild (SCSFG) for Casa Romantica.

The fast paced five person adaptation of Shakespeare’s  classic tale of power,  identity and politics is based loosely historical fact. Macbeth (c. 1005-1057) was a Scottish king who ruled successfully for 15 years.  Though he altered his source material, Holingshed’s, Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland (2nd edition ed., 1587), Shakespeare used the report of Macbeth’s encounters with witches and usurpation of the throne. He used another account of a Scottish Regicide which provided details of Macbeths crime and the involvement of his wife.

Shakespeare had a history of using anachronisms – a juxtaposition of people, events, language, arrangement. In Macbeth they discuss dollars – though they were not in use then.  In Julius Caesar, he referenced a clock, which had not been invented yet. A costume reference in Caesar references a doublet, a jacket popular during Shakespeare’s time. 

The SCSFG production of Macbeth will stay true to the language of the Bard, but will  include anachronisms – from the costuming to clips of hits from synth-pop music of the 1980’s, all set within the historic Main Salon of Casa Romantica.