Hit show Goblin:Macbeth gets one-week extension at Bard on the Beach
With improv comedy and creepily cool masks, it’s the first production in Bard history to sell out before opening night
Rebecca Northan as Lady Macbeth, Bruce Horak as Macbeth in Goblin:Macbeth. Photo by Terry Manzo. Image Design by Emily Cooper
THERE’S FANTASTIC NEWS FOR local arts lovers, theatre seekers, and anyone seeking a night of Shakespeare unlike any other, complete with creepily beguiling mask-wearing ghouls, fine acting, and improv comedy: Bard on the Beach has extended Goblin:Macbeth by a full week.
Goblin:Macbeth will run on the Howard Family Stage from September 19 to 24 thanks to unprecedented box office sales ahead of the August 23 opening night.
It’s a history-making moment, with this being the the first production to sell out before opening night since the festival’s inception over three decades ago.
“In Bard’s 34-year history this is the first time we have had a show virtually sell out before our opening night,” Christopher Gaze, Bard on the Beach artistic director, says in a release. “Audiences are intrigued by this production and have been purchasing tickets in droves since we launched our season….It only makes sense for us to extend this production for one more week to give audiences an opportunity to see this creative production. We know that once word spreads those that don’t have a ticket already will be clamouring to get one.”
Directed by Rebecca Northan (Blind Date) and Bruce Horak, the 90-minute theatrical experience is hosted by three rogue Goblins wearing sharp-eared, squinty-eyed masks whose mouths and cheeks move with the wearer’s every utterance and expression. The creatures are full of lunacy, mayhem, and evil and are also irresistible.
When the three Goblins discover the Complete Works of William Shakespeare, they find themselves taken by a writer who seems to know all about witches, faeries, and monsters. They manage to get a theatre space and convince an audience into participating in their first attempt at “doing theatre”. Macbeth it is, because it’s short and bloody.
“In our world that we've created, the goblins aren't too sure about theatre in general,” Northan shares with Stir in a recent feature. “They're very skeptical, but they're curious because they have found the complete works of William Shakespeare. And they've gone, ‘This guy writes a lot about fairies and witches and goblins—maybe we should give him some credit and explore it. We're not convinced of theatre as a practice. But let's try it.’ And then they discover the language is beautiful.”
Northan always draws on improv comedy in her work, and this is no exception; there’s also “light” audience participation if viewers so desire.
This production is performed on the remnants of the Henry V set designed by Amir Ofek.
Full details are on the Bard website at bardonthebeach.org.
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