Macbeth: A Shakespearean Classic Retold in the Heartland

From London’s Globe Theatre to Kansas City’s Southmoreland Park, Macbeth continues to captivate audiences even in the modern day. A staple of high school English classes, this Shakespearean tragedy is a timeless expression of the dangers of ambition, whose message remains relevant even hundreds of years after its first performances. 

The play begins with three witches and their prophecy: that Macbeth will one day become King of Scotland. Emboldened by their prediction and his wife’s encouragement, Macbeth murders King Duncan and takes the throne. As king, Macbeth becomes a violent tyrant, whose unstable reign leads to his own demise. Before seeing the show, I had read the play, but watching it live brought so much more to the story. 

This production of Macbeth is presented by the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival (HASF) and performed outdoors in Southmoreland Park. Macbeth is the first HASF production I’ve watched, and I was quite impressed. Through outstanding technical direction, the outdoor venue enhances the story's beauty, as the darkening sky mirrors Macbeth’s downfall. The set, designed by Kelli Harrod, consists of an imposing castle nestled between the park’s grand trees and splendidly matching the environment. By incorporating the colors of the park, the line between the set and the surroundings blurs, enhancing the immersive quality of the experience. 

Scene changes and transitions are facilitated with music, expertly timed and selected to match the setting of the play and contribute to the overall mood. The sound team (Paul Vedros, Michelle Nelson, Ben Choate) truly demonstrates skill and coordination. Every line is audible — an impressive feat for an outdoor show with a large cast. Through the sound team’s work, Shakespeare’s dialogue rings out clearly throughout the whole park. 

Macbeth includes many supernatural elements, with witches’ prophecies and hallucinations plaguing many of its characters. Magic is brought to the stage through the HASF team’s incredible creativity, with special effects such as smoke working in tandem with Ward Everhart’s lighting design and Paul Vedros’s sound design. From the dreadful bubbling of the witches’ cauldron, to the brilliant flames of a castle under siege, their combined work is enthralling to see. 

Holding the narrative of Macbeth in spindly hands are the three witches, played by Chioma Anyanwu, Elise Poehling, and Elaine Clifford. Together, they immediately establish themselves as a powerful, unsettling force in the play’s opening scenes as they deliver Macbeth’s fate. Unnatural movements, sharp hisses, and inhumane cackling sets these witches apart from other characters. In many scenes, the witches silently linger in the background, cloaked and nearly invisible in their stillness. Even in silence, their presence asserts a sense of tragic inevitability. Personally, the witches were one of my favorite performers in the entire production.

At the crux of the play are Lord and Lady Macbeth, portrayed by Jacques Roy and Cinnamon Schultz. Their onstage devotion to one another is intense, as is their spiral into insanity. Guilt-driven hallucinations torment the duo, with Schultz exceptionally delivering Lady Macbeth’s iconic monologues. As the play’s title role, Roy masterfully performs every aspect of Macbeth’s ambition, paranoia, guilt, and greed. These two actors phenomenally lead the show with their talented performances. 

Macbeth features an incredibly talented cast of dedicated actors and skilled technicians who perform a fantastic show, night after night, in the midwest summer heat. HASF is a wonderful organization, bringing together so many talented individuals to bring Shakespeare to Kansas City. Stunningly rendered spectacle, rousing dramatics, and enduring themes truly make HASF’s Macbeth a marvelous production.