Macbeth cast prepares for battle ahead of upcoming production

The Electric City Players are just about ready to bring their reimagined version of Macbeth to the stage this spring. The new local theatre company, led by co-directors Andrew Loeb and Jacqueline Barrow, was established as a creative collective with the goal of making experimental interpretations of classic plays accessible to Peterborough audiences.

Plans for future productions include Shakespeare’s comedy Twelfth Night and ancient Greek tragedy Agamemnon by Aeschylus. For now however, the company is focused on the finishing touches for their first play, Macbeth, which opens at the Market Hall on May 23.    

For some of the cast, preparations included attending a specialized training day on April 6 to learn how to perform battle scenes safely with real metal swords and daggers.

“Alright, let’s learn to fight today and get ready to kill some enemies,” said Loeb as he introduced the session.

“We don’t want any injuries,” he added wryly. “We don’t have any spare cast members.”

First up: workshopping the brutal murders of Lady Macduff and her children. Should Macbeth’s henchman thrust his knife into her chest or slit her throat? Should the grief-stricken mother be dragged across the stage or lie prone and hopeless? Each angle and placement of the actors’ bodies was chosen to make their anguish more visible to the audience.

“It was really surprising how hard it was for us to watch,” Loeb said, gesturing to his co-director, Barrow. “Both of us are parents of small children and we were just gutted, but I guess that means it’s good theatre.”

“The kids are really fun to work with,” said Barrow. “With tragedy it’s important to be sensitive to the intense subject matter, but we’ve learned they’re up for anything. I really hope this is a valuable challenge, and that we’ve created a safe space for both the children and the adults where inclusion and consent are at the forefront.”

In the moments between run-throughs of the scene, the young actors portraying the Macduff children joked together. “We decided we’re making a family music group – The Macduffs doing Macstuff,” said Darragh O’Connell before joining his little band of doomed siblings in striking a group pose reminiscent of 1990s boy bands.

Macbeth is O’Connell’s sixth local theatre production since 2022, so he got to know much of the cast prior to taking on his newest role. “This show can go from pretty funny to pretty dark,” O’Connell said. “But this is such a connected cast; it’s easy to have fun when I’m with friends.”

The rehearsal process started in late January of this year and the time commitment has ramped up to about seven hours per week.

Simon Banderob, who plays the titular role, said Macbeth rehearsals are the funnest part of his week these days. “That’s the great thing about being in theatre,” he said. “You get to spend a lot of time together.”

Banderob works as a substitute teacher for grades 7 and 8 across the Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board during the day. He has introduced students to Shakespeare plays in the past, but this is his first time acting in one.

After cast members worked through the slaughter of Macduff’s wife and children, it was Banderob’s turn to cross swords with his on-stage nemesis. 

He and Eddy Sweeney, who plays Macduff, spent over an hour learning the choreography for their climactic final battle, much of which is planned to be waged in darkness and illuminated by flashing strobe lights.

After getting the basic steps down, they graduated from dueling with broom handles to practising with the real metal weapons.

The locally-crafted swords echoed with a satisfying clang. Local blacksmith Michael Chown is lending the Electric City Players the weapons, according to Barrow. “We were practicing with foam swords before we made that connection,” she said.

Barrow went on to explain that because their version of the play is set in the aftermath of a climate apocalypse, much of the stage setting and costuming is made up of found pieces. “A lot of it is mix-and-match, tattered and torn, with elements of garbage and things which would be plentiful in a post-apocalypse,” she said.

Loeb has developed audiovisual elements for the production. He wrote an original score for the play, drawing on his academic background researching music from the Elizabethan era. 

He’s also experimenting with video footage. “What does it mean to be a king when everything has fallen apart?” he asked. “The video captures fragments of the natural world in unnatural, unsettling ways.”

Loeb and Barrow have prided themselves on presenting a new perspective on Macbeth, and on giving actors space to collaborate and take ownership of their roles. “We wanted people to be able to read characters really thoroughly, and live with the language of the character in their bodies,” Loeb said. “What’s really exciting to me is how connected and relevant Macbeth is to the way human politics and corruption impact the world we live in today, and I can see our actors tapping into that.”

Electric City Players present Macbeth May 23 to 25 at the Market Hall. Tickets here.