Dr. Ann McEntee will present “The Legacy of MacBeth: Shakespeare, Verdi, and Raylynmor Opera” at the Peterborough Town Library on Tuesday, Oct. 4.
“Double, double toil and trouble, Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.” The words of Macbeth’s weird sisters conjure up a world of witchcraft and sorcery, a world in which “time is out of joint.” That world continues to fascinate us 410 years after Shakespeare first staged it.
This program will discuss our fascination with witches and a world upended by political ambition and treason. McEntee will discuss how this classic tale has evolved from Shakespeare’s original manipulation of historic documents to create the tragedy to Verdi’s interpretation of Shakespeare’s MacBeth as a Gothic world characterized by madness and terror.
She also will talk about Raylynmor’s upcoming production of Verdi’s “Macbeth,” which traverses time and space to the present-day United States. Set during a presidential election cycle, Ben Robinson, the opera company’s artistic director transforms Macbeth into a candidate and the weird sisters into television reporters, talk show hosts, and print journalists.
McEntee is a theatre and communications professor who has written about Shakespeare and directed stage productions of Shakespeare’s work.