Although it was premiered in 1606 Macbeth’s tragedy by English playwright William Shakespeare demonstrates the vitality of the classics, and is still very current. After more than 400 years, the Teatro Buendía group has decided to revisit the work, not to repeat the style of the Elizabethan era, but to emphasize its contemporaneity.
The version written by the teacher and playwright Raquel Carrió together with Alejandro Alfonzo, under the title “Nudes in the woods”, was initially intended only for two actors and recorded voices of the witches-spectres.
“We finally opted, after long weeks of work in times of pandemic and in open spaces, not to reproduce the already classic medieval topic of ominous witches, but to personify ‘spirits of the forest’ that secretly drive the plot and evoke the events through a fragmented structure that eschews naturalistic construction and only reveals its secret at the end. Thus, the specters successively embody characters such as Banquo, King Duncan, a Warrior, or the Girl who was once Lady Macbeth, raped and imprisoned in Birnam Forest”, explains Carrió in the program notes.
The most intense, difficult and mysterious of Shakespearean texts is represented in Havana under the direction of Jorge Alba.
There are many ways to connect with “Nudes in the Woods” beyond the darkness of the story and its characters. The struggle for power cuts through all of humanity like a dagger and political ambition has always been present in yesterday’s Kings and today’s presidents.
Reconnecting with a story that has been covered so many times and taken to the movies on more than one occasion has been an intense exercise in collective creation for Teatro Buendía and training for the Havana spectator who does not always find works of this type in theaters in the capital.
Since 1986, the group directed by Flora Lauten, winner of the 2005 National Theater Award, has always opted for rigor. In “Nudes in the Forest” no one will be able to notice a facile element in the scene because everything has been carefully prepared: the dark and medieval scenery is complemented by the costumes thanks to the designs of Rubén Martínez, Alexis Moruelo and Ognis Cruz.
On stage, Alejandro Alfonzo assumes himself as Macbeth and an unmissable Sara Vega plays Lady Macbeth, taking advantage of one of the most coveted characters among actresses. Jorge Alba, Rachel Cruz, Alexis Moruelo and Rubén Martínez appear as spirits of the forest.
Throughout March the play will be on the billboard at the Teatro Buendía headquarters located in the church at Loma and 39, Nuevo Vedado. On Saturdays at 7:00 pm and on Sundays at 5:00 pm The first show was dedicated to the designer and poet Rolando Estévez, 2010 National Design Award winner, who died earlier this year at the age of 69.
