Teens bring Macbeth to Temple Theatre

Jul. 26—Ambition, deceit and death.

Those three words and more will be defined and presented on stage in the tragic Shakespearean play, Macbeth, which opens at the Temple Theatre today.

The play tells the story of Macbeth, a Scottish general, when approached by three witches, prophesied that he will be the new king, Macbeth's road to fulfilling that prophecy and maintaining it is not easy and often calls for using drastic measures.

The play will be presented differently over the next three days of performances with the cast being made up entirely of teenagers. Patrick Holt, director of the play, said the dialogue and basic concept of the play will remain the same, but there will be some noticeable changes.

Instead of presenting the play in its original time period, their play's time period will have a more punk/post-apocalypse backdrop.

"I find that the audience gets more into it," he said. "It makes the experience more acceptable and relatable to the average everyday person. We set (the play) in a modern time so it looks more normal to people."

As always the theme of the play will be a dark one with dramatic lighting along with plenty of knife-wielding and swordplay. The students worked with a professional fight trainer to prepare for those scenes.

"There's definitely going to be blood and violence," he said. "It's definitely a dark story."

Peggy Taphorn, production and artistic director of the Temple Theatre, said the 13 teenagers in the play were part of the theater's annual summer program. Those enrolled in the two-week program learn what it takes to put together a theater performance.

"It's one of our most intensive training programs of the summer," she said. "They learn a lot and get a lot of professional advice along the way. It's one of the things we offer that no one else offers in this area."

She said those who come to the play will see how the hard work the participants put into the play paid off on stage. The performance will last about an hour.

"You'll leave discussing who's the good guy and who's the bad guy," she said. "There are some really cool sword fighting. It's really cool and fun to watch."

The performance starts at 7:30 p.m. today, Friday and Saturday. Tickets are $18 plus fees. For more information contact Temple Theatre at 919-774-4155