Photo Gallery

Age recommendation: One of Shakespeare’s fiercest tragedies, Macbeth plays out its horrors onstage—there are scenes of witchcraft, the slaughter of a mother and her children, and a decapitated head. There is violence, sensuality and disturbing imagery in the production.

Please note: Children under 6 are not admitted to plays or other events.

e-Luminations: Director Gale Edwards
Click here to read an excerpt from Illuminations, OSF's 64-page guide to the plays.

Videos:
Production Preview (1:59)
About the play (6:22)
About the production (4:57)

Synopsis: The play begins in an open place, filled with thunder and lightning and the sudden, portentous appearance of three witches.

The action of the story, however, begins on a battlefield. Rebels against the Scottish throne, in league with forces from Norway, have been soundly defeated by the king’s men, led in battle by Macbeth, the Thane of Glamis, and his fellow general, Banquo. King Duncan, informed of the day’s outcome, orders the execution of one of the rebels, the Thane of Cawdor, and grants this title to the victorious Macbeth, not yet returned from the field.

Meanwhile Macbeth and Banquo encounter the three witches, who greet the men with prophecies of greatness: Macbeth shall be Thane of Cawdor and “king hereafter” and Banquo shall be the forefather of kings. The first prophecy is borne out when messengers arrive from the king, greeting Macbeth as Thane of Cawdor.

The king and company retire to the home of the Macbeths, where Lady Macbeth, who has learned of the prophecy, urges her husband to regicide, an idea already simmering in Macbeth’s mind. That night, while Duncan’s guards are sleeping (aided by Lady Macbeth’s drugged wine), Macbeth murders the king. Afterward, his wife smears the faces and hands of the guards with Duncan’s blood to frame them. The Thane of Fife, Macduff, arrives at the castle to call on the king early in the day and discovers the body.

Macbeth, feigning rage at the supposed murderers, kills the guards. Malcolm, the king’s eldest son and heir, and Donalbain, the king’s younger son, are suspicious of the noblemen and, fearing they’ll be killed next, flee to England and Ireland, respectively. Macbeth, now crowned King of Scotland, finds himself fearing Banquo, both as a charismatic leader and as the only other man who knows of the prophecies.

Angry at the witches’ claim that Banquo’s descendants will inherit the throne, which he himself has stolen, Macbeth hires men to ambush Banquo and his son Fleance and murder them. The murderers are only half successful, allowing Fleance to escape. At his banquet that night, Macbeth is confronted by the ghostly presence of his murdered friend, Banquo, a visitation unseen by the other guests. Meanwhile, Macduff, believing Macbeth to be a traitor and murderer of the king, steals away from Scotland to seek Malcolm at the English court and persuade him to return and lead a rebellion against the usurper.

Macbeth seeks out the witches again, who warn him against Macduff, even as they offer assurances of his invulnerability—that no man born of a woman can harm him and that he cannot be vanquished until Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane Hill. Discovering that Macduff is out of his reach, Macbeth turns his anger against Macduff’s family and orders that they be put to the sword. In England, Malcolm and Macduff resolve to return to Scotland, Malcolm to claim his rightful place and Macduff to wreak vengeance on his family’s murderer.

Lady Macbeth, overcome with guilt and madness, sleepwalks about the castle, even as her husband raises an army to meet the English forces. Her death marks the beginning of Macbeth’s end, as the English soldiers, disguised by foliage from Birnam Wood, march upon Dunsinane Castle, fulfilling the prophecy. Macbeth takes to the battlefield and is defeated at last by Macduff (who was delivered by Cesarean section and thus not “born” of a woman), who gives the usurper’s head and throne to Malcolm, the new king.—Kate McConnell