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In the Soulstice production, the question of "Why do this?" was never answered. It totally changed the dynamic in the play. Last year, a production of David Mamet’s "Oleanna" changed one character in the two character play from a young woman to a young gay man. His "Romeo and Juliet," with the two stars in their 60’s, was a daring production that worked to perfection.īut bending gender just for the sake of doing it is, it seems to me, a childish exercise. I am all in favor of daring experiments in the world of theater.ĭale Gutzman at Off the Wall is famous for bending genders and taking risks. When Macduff was told of the murder of his wife and children, I couldn’t reconcile the fact that this Macduff looked like, acted like and in fact was, a woman. I was confused about whether the actors were pretending to be men or whether they were women saying the lines written for a man. In the Soulstice production, the gender issue clearly was in the way. Some were great, and some were not, but the gender issue never seemed to get in the way. All the parts were played by men, and I’ve seen a number of productions that follow that example. When Shakespeare wrote his plays, there were no women actors. "Macbeth" is a classic example of how one crime demands another and another and so on. "Macbeth" is a classic story of ambition run amok and the lengths people will go to in order to get and maintain what they wanted. They mugged and whispered and shouted and moved with almost no reason. In some cases, they were trying almost too hard. It’s not that these actors weren’t trying. He wrote it carefully, and it’s got to be handled carefully, or before too long, a production will head off the tracks and getting back on is nearly impossible. This cast had only a nodding acquaintance with the rhythm of Shakespeare, perhaps the most important aspect to his language. The language is special, but if you pay attention, you can tell where it’s going and what everything means. There are actors who study a lifetime, trying to do Shakespeare well.