Audience reaction to Quintessence Theatre’s Season XIV production of “Macbeth” has been electric, and the company has announced a five performance extension to run through April 28.
“Macbeth” chronicles the ends to which one couple will go to grab and hold political power, and the destruction that follows. Gripped by his own ambition and spurred on by his wife, a Scottish general and war-hero turned King leads a prophesied journey of greatness, tyranny, murder, and madness. Macbeth is directed by Quintessence Producing Artistic Director, Alex Burns.
Daniel Miller is featured in the title role and acclaimed Shakespearean actor Scott Parkinson will play Lady Macbeth.
In a reflection of original Shakespearean casting, the Macbeth cast of eleven is all male. Acclaimed Shakespearean actor Scott Parkinson will play Lady Macbeth in his QTG debut. Other debuts include Owen Corey, Jamison Foreman*, Corneilus Franklin, Vaughn Meccod, River Moore, Christopher Patrick Mullen, and Zachary Valdez. Quintessence is also welcoming back Daniel Miller, who is playing the titular King. Also featured are Lee Thomas Cortopassi, Joshua Kachnycz, and Ken Sandberg.
I wanted to return to the traditions of all-male Shakespeare to investigate one of his most ferocious and testosterone-driven tragedies. In a moment when gender evolution and gender binary is at the forefront of civic dialogue and cultural investigation, we re-explore the traditions of the Elizabethan theatre, in which gender is a key element of theatrical artifice and performance aesthetics. The theatre is at its most powerful as a space for artifice and illusion, elevating the universal truths of our collective humanity. Macbeth, specifically, is a play that investigates the function of violence, sanctioned and illicit, to establish power. It is a masterpiece that interrogates the sources of human ambition, the lengths to which an individual will go to achieve and hold power, and the repercussions of violence on the human psyche. By embracing its theatricality, all-male Shakespeare will allow us to push the limits of the horror that this play demands. – Quintessence Producing Artistic Director, Alex Burns.
Playing Macbeth is Daniel Miller. Miller returns to QTG after appearing in the smash hit Mary Poppins as both Neilus and Bert. He recently appeared in Beauty in the Beast at Walnut Street Theatre. Scott Parkinson is cast as Lady Macbeth and is making his Quintessence debut. Parkinson, who was in the Broadway cast of The Coast of Utopia, is a Shakespearan actor based in Chicago and he most recently played Queen Margaret in Ed Hall’s Rose Rage in Chicago and Off-Broadway.
Christopher Patrick Mullen, who recently wowed audiences in “Assassins” at the Arden and “A Christmas Carol Comedy” at Hedgerow makes his Quintessence debut as Duncan. Rounding out the cast is: Corneilus Franklin as Lady MacDuff; Jamison Foreman as Witch 2; Owen Corey as Malcolm; Zachary Valdez as Angus; and Vaughn Meccod plays Banquo. River Moore is making his professional stage debut as the MacDuffs’ son. All other roles are filled out by the Ensemble.
Quintessence regular Lee Thomas Cortopassi plays MacDuff. Ken Sandberg returns to play Ross and Joshua Kachnycz returns to play Lenox.
If You Go
Macbeth will now close April 28. Added performances are Friday – April 26, 7:30PM; Saturday – April 27, 2PM and 7:30PM; and Sunday – April 28, 3PM. All performances are at Quintessence’s home at the historic Sedgwick Theater located at 7137 Germantown Avenue in Mt. Airy. Tickets start at $50 and are available online at www.quintessencetheatre.org. Senior, student, Active Military, and group discounts are available.
About Quintessence Theatre
Founded in 2009, the award-winning Quintessence Theatre is dedicated to bringing epic works of classic drama and literature to the contemporary stage.
As Philadelphia’s text-based, actor-focused repertory theatre, Quintessence re-envisions the classics to inspire our community to consider what is essential in theatre and in human nature.
Now in its 14th season at the Sedgwick Theater in Philadelphia’s Northwest neighborhood of Mt. Airy, Quintessence is led by Artistic Director, Alex Burns and Executive Director, Grace Grillet.