Babes with Blades-Macbeth | Teen Ink

Babes with Blades-Macbeth

May 25, 2009
By Tommie Colonna BRONZE, Park Ridge, Illinois
Tommie Colonna BRONZE, Park Ridge, Illinois
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

I am doing my review on a unique performance of Macbeth which was produced by the Babes with Blades organization performed at La Costa Theatre in Chicago. In the Shakespearean days, plays were performed by all men and this theatrical organization strives to show that women can have sword fights and play major roles in the play by having the entire cast consist of women. I thought this put a very interesting spin on the overall tone of the play because it was somewhat funny to hear these girls call each other “sir” and “man.” When I first arrived at the theatre my hopes were very low. The theatre was extremely small (only seated about 25) and there was no separation between the stage and seating area. The seats were basically on the stage and there was one isle where the cast would run in and out of between scenes. To my surprise, this turned out to be a major plus. At times, the actresses were only about a few feet away from me. The interaction with the audience was great and it was extremely easy to hear what was said by the performers because of the size of the venue. The only down side to this was every time there was a sword fight, I felt like I had to duck out of the way to avoid being hit by them. Another thing I liked about the play was the costume choices. The costumes for the 3 weird sisters were very detailed and had scary masks that got me on the edge of my seat when their scenes came up. All in all, the female cast did a great job playing the parts of the males in the play and added an interesting twist to the play which kept me attentive throughout the whole 2 and a half hours. I would give the production as a whole 4.5 / 5 stars and recommend this play to any theatre fan who likes to see variety in traditional Shakespeare plays.


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