Macbeth At The Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival

Kim Paffenroth (Iona College)

Macbeth
Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival
(Now through August 26, 2016)
Director: Lee Sunday Evans

This summer, HVSF presents Macbeth in a doubl

y provocative form – with an all female cast, and a cast of only three actors (Maria-Christina Oliveras, Nance Williamson, and Stacey Yen) playing all the parts (at least, all the parts that have been retained in this pared-down version). Further, they do so with no props or scenery whatsoever – lighting effects are relied on for any suggestion of place. The overall effect is thrilling, emotional, and captivating. It is impossible to turn away from these actors as they work, and as an exercise in acting virtuosity, this performance works admirably. (As always for HVSF at Boscobel, as an evening spent on the banks of the Hudson at sunset, the experience is also nearly unequalled for enjoyment

, on that basis alone.)

But a play is more than just watching actors pull of a feat – they are something other than circus acrobats, after all

– and on many other points, the whole idea of this performance should’ve been thoroughly reworked. The gender of the actors is ignored as much as possible: the women are not pretending to be men, though the gender of their lines is not changed to female. They are trying

to play characters so bare and essential that even gender would be extraneous, as

though only…