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The Harvard Crimson: The Psych Drama Company’s ‘Macbeth:’ ‘Lesser than Macbeth and Greater’
By Claire S. Elliott, Crimson Staff Writer
August 9, 2023
The rounded globe of the Charles Hayden Planetarium at the Museum of Science came alight with billowing clouds of faint color as the audience lay back to absorb The Psych Drama Company’s abstract, transcendent adaptation of “Macbeth.” The play has no visible actors nor stage. Instead, “immersive 3-D sound” fills the planetarium while scenic visuals inspired by the play illuminate the domed ceiling. While this production deviates from traditional theater, its ingenuity does not detract from exploring the characters’ moral inquiries. Rather, the production allows the audience to truly listen to the ambivalence embedded within Shakespeare’s language. As a result, the true action of the play is not on the battlefields or around the castles, but inside Macbeth’s and Lady Macbeth’s minds. Despite the cost of excluding the actors’ images and the subtleties of physical stage directions, this adaptation succeeds in capturing the struggles of free will in a captivating production.
The director of the play, psychologist Dr. Wendy Lippe, calls this psychological realm the “Macbethian Mindscape.” During Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s soliloquies and intimate conversations, hushed, perverse voices and anamorphic imagery permeate the scene. Whispers repeat lines of the soliloquies, highlighting the ambivalent language with contradictory tones. In a post-show talk, Lippe shared that the whispers may represent the Macbeths’ “deep desire” or “their conscience.” Furthermore, the voices of the Witches are the same as those of the whispers. The Witches’ voices are sometimes shrill, which is distracting at times — but the choice to expand the Witches’ presence is ultimately effective, because it extends their role from supernatural meddlers to psychological detectives.
As a result, the whispers certainly introduce a compelling mental phenomenon: the self-fulfilling prophecy. As predictions and possibilities present themselves, they give voice to the choices that can make them come true. For instance, before Macbeth murders Duncan, the whispers shadow his thoughts, revealing both his ambition and his guilt. Therefore, the adaptation creatively suggests that it is not the Witches who set the play in motion, but Macbeth’s psyche. Ultimately, navigating that psyche is more interesting than breaking down the Witches’ brew.
Because the Witches are no longer catalysts in this show, they become “bystanders” to Macbeth’s fall. As bystanders, they also parallel the role of the audience, which emphasizes that just as the witches should wonder about human ambivalence, so should the audience.
The production is a “skeletal” version of the original play, focusing almost exclusively on the Macbeths. For instance, scenes such as the death of Macduff’s family were cut. Since the adaptation is not inherently about the consequences of the Macbeths’ actions, but the internal turmoil that led them to take those actions, such scenes are not missed. In fact, if the play were any longer, it would risk boring its audience.
Despite missing many elements of the traditional play, the sense of urgency does not disappear. Voice-actor Mark Prokes convincingly evokes Macbeth’s indecision while revealing his panic. As the soliloquy continues, the scenery of the courtyard sways and bends as the whispers grow more frequent and powerful. Produced by the Museum of Science’s Planetarium team, the vivid imagery shifts from surreal to real, and from real to abstract. Meanwhile, the original score by Žarko Dragojević intensifies the scenes and brings continuity to the play. As a result, the combination of aural and visual effects quicken the tempo and heighten the sense of dread, making the play an engaging experience.
Those familiar with “Macbeth” know that the characters do not manage conflicting emotions — but in Lippe’s adaptation, their ambivalence, and thus their failure, come through clearly. For example, in a surprising interpretation, Macbeth promises Duncan’s murder to Lady Macbeth in a moment when many people would be at their psychologically weakest: during sex. Not only did the scene incite snickers and laughs among the audience, but it also made the play more believable. Traditionally, Macbeth easily agrees to his wife’s plot without a convincing reason. Here, he is in a vulnerable, governable position.
Lady Macbeth comes to life in the Psych Drama Company’s adaptation. Lippe is the voice actor for the character, and she draws upon the possibility of the Macbeths’ lost child to give Lady Macbeth complex motives and deepen her guilt. She chases Duncan’s crown to search for a future without a legacy. Later, the murder of Macduff’s family haunts her, recalling the death of her own child. Lippe dramatizes the psychological distance between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth in the Macbethian Mindscape by creating a new disconnect: In this scene, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth can no longer hear each other’s internal whispers, and they can no longer cope with their crimes. The scene underscores not only the importance of managing ambivalence, but also of sharing ambivalence — which contributes to the thought-provoking play’s success.
At the end of the production, the play zooms out once more, leaving the Macbethian Mindscape to enter the aether with the Witches. Their voices emanate from the nebula moving across the Planetarium screen as they question how Malcolm will navigate his own ambivalent feelings as king. The last scene reminds that every individual has their own “Mindscape” full of desire and conscience, of bad and good.
The Psych Drama Company’s ‘Macbeth:’ ‘Lesser than Macbeth and Greater’ | Arts | The Harvard Crimson (thecrimson.com)
By Claire S. Elliott, Crimson Staff Writer
August 9, 2023
The rounded globe of the Charles Hayden Planetarium at the Museum of Science came alight with billowing clouds of faint color as the audience lay back to absorb The Psych Drama Company’s abstract, transcendent adaptation of “Macbeth.” The play has no visible actors nor stage. Instead, “immersive 3-D sound” fills the planetarium while scenic visuals inspired by the play illuminate the domed ceiling. While this production deviates from traditional theater, its ingenuity does not detract from exploring the characters’ moral inquiries. Rather, the production allows the audience to truly listen to the ambivalence embedded within Shakespeare’s language. As a result, the true action of the play is not on the battlefields or around the castles, but inside Macbeth’s and Lady Macbeth’s minds. Despite the cost of excluding the actors’ images and the subtleties of physical stage directions, this adaptation succeeds in capturing the struggles of free will in a captivating production.
The director of the play, psychologist Dr. Wendy Lippe, calls this psychological realm the “Macbethian Mindscape.” During Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s soliloquies and intimate conversations, hushed, perverse voices and anamorphic imagery permeate the scene. Whispers repeat lines of the soliloquies, highlighting the ambivalent language with contradictory tones. In a post-show talk, Lippe shared that the whispers may represent the Macbeths’ “deep desire” or “their conscience.” Furthermore, the voices of the Witches are the same as those of the whispers. The Witches’ voices are sometimes shrill, which is distracting at times — but the choice to expand the Witches’ presence is ultimately effective, because it extends their role from supernatural meddlers to psychological detectives.
As a result, the whispers certainly introduce a compelling mental phenomenon: the self-fulfilling prophecy. As predictions and possibilities present themselves, they give voice to the choices that can make them come true. For instance, before Macbeth murders Duncan, the whispers shadow his thoughts, revealing both his ambition and his guilt. Therefore, the adaptation creatively suggests that it is not the Witches who set the play in motion, but Macbeth’s psyche. Ultimately, navigating that psyche is more interesting than breaking down the Witches’ brew.
Because the Witches are no longer catalysts in this show, they become “bystanders” to Macbeth’s fall. As bystanders, they also parallel the role of the audience, which emphasizes that just as the witches should wonder about human ambivalence, so should the audience.
The production is a “skeletal” version of the original play, focusing almost exclusively on the Macbeths. For instance, scenes such as the death of Macduff’s family were cut. Since the adaptation is not inherently about the consequences of the Macbeths’ actions, but the internal turmoil that led them to take those actions, such scenes are not missed. In fact, if the play were any longer, it would risk boring its audience.
Despite missing many elements of the traditional play, the sense of urgency does not disappear. Voice-actor Mark Prokes convincingly evokes Macbeth’s indecision while revealing his panic. As the soliloquy continues, the scenery of the courtyard sways and bends as the whispers grow more frequent and powerful. Produced by the Museum of Science’s Planetarium team, the vivid imagery shifts from surreal to real, and from real to abstract. Meanwhile, the original score by Žarko Dragojević intensifies the scenes and brings continuity to the play. As a result, the combination of aural and visual effects quicken the tempo and heighten the sense of dread, making the play an engaging experience.
Those familiar with “Macbeth” know that the characters do not manage conflicting emotions — but in Lippe’s adaptation, their ambivalence, and thus their failure, come through clearly. For example, in a surprising interpretation, Macbeth promises Duncan’s murder to Lady Macbeth in a moment when many people would be at their psychologically weakest: during sex. Not only did the scene incite snickers and laughs among the audience, but it also made the play more believable. Traditionally, Macbeth easily agrees to his wife’s plot without a convincing reason. Here, he is in a vulnerable, governable position.
Lady Macbeth comes to life in the Psych Drama Company’s adaptation. Lippe is the voice actor for the character, and she draws upon the possibility of the Macbeths’ lost child to give Lady Macbeth complex motives and deepen her guilt. She chases Duncan’s crown to search for a future without a legacy. Later, the murder of Macduff’s family haunts her, recalling the death of her own child. Lippe dramatizes the psychological distance between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth in the Macbethian Mindscape by creating a new disconnect: In this scene, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth can no longer hear each other’s internal whispers, and they can no longer cope with their crimes. The scene underscores not only the importance of managing ambivalence, but also of sharing ambivalence — which contributes to the thought-provoking play’s success.
At the end of the production, the play zooms out once more, leaving the Macbethian Mindscape to enter the aether with the Witches. Their voices emanate from the nebula moving across the Planetarium screen as they question how Malcolm will navigate his own ambivalent feelings as king. The last scene reminds that every individual has their own “Mindscape” full of desire and conscience, of bad and good.
The Psych Drama Company’s ‘Macbeth:’ ‘Lesser than Macbeth and Greater’ | Arts | The Harvard Crimson (thecrimson.com)
Edge Media Network: They Have the Whole Universe in their Minds: Wendy Lippe on her Immersive 'Macbeth' at the Museum of Science Planetarium, Boston
KILIAN MELLOY July 7, 2023
The works of William Shakespeare are nothing if not complex, and the psychological depths and puzzlements of "Macbeth" are a prime example. The Psych Drama Company first delved into the play in 2021 with a critically acclaimed audio adaptation that used a sculpted soundscape – and a carefully abridged and edited text – to probe the minds of the play's two main characters, the ambitious but hesitant Lord Macbeth and his much more ruthless wife, Lady Macbeth.
The audio adaptation now comes to the Charles Hayden Planetarium at Boston's Museum of Science for an immersive experience that adds visual elements to Psych Drama Company's sonically three-dimensional audio adaptation.
The enhanced adaption is certainly timely: The play has excited renewed interest in the theater (and film) world with its timeless themes of political intrigue. In an era of populist politics and deep divisions, it's all too easy to identify with a protagonist who feels that fate has selected him to shake up the order of things, if only he's willing to shed a little blood. But how far will he go? And how will he rationalize the decisions to go there?
Taking note of the various recent and upcoming Macbeth productions in Boston, in cinema and beyond, Lippe notes, "I think this recent intensification of our fascination with this play is related to the exacerbation of the polarization of our world, and the footprint of disconnection and paranoia that the pandemic has left us with. We are returning to the Macbeth text over and over again in an effort to master and work through a world which has become polarized and terrifying, because it's a world which cannot tolerate and manage complex, contradictory thoughts and feelings."
"Psychologists who practice psychotherapy have long understood the importance of helping their clients become aware of, tolerate and manage ambivalent feelings and thoughts," Lippe, herself a Harvard-trained psychologist, goes on to note. "Though clinical case studies and theoretical articles and books on ambivalence have been published for many decades, it's only in the last few years that there has been quantitative empirical research studies supporting the idea that there are psychological benefits of being ambivalent. That being ambivalent is psychologically healthy and necessary! It helps us with improved decision-making processes, more balanced and accurate judgment, reduced cognitive bias, better problem-solving, increased creativity, increased receptivity to other people's opinions, and increased adaptability."
"It just astounds me that it's only in the past few years that we have quantitative, empirical research support for this," Lippe confides. "Like, I've known this since I was born!"
"The Play's the Thing"... for Our Times"
I think this is the call of the 'Macbeth' text at this moment in time, as we are faced with a world that is devastatingly limited with regard to tolerating and managing ambivalence," Lippe observes. "That ambivalence is no doubt in the words of Shakespeare's script. Complexity and duality. They are in the words that Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, and other characters in the play speak." But, Lippe asks, "Do we feel that ambivalence?"
"So, this 'Macbeth' production that we did first as a streaming audio drama, and are now doing at the planetarium, is a deep dive into the minds of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth."
The production – which adds visual elements to the three-dimensional sound design – is, Lippe says, a "Macbethian Mindscape."
"As a psychologist, actress, and director, I believed that a Mindscape adaptation could bring the Macbeths' ambivalence and internal conflict to life in a more vivid, dynamic and compelling manner than we find in the original play," Lippe explains. "There's something important about feeling the emotional impact of the Macbeths' inner turmoil and being drawn into their inner worlds. And then there's my other motivation – our world, with this heightened polarization, disconnection, and paranoia... being so certain about our stances. We are not holding the contradictions and dialectical tensions that are the human condition, and we are the worse for it. That's the other reason I think that this Mindscape adaptation is timely and important."
Feel it for RealThough the text is taken entirely from Shakespeare's original, Lippe's adaptation seeks to focus on and amplify the Macbeths' ambivalent states of mind, while maintaining the immediacy and urgency of the action of the play.
"How many times have you ever seen a 'Macbeth' production where you really believed that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth were going to go in the other direction?" she points out. "Never. We never believe [that things could happen other than the way they do], even though Macbeth is like, 'Well, maybe I shouldn't do this.' The urgency and immediacy of the action of Shakespeare's 'Macbeth' makes it extremely powerful, and at the same time, as some scholars and psychologists have noted, it is this very urgency and immediacy that can obscure a more complex experience and understanding of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. You're so caught up in the immediacy of the action that you never really believe he's going to rethink this and stop."
"There's something about that which has always been a disconnect for me," Lippe adds. "I've been in the show three or four times, and I've always looked at the script and said, 'The words are there. Why aren't I feeling that?' And every time I've played Lady Macbeth, I've gotten to her "mad" scene, whereafter she kills herself, and I've said, 'Oh, my God, how are we here again? How am I supposed to now get on stage? I don't even believe myself. How am I going to be believable to an audience?' Because how does Lady Macbeth get here? She hasn't, in any meaningful way, struggled with ambivalence."
There are different ways to think about this, Lippe points out, citing Freud's contention that if "Macbeth and Lady Macbeth were combined to be one character, they make more sense" – they would, as Lippe phrases it, carry "a more three-dimensional ambivalence."
The Psych Drama Company's "Macbeth" is intended to be "a production where we can feel and be inside the minds of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth and be immersed in their inner conflict. In addition to the adapted text, it has an original score of music and soundscape, sound effects, and now [with the audiovisual version in the planetarium], full dome animated visuals; all of this is designed and curated to illuminate and heighten the felt experience of being inside the minds of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth – to really live there and experience their ambivalence in a way that I've personally never felt before."
Finding Lady Mac
True to the company's name, Lippe has broken the play into psychological components of the human mind.
"We have the voice of darkness in their mind," Lippe explains. "We have the voice of conscience in their minds. And we have this mediating voice, trying to find a compromise: 'Look, can it not be all darkness, and can it not be all conscience? Can we find a compromise?'"
Lippe explains that she seeks to find a place of identification with and empathy for what might otherwise be a pair of irredeemable villains.
"How can we humanize these characters? I think the best way is to do a deep dive into their psyches and feel their inner turmoil so that we can resonate with it. I want us to say, 'Hey, we know what it feels like to struggle with a base desire, and to have some conscience about that.' We can all relate to powerful desire for something; but then I want us to also feel the consequences of their actions. There are consequences for our actions, and humanizing them in no way absolves them of their responsibility and accountability. If anything, it makes their responsibility and accountability more accessible."
Casting the characters in this somewhat different light – and gaining entry into their complicated psychologies – meant reshaping the play. "In this Mindscape adaptation, the emphasis on the internal conflict introduces Lady Macbeth's conscience much earlier, thereby making her a more three-dimensional character in her own right," Lippe notes. "Additionally, with my remixing and editing of the text, there's a much more painful conflict between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth than in the original. The violence of their conflict juxtaposed with the music of utter silence, followed by a mournful soundscape brings us right into the Macbeths' hearts and minds when the two characters have a very definite break in their union. In this moment, the change to the original text, the music, soundscape and visuals help us feel Lady Macbeth's painful cut-off from Macbeth; and we feel a more natural progression to her internal state of being overwhelmed by feelings of shame and guilt, ultimately leading to her suicide." Lippe adds, with a sigh of relief, "Now I feel and understand how I get to her final 'mad' scene."
Exploring Minds and Madness
The play's psychological tensions are explored further with the use of cutting-edge animated visuals.
"This has been thrilling for me," Lippe exclaims, "as it is an entirely new creative experience and one that I have fallen in love with! And James Monroe, Dani LeBlanc, Wade Sylvester and the entire Planetarium Team have been fantastic collaborators! They are all wonderful humans and remarkably gifted. I started by meeting with the planetarium team's visual artists and animators to explain the concept of this particular adaptation of Macbeth."
Lippe explains how she designed the mental space – the "Macbethian Mindscape" – in which this adaptation unfolds.
"I laid out a detailed description and map of 3.5 distinct 'realms' that I wanted for the visuals," she tells EDGE. "The 'Mindscape Realm' is for creating the experience of being inside the Macbeths' minds, when the viewer is in a scene with Mac, Lady Mac, or the two of them together, with no other characters present."
"When either Mac or Lady Mac has a soliloquy or when they are talking to each other with no other characters present, and they are speaking their lines in the way we are familiar with, we are in the 'conscious' part of their minds, which I have identified as Mindscape Realm 3.0," Lippe continues. "An example of a visual in Mindscape Realm 3.0 is being seated in the planetarium, and you as the viewer are surrounded by a surrealistic chamber in a castle, a courtyard, etc. That chamber then has animated, surreal distortion to create a sense of being 'within the mind.' An example would be that the visual is moving in a clockwise or counter-clockwise direction, or that the visual is coming in and out of focus, or there's a ripple effect. These animated surrealistic visuals at intensity level 3.0 heighten the experience of being inside the 'conscious' minds of Mac and Lady Mac or within their 'shared mind.'"
"Mindscape Realm 3.5 is reserved for the three 'unconscious' mind Whisperers: 1) Darkness/evil; 2) Goodness/conscience; and, 3) The mediating part of the mind that attempts to find compromises between evil and goodness," Lippe says. "Whenever the viewer hears the 'unconscious' Whisperers within Mac and Lady Mac's minds, the surreal distortion animation gets intensified from a 3.0 level to a 3.5 level. So, you would see the 3.0 wavy ripple effect intensify to a 3.5 level. Or you would see the blurring of a visual intensify; or the clockwise or counterclockwise motion of a visual might speed up. The Mindscape 3.0 and 3.5 Realm visuals have a surreal M.C. Escher and Salvador Dali feeling to them."
Realms of Abstraction
"An entirely different realm I created is the 'Witches' Realm,'" Lippe adds. "The visuals for the Witches' Realm are magical, and the witches themselves are animated orbs of colorful smoke that move around in interesting ways. At times, they even appear to dance around a cauldron! The Witches always appear in a naturalistic environment with a touch of magic – so, a cavern visual, an 'ether' visual, or a heath visual."
"You as the viewer are always the center of the visuals and they surround and engulf you ... totally immersive in the planetarium, just like the 3D audio!" Lippe says. "It's as if you are the character of the story at the center of the visual, as you don't see any other 'people' or characters on the planetarium screens (other than the abstract orbs of smoke that are the witches)."
"The last realm I created is the 'Reality Realm.' The Reality Realm is for scenes where we are not 'inside the mind.' In the Reality Realm, we are always in scenes with characters other than Mac and Lady Mac, or when Mac and Lady Mac are interacting with other characters. Here I wanted 'hyper-realistic' visuals of a Great Hall in a castle, the outside of a castle, a battlefield, etc. Hyper-realism is so realistic and odd that it approaches surrealism... but in this 'Reality Realm,' we don't use any surreal distortion animation in the visuals."
"In addition to the visuals for these 3.5 Realms," Lippe continues, "I also added specific visuals such as animated splattering blood filling the screens of the planetarium. I added a 'visual' of complete blackness when Macbeth is dying, so that we are surrounded and engulfed by darkness; and we 'die' with him as we hear the three Whisperers swirling through his mind and whispering his final dying soliloquy with him. Here is where I chose to repeat Mac's soliloquy for a second time: 'Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player...'"
"There are other specific abstract/conceptual visuals I added as well, and if I had unlimited time with the animators, I have a long wish list of additional specific visuals I would like to add."
Diving Deep into Immersion
Immersive experiences have taken hold in the world of art; one example is that of immersive exhibitions of paintings, which use hi-definition images of famous canvases. Such shows have toured internationally for years. Might Lippe have the chance to get that additional time with illustrators if her novel approach to an immersive "Macbeth" takes off in similar fashion?
"I would love that," Lippe says enthusiastically. "Particularly now, as I think about the world implications of the story. I think it's important for theater to help us think in new ways about the world we live in; in ways that can help us be active in changing it. This immersive way of experiencing storytelling makes us part of it. We're in it, just like we're in the world. We're not a spectator. We're not outside of it, whether we like that fact or not. It is so cool to be in the planetarium, and to have all of these incredible full dome visuals all around you, and Zachary McConnell's 3D audio design, that he has now adapted to the planetarium, also all around you. I promise that you will be truly immersed!"
"The Macbethian Mindscape creates space and time for the music of ambivalence to have powerful emotional impact, even in a story that moves quickly and urgently," Lippe adds, "and even though the Macbeths do not ultimately succeed in managing their ambivalent feelings. And as our story ends, it also starts anew, with the very same questions from Malcolm's psyche, as he assumes power. Will Malcolm manage the music of his ambivalent feelings by having a conductor who can better balance dark and light?"
"And, in a world that moves and changes more rapidly than it ever has before, will we create space and time to meaningfully tolerate and manage our own ambivalent feelings?" Lippe wonders. "Will our political leaders? What are the individual and global consequences of not doing so, of living in perpetuity with polarization, disconnection, and paranoia?"
"I believe that 'Macbeth' is every person's story," Lippe adds. "It's about the world we're living in, and the devastation of the elimination of the capacity for holding duality and complexity. What does that mean for us? This is a terrifying world, just as Macbeth is a terrifying play."
They Have the Whole Universe in their Minds: Wendy Lippe on her Immersive 'Macbeth' at the Museum of Science Planetarium, Boston | EDGE United States (edgemedianetwork.com)
The Harvard Crimson: ‘Macbeth’ Review: Shakespeare, Featuring Your Imagination
By Aissatou B. Diallo, Contributing Writer
October 13, 2021
The Psych Drama Company’s audio drama adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” captivates its audience in — to use the show’s words — “one fell swoop.” In this reimagined version of the tragedy, featuring Harvard alum Lindsay T. McAuliffe ’20 as a witch, director Wendy Lippe immerses listeners in the world of these well-known characters through an aural experience. As an easily accessible yet enchanting experience, this chilling 90-minute adaptation epitomizes the appeal of audio dramas in that it is an easily accessible and low-pressure enchanting experience available to stream online from Sept. 10 until Oct. 22.
“Macbeth” is at heart a story of ambition and paranoia, feelings conveyed immediately by composer Zarko Dragojevic’s original music and soundscape. The background music is suspenseful and violin-heavy when tensions are mounting, and raucous and rich during war and death. As audiences follow the trials and tribulations of Mark Prokes’s Macbeth, a Scottish general who will do anything to be king, the music guides our interpretation of his aspiration and guilt.
Even beyond music, sound is not just the medium through which listeners hear the story but also a key factor in their emotional experience. Macbeth’s paranoia in Act III, for example, translates to irregular sounds that unnerve listeners, as if warning of imminent danger. The aural experience also allows for a riveting dramatization of the witches in the play, two of which are voiced by McAuliffe. The wide range in their voices — one speaks in a higher register, and another in a baby-like voice — magnifies the group’s chaotic nature. Complemented by the echoes often used on their voices and the lively soundscape of the show, these witches, who have been reimagined countless times in the play’s long history, terrify anew in the psych drama production.
The true magic of the show, though, lies in how these sounds spark audiences’ imaginations. When the witches speak to Macbeth in Act I, for example, an echo effect is paired with their overlapped voices, giving listeners the impression of being surrounded by them. Their whispers are persistent, imitating Macbeth’s inner turmoil. This curated acoustic environment gives the audience the context they need to imagine the scenes in whatever way suits them. Still, the plot alone is drama-filled and entertaining, with each character’s distinct voice playing into its progression.
The medium was certainly used well by the cast, who convincingly portrayed their roles without the help of physicality. Wendy Lippe’s Lady Macbeth has a honeyed and demanding voice that conjures a character who cannot be trusted to resist the temptation of power, and who will resort to violence to get it. Brian Dion’s Macduff has a gruff voice that implies his superiority to the doomed Macbeth, portraying him as being both more powerful and virtuous than Mark Prokes’s villain.
Listeners may expect the lack of visuals in “Macbeth” to be a hindrance, but it amplifies the effects of the sound in a way that seeing characters on stage (separate from the audience) cannot. Instead, the drama’s intermission, a virtual art gallery of pieces by Nick Morse, provides a visual experience. Morse’s colorful and emotive art encourages deliberation on the themes about human fallibility conveyed in the show. “Macbeth” puts audience members in the characters’ heads, allowing them to empathize while giving them agency over how to picture the narrative. This aligns with the psychological frame of the Psych Drama Company, which aims to use theatre to explore the human psyche and encourage reflection. This auditory production serves as a reminder that all listeners need to experience a stirring production is a pair of headphones and an imagination.
‘Macbeth’ Review: Shakespeare, Featuring Your Imagination | Arts | The Harvard Crimson (thecrimson.com)
By Aissatou B. Diallo, Contributing Writer
October 13, 2021
The Psych Drama Company’s audio drama adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” captivates its audience in — to use the show’s words — “one fell swoop.” In this reimagined version of the tragedy, featuring Harvard alum Lindsay T. McAuliffe ’20 as a witch, director Wendy Lippe immerses listeners in the world of these well-known characters through an aural experience. As an easily accessible yet enchanting experience, this chilling 90-minute adaptation epitomizes the appeal of audio dramas in that it is an easily accessible and low-pressure enchanting experience available to stream online from Sept. 10 until Oct. 22.
“Macbeth” is at heart a story of ambition and paranoia, feelings conveyed immediately by composer Zarko Dragojevic’s original music and soundscape. The background music is suspenseful and violin-heavy when tensions are mounting, and raucous and rich during war and death. As audiences follow the trials and tribulations of Mark Prokes’s Macbeth, a Scottish general who will do anything to be king, the music guides our interpretation of his aspiration and guilt.
Even beyond music, sound is not just the medium through which listeners hear the story but also a key factor in their emotional experience. Macbeth’s paranoia in Act III, for example, translates to irregular sounds that unnerve listeners, as if warning of imminent danger. The aural experience also allows for a riveting dramatization of the witches in the play, two of which are voiced by McAuliffe. The wide range in their voices — one speaks in a higher register, and another in a baby-like voice — magnifies the group’s chaotic nature. Complemented by the echoes often used on their voices and the lively soundscape of the show, these witches, who have been reimagined countless times in the play’s long history, terrify anew in the psych drama production.
The true magic of the show, though, lies in how these sounds spark audiences’ imaginations. When the witches speak to Macbeth in Act I, for example, an echo effect is paired with their overlapped voices, giving listeners the impression of being surrounded by them. Their whispers are persistent, imitating Macbeth’s inner turmoil. This curated acoustic environment gives the audience the context they need to imagine the scenes in whatever way suits them. Still, the plot alone is drama-filled and entertaining, with each character’s distinct voice playing into its progression.
The medium was certainly used well by the cast, who convincingly portrayed their roles without the help of physicality. Wendy Lippe’s Lady Macbeth has a honeyed and demanding voice that conjures a character who cannot be trusted to resist the temptation of power, and who will resort to violence to get it. Brian Dion’s Macduff has a gruff voice that implies his superiority to the doomed Macbeth, portraying him as being both more powerful and virtuous than Mark Prokes’s villain.
Listeners may expect the lack of visuals in “Macbeth” to be a hindrance, but it amplifies the effects of the sound in a way that seeing characters on stage (separate from the audience) cannot. Instead, the drama’s intermission, a virtual art gallery of pieces by Nick Morse, provides a visual experience. Morse’s colorful and emotive art encourages deliberation on the themes about human fallibility conveyed in the show. “Macbeth” puts audience members in the characters’ heads, allowing them to empathize while giving them agency over how to picture the narrative. This aligns with the psychological frame of the Psych Drama Company, which aims to use theatre to explore the human psyche and encourage reflection. This auditory production serves as a reminder that all listeners need to experience a stirring production is a pair of headphones and an imagination.
‘Macbeth’ Review: Shakespeare, Featuring Your Imagination | Arts | The Harvard Crimson (thecrimson.com)
Kilian Melloy: Psych Drama Company Paints a Vivid 'Macbeth' with Sound
'The dark, chilling result is all the more effective for Psych Drama Company's skill in allowing the audience to take an active part, making this production a collaboration with one's own imagination... the most effective form of theater.'
Director Wendy Lippe revises and lightly re-mixes the text of Shakespeare's "Macbeth" for this Psych Drama Company audio production, creating a taut 90-minute radio play that focuses on the work's psychological horrors.
The story is the same: An ambitious Scottish nobleman, Macbeth (Mark Prokes), hears a prediction from three Witches (a nicely gender-diverse trio comprised of Bryan Sabbath, Lindsay McAuliffe, and Michael Mazzone) that he will rule the land. He and his even more ambitious wife, Lady Macbeth (Lippe), immediately conclude that they are meant to assassinate the current king, Duncan (Zachary D. McConnell), and seize power — a gambit that entails a rising spiral of murder and triggers a revolt.
Shakespeare's play is rife with acute observations about greed, aggression, and the mind's ability to rationalize wickedness. But Lippe, in revising the text, chooses to concentrate on the risks to the soul, and edits out most of the play's political power dynamics. What she comes away with is a haunting parable about Fate, embodied in the spectral forces that guide (or manipulate) Macbeth and his ruthless Lady. A deal with the devil, after all, is a slippery thing; Lippe crystallizes this truism, and frames her take in the style of a Greek tragedy.
The production's deep, effective subtext is realized by crisp, well-engineered "soundscape designs" (the work of McConnell) as much as by the actors' vocal performances. Macbeth's qualms may be mocked by his wife, but his surrender to brutality and bloodlust is driven by the voices of the Witches, who, we feel, are constantly monitoring both the actions taking place in the physical world and also the metaphysical currents in the characters' hearts and minds. Countervailing agencies — "The Whisperers" — act as better angels [the dark side, and the voice of reason]… but they [the angels] are drowned out.
The cost of Macbeth's ambition and treachery is enormous, of course, but the relevance and potency of this production is not just a matter of a tyrant facing impossible predictions (a forest's trees on the march; a foe "not born of woman") as they manifest themselves in some of the Bard's cleverest work; it's also a matter of Macbeth's choosing to lose his humanity for the sake of pure power — a theme we see writ large all around us in today's world.
Lippe's abridgment is all but seamless, and her distillation powerful. One does miss a few snippets of the excised text: While the atmospherics are neatly tightened up with the wholesale omission of Macbeth's campaign of slaughter against the nobles who oppose him (aside, that is, from the murder of Banquo [Michael Blunt], which is too essential to the play's horror to lose), the play's not quite the same without Macduff's (Brian Dion) anguish at the news of his entire family having been slain.
Such are the tradeoffs when making such an adaptation, which, in this case, is still entirely successful. The cast, sound design, and original score by Zarko Dragojevic work in concert to paint vivid pictures in the mind of the listener. The dark, chilling result is all the more effective for Psych Drama Company's skill in allowing the audience to take an active part, making this production a collaboration with one's own imagination... the most effective form of theater.
Review: Psych Drama Company Paints a Vivid 'Macbeth' with Sound | EDGE Media Network
Kilian Melloy, EDGE Media Network
The Boston Theater Critics Association's Elliot Norton Awards Committee, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, EDGE Media Network's Associate Arts Editor and Staff Contributor, National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, and The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association.
'The dark, chilling result is all the more effective for Psych Drama Company's skill in allowing the audience to take an active part, making this production a collaboration with one's own imagination... the most effective form of theater.'
Director Wendy Lippe revises and lightly re-mixes the text of Shakespeare's "Macbeth" for this Psych Drama Company audio production, creating a taut 90-minute radio play that focuses on the work's psychological horrors.
The story is the same: An ambitious Scottish nobleman, Macbeth (Mark Prokes), hears a prediction from three Witches (a nicely gender-diverse trio comprised of Bryan Sabbath, Lindsay McAuliffe, and Michael Mazzone) that he will rule the land. He and his even more ambitious wife, Lady Macbeth (Lippe), immediately conclude that they are meant to assassinate the current king, Duncan (Zachary D. McConnell), and seize power — a gambit that entails a rising spiral of murder and triggers a revolt.
Shakespeare's play is rife with acute observations about greed, aggression, and the mind's ability to rationalize wickedness. But Lippe, in revising the text, chooses to concentrate on the risks to the soul, and edits out most of the play's political power dynamics. What she comes away with is a haunting parable about Fate, embodied in the spectral forces that guide (or manipulate) Macbeth and his ruthless Lady. A deal with the devil, after all, is a slippery thing; Lippe crystallizes this truism, and frames her take in the style of a Greek tragedy.
The production's deep, effective subtext is realized by crisp, well-engineered "soundscape designs" (the work of McConnell) as much as by the actors' vocal performances. Macbeth's qualms may be mocked by his wife, but his surrender to brutality and bloodlust is driven by the voices of the Witches, who, we feel, are constantly monitoring both the actions taking place in the physical world and also the metaphysical currents in the characters' hearts and minds. Countervailing agencies — "The Whisperers" — act as better angels [the dark side, and the voice of reason]… but they [the angels] are drowned out.
The cost of Macbeth's ambition and treachery is enormous, of course, but the relevance and potency of this production is not just a matter of a tyrant facing impossible predictions (a forest's trees on the march; a foe "not born of woman") as they manifest themselves in some of the Bard's cleverest work; it's also a matter of Macbeth's choosing to lose his humanity for the sake of pure power — a theme we see writ large all around us in today's world.
Lippe's abridgment is all but seamless, and her distillation powerful. One does miss a few snippets of the excised text: While the atmospherics are neatly tightened up with the wholesale omission of Macbeth's campaign of slaughter against the nobles who oppose him (aside, that is, from the murder of Banquo [Michael Blunt], which is too essential to the play's horror to lose), the play's not quite the same without Macduff's (Brian Dion) anguish at the news of his entire family having been slain.
Such are the tradeoffs when making such an adaptation, which, in this case, is still entirely successful. The cast, sound design, and original score by Zarko Dragojevic work in concert to paint vivid pictures in the mind of the listener. The dark, chilling result is all the more effective for Psych Drama Company's skill in allowing the audience to take an active part, making this production a collaboration with one's own imagination... the most effective form of theater.
Review: Psych Drama Company Paints a Vivid 'Macbeth' with Sound | EDGE Media Network
Kilian Melloy, EDGE Media Network
The Boston Theater Critics Association's Elliot Norton Awards Committee, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, EDGE Media Network's Associate Arts Editor and Staff Contributor, National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, and The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association.
The Boston Globe
A ‘Macbeth’ for the senses
by Terry Byrne
As a psychologist with a background in theater, Wendy Lippe’s Psych Drama Company produces plays that “go for the emotional jugular,” she says. “We need these stories that speak to joy and pain.”
Finding those connections often means the company’s in-person performances blur the boundaries between actors and audience, making the experience more intimate and the audience more complicit in the action onstage. Rather than allow the pandemic to frustrate her efforts, Lippe says it offered new opportunities.
“Lots has been written about how bombarded we are by overstimulation,” she says, “and how it is killing our imagination. We decided we can tell great stories by focusing on the language with an audio play, heightening the experience by relying on the imagination to conjure the images.”
While many local theaters have turned to an audio format, Lippe says her company has stayed true to its immersive experience by creating a “3-D audio surround-sound experience.” This month, Psych Drama is presenting two audio dramas, “Macbeth” (Sept. 10-24) and “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” (Sept. 11-25).
Psych Drama’s 90-minute “Macbeth” is produced in association with the Audiovisual Center Dubrovnik and features the music and sound design of Zarko Dragojevic. Far from simply performing the play to a microphone, Dragojevic’s original music, and the use of what Lippe calls “whispers,” add to the dramatic tension.
As Lippe was considering how to explore the lushness of a performance with no visual stimulation, she happened on the website ArtLifting, which featured the vivid, abstract paintings of Nick Morse.
“I looked at this abstract painting and when I flipped it, I saw Macbeth, holding his sword with the Witches and the fires of hell behind him,” says Lippe. “Normally, I might worry about offending the artist by flipping it, but Nick’s dad, [former Globe pop music critic] Steve Morse, said Nick doesn’t mind which way you want to hang his art, as long as you love it.”
While Lippe connected with one of Nick Morse’s paintings specifically for “Macbeth,” she says she was drawn to many of his works on the ArtLifting website.
“We decided the opportunity to see many of his paintings provided the perfect ‘intermission’ in the play,” Lippe says. “It also allows more people to see Nick’s work and learn more about ArtLifting, a platform for artists “impacted by housing insecurity and disabilities.” Nick Morse, who is on the autism spectrum and nonverbal, communicates through painting.
“Nick’s paintings are so full of color and emotion, they allow you to get lost in other worlds,” says Lippe. “We hope our audio adaptation of ‘Macbeth’ allows audiences to do that, too.”
For ticket information, go to www.thepsychdramacompany.com. To see Nick’s artwork, go to www.artlifting.com/collections/nick-morse.
by Terry Byrne
You may also read this on The Boston Globe website
A ‘Macbeth’ for the senses
by Terry Byrne
As a psychologist with a background in theater, Wendy Lippe’s Psych Drama Company produces plays that “go for the emotional jugular,” she says. “We need these stories that speak to joy and pain.”
Finding those connections often means the company’s in-person performances blur the boundaries between actors and audience, making the experience more intimate and the audience more complicit in the action onstage. Rather than allow the pandemic to frustrate her efforts, Lippe says it offered new opportunities.
“Lots has been written about how bombarded we are by overstimulation,” she says, “and how it is killing our imagination. We decided we can tell great stories by focusing on the language with an audio play, heightening the experience by relying on the imagination to conjure the images.”
While many local theaters have turned to an audio format, Lippe says her company has stayed true to its immersive experience by creating a “3-D audio surround-sound experience.” This month, Psych Drama is presenting two audio dramas, “Macbeth” (Sept. 10-24) and “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” (Sept. 11-25).
Psych Drama’s 90-minute “Macbeth” is produced in association with the Audiovisual Center Dubrovnik and features the music and sound design of Zarko Dragojevic. Far from simply performing the play to a microphone, Dragojevic’s original music, and the use of what Lippe calls “whispers,” add to the dramatic tension.
As Lippe was considering how to explore the lushness of a performance with no visual stimulation, she happened on the website ArtLifting, which featured the vivid, abstract paintings of Nick Morse.
“I looked at this abstract painting and when I flipped it, I saw Macbeth, holding his sword with the Witches and the fires of hell behind him,” says Lippe. “Normally, I might worry about offending the artist by flipping it, but Nick’s dad, [former Globe pop music critic] Steve Morse, said Nick doesn’t mind which way you want to hang his art, as long as you love it.”
While Lippe connected with one of Nick Morse’s paintings specifically for “Macbeth,” she says she was drawn to many of his works on the ArtLifting website.
“We decided the opportunity to see many of his paintings provided the perfect ‘intermission’ in the play,” Lippe says. “It also allows more people to see Nick’s work and learn more about ArtLifting, a platform for artists “impacted by housing insecurity and disabilities.” Nick Morse, who is on the autism spectrum and nonverbal, communicates through painting.
“Nick’s paintings are so full of color and emotion, they allow you to get lost in other worlds,” says Lippe. “We hope our audio adaptation of ‘Macbeth’ allows audiences to do that, too.”
For ticket information, go to www.thepsychdramacompany.com. To see Nick’s artwork, go to www.artlifting.com/collections/nick-morse.
by Terry Byrne
You may also read this on The Boston Globe website
“NO, WE’RE NOT DOING ZOOM.” PSYCH DRAMA COMPANY BRINGS THE STAGE TO YOUR EARSWRITTEN BY CHRIS FARAONEPOSTED SEPTEMBER 12, 2021FILED UNDER: A+E, INTERVIEWS
Psych Drama Company Founder Wendy Lippe on her company’s two ambitious new audio productions
Wendy Lippe climbs over hurdles with the same grace and enthusiasm that she has stepping onto theatrical stages.
When the founder and producing artistic director of the Brookline-based Psych Drama Company saw a missed opportunity in how much lovers of theater could learn about not only shows but themselves after the curtain drops, she flipped the format and started a philanthropic-minded troupe that’s celebrating its decade anniversary this year. So it’s fitting that while some stage companies went dark in 2020, Lippe, a practicing clinical psychologist, found a way to keep the box office open through the pandemic, virtually and with significant vision.
“We wanted to do something really big and it was in the middle of COVID,” Lippe said in a recent interview. “We were aware of a lot of artists and painters being underemployed and unemployed, and we wanted to do an interdisciplinary program and have collaborators come together across platforms.”
In seeking a silver lining for her company, for their 2021 outings Lippe recruited partners including ArtLifting, a “social enterprise that champions artists impacted by homelessness or disabilities through the sale and celebration of their artwork,” and Zarko Dragojevic, an accomplished composer from the Marin Držić Theater in Dubrovnik, Croatia. The Psych Drama Company’s core mission is to “unite creative artists across the world in profit-sharing collaborations,” and their current (virtual) marquee speaks to that end and then some.
We chatted with the former Harvard Medical School faculty member about their online audio dramas, Macbeth and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, both of which have streaming dates via onthestage.com through late September and “will allow actors, directors, composers, sound designers and fine artists, specifically painters—all of whom have been unemployed or underemployed during the pandemic—to share in the profits generated.”
What came before this? How did you build up this company and program?
I have been a theater person since I was little and went to a high school for performing arts and went to a BFA program at Syracuse University. I thought that was going to be my life and then I changed course and became a clinical psychologist. But I never stopped performing. When it’s in your blood, you can’t stop. Stage was my thing, always. Even through graduate school and everything, I kept performing. And then when I was established with my postdoc, I still never stopped performing.
In 2010, I was at a conference in Sicily on Greek tragedy and psychoanalysis … held in this huge amphitheater. … We had these conversations that were fantastic—about artistic direction, and psychoanalysis. But none of the creative people [from a performance they watched together] were there. We were talking about the productions without the creative team. And as someone who deeply identified with both groups, I felt we should all be sitting on that stone stage and engaging with each other. And so it clicked. I said, I am going to form a drama company and I am going to integrate creative artists with academics and clinical psychologists and we are going to delve deeper into the psyche of the characters. It’s going to be integrated, it’s going to be interdisciplinary.
How do most theater companies address these issues, if at all?
They’ll have a psychoanalyst come and discuss the production after [the show’s run is over]. With ours, every single performance has a clinical psychologist to lead a discussion afterward, and some have also worked with our actors and creative team during the rehearsal process. At our last production, we had people from Harvard Medical School and social workers leading a discussion after every performance. The mission was to help people think more deeply about relationships and their lives.
What kind of plays lend themselves well to this approach?
We love Edward Albee, Tennessee Williams—we do hardcore stuff, serious dramas. I think the greatest writers of all time speak to elements of human nature that we can all relate to forever. In Hamlet, in Macbeth, we can watch them again and again.
Tell me a little bit more about the pivot to audio dramas during the pandemic.
I can’t tell you how much porn addiction I treat—fantasy and imagination have gone out the window. [For last year’s production], I said, No, we’re not doing Zoom. There’s something that is deadening about it. I said we’ll go back to something older.
We got rave reviews for a radio drama … that aired in December 2020. What I loved about it as a clinical psychologist was you could lay back and just listen and fantasize about the imagery and have this experience where you’re not bombarded by too much stimulation.
And now you’re doing two plays at once, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Macbeth. And you’re doing them as audio dramas, complete with original music and artwork. Is this the new direction that your company is moving in?
I’m always going to do live theater—I’m either going to die on stage, or talking to a patient. But I’ve fallen in love with this other medium.
With Macbeth, you are going to have a 3-D audio experience. It’s surround-sound. This is not your standard stuff—you have to listen with headphones. It’s like the story is brought to life. It’s immersive. So the visuals are your imagination, but the audio is so rich.
I adapted it, it’s a 90-minute adaptation I created only using Shakespeare’s language. It’s fully reimagined. I tried to capture just a little bit more about Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s inner-turmoil. I wanted to flesh them out in a three-dimensional way. If you look at them separately, they’re not fully fleshed out humans in the way Hamlet is.
How did the musical collaboration with Zarko Dragojevic come about?
This was the best time to collaborate, and I had met him and we recognized that we shared some artistic sensibilities. I said that I wanted to do another adaptation of a Shakespearean drama and that I wanted it to have an original score. We stayed in contact for a while and during the pandemic. He’s created tons of original scores for shows in Europe.
It’s amazing, all of the characters have their own theme music. And he is in Croatia, so he’s coming to rehearsal at 3am.
How exactly does the format work for the audience?
You buy the ticket and you have a 24-hour period to listen to it.
These are not readings. We had Zoom rehearsals for three to four months, and then we had rehearsals in person, rented professional recording equipment, and we got together after a week of meeting in person and recorded it with everybody in the same room. So these are fully rehearsed productions and when you hear them you will hear the quality of the work.
And I take it you can reach people you never dreamed of reaching in your usual format?
We can stream in multiple zones across the world.
I found out about these shows as a fan of Nick Morse’s art. He’s not an actor, how did he get involved?
I was on his site scrolling through paintings and reading about how he doesn’t speak, but his paintings speak. And it said that Nick doesn’t mind the orientation that you hang his paintings on. And I saw one and it just grabbed me. It looked like an abstract figure of Macbeth grounded looking up into the sky, and then a figure of either one of the witches or the dead souls he killed floating to the sky, and he’s on the ground and the fires of hell are all around him.
Nick’s self-esteem was suffering during the pandemic, and his father and agent [Nick works with ArtLifting] said it was uplifting to him [to get involved]. [In addition to the poster art], we have a bunch of his paintings, and while people are listening to the audio drama, they will also be able to look at Nick’s art during the Macbeth intermission. For Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, we have paintings from three artists that capture the play’s motifs of sexuality and mortality.
What else should people know?
The money from the ticket sales go directly into the pockets of artists. The pandemic continues and they need it.
Read More >
"The Psych Drama Company unveils a marvelously layered and detailed production of Shakespeare’s 'Macbeth' in its new audio drama presentation."
"Macbeth" - a compelling streaming audio drama
The Psych Drama Company unveils a marvelously layered and detailed production of Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” in its new audio drama presentation.
In association with the Audiovisual Center Dubrovnik, Psych Drama presents a reimagined audio drama adaptation of Macbeth, with original music and soundscape composed by Zarko Dragojevik, a musician and composer for the Marin Drzic Theater in Dubrovnik, Croatia.
The blended results are compelling as one listens to the finished product.
While losing the visual, the strength in Shakespeare’s plays has never really been inexorably linked to the visual and the Psych Drama presentation proves that quite admirably.
The audio drama never strays from the show’s main theme where chaos ensues when ambition goes unbridled by basic human morality.
The story of "Macbeth", as narrated efficiently by Zachary D. McConnell (who also portrays the characters of Malcolm and Duncan), concerns a daring Scottish general Macbeth (Mark Prokes), who sacrifices his own morality for power and advancement.
Urged on by his ambitious wife, aptly named Lady Macbeth (Wendy Lippe), Macbeth murders his way toward that country’s throne only to meet his own impending doom.
Lippe also was responsible to the adaptation of the Shakespearean text for this production and deserves high praise.
As is the case in most Shakespearean recitals, there is poetic language that flows conversationally, which is executed quite impressively by the performers. Strong elocution and annunciation permeate the presentation and infuses the characters with added psychological complexity as, by losing the visual, one must decipher intent and reactions based solely on the word of the Bard and the actors throughout.
Other performances worthy of note was the trio of Bryan Sabbag, Lindsay McAuliffe and Michael Mazzone as the Witches, Michael Blunt as Macbeth's brave and noble best friend, Banquo, and Brian Dion as the play’s avenging hero MacDuff.
The show is ideal for any classroom use where Shakespeare is being explored or for one’s own enjoyment and personal Shakespearean exploration. Either way it is a do not miss.
by Kevin T. Baldwin
Reviewer for METRMAG
"Macbeth" - a compelling streaming audio drama
The Psych Drama Company unveils a marvelously layered and detailed production of Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” in its new audio drama presentation.
In association with the Audiovisual Center Dubrovnik, Psych Drama presents a reimagined audio drama adaptation of Macbeth, with original music and soundscape composed by Zarko Dragojevik, a musician and composer for the Marin Drzic Theater in Dubrovnik, Croatia.
The blended results are compelling as one listens to the finished product.
While losing the visual, the strength in Shakespeare’s plays has never really been inexorably linked to the visual and the Psych Drama presentation proves that quite admirably.
The audio drama never strays from the show’s main theme where chaos ensues when ambition goes unbridled by basic human morality.
The story of "Macbeth", as narrated efficiently by Zachary D. McConnell (who also portrays the characters of Malcolm and Duncan), concerns a daring Scottish general Macbeth (Mark Prokes), who sacrifices his own morality for power and advancement.
Urged on by his ambitious wife, aptly named Lady Macbeth (Wendy Lippe), Macbeth murders his way toward that country’s throne only to meet his own impending doom.
Lippe also was responsible to the adaptation of the Shakespearean text for this production and deserves high praise.
As is the case in most Shakespearean recitals, there is poetic language that flows conversationally, which is executed quite impressively by the performers. Strong elocution and annunciation permeate the presentation and infuses the characters with added psychological complexity as, by losing the visual, one must decipher intent and reactions based solely on the word of the Bard and the actors throughout.
Other performances worthy of note was the trio of Bryan Sabbag, Lindsay McAuliffe and Michael Mazzone as the Witches, Michael Blunt as Macbeth's brave and noble best friend, Banquo, and Brian Dion as the play’s avenging hero MacDuff.
The show is ideal for any classroom use where Shakespeare is being explored or for one’s own enjoyment and personal Shakespearean exploration. Either way it is a do not miss.
by Kevin T. Baldwin
Reviewer for METRMAG
Audience Praise
"Spectacular production. Very well conceived, acted, directed, and produced! Lippe, as Lady Macbeth, was terrific, with excellent phrasings, pacing, and emotion. The other actors in the production also did a wonderful job. Lippe’s direction of the cast including the innovative use of the Whisperers and the heightened energy of the witches from the beginning was a great way to make the audio so accessible. And the art during the intermission by Nick Morse was lovely – using his visual work for the background art was inspired. The music by Dragojevic worked beautifully to complement the text so kudos to him as well."
– Joseph Shay, Ph.D.
"I was fascinated by The Psych Drama Company’s performance of MacBeth and look forward to hearing other performances by your group of dedicated professionals.
The 90 minutes flew by very quickly because your interpretation was gripping, the actors were engaged, and the sound design was terrific. It was great to hear the voices coming from various positions. The accompanying original music and sound effects were very professionally executed.
From your particular production of Macbeth, we can reflect upon inner turmoil in new ways and learn a great deal. Many of the events in the play open doors to many emotions on different levels. This panoply of feelings requires deep engagement and the actors’ relentless understanding of the emotions they have to express. All the actors in this production did that splendidly! I am very much looking forward to listening to other performances by The Psych Drama Company!"
– Carl Nisser
“Though a classic I’ve seen many times, this time, listening in the dark to this version of Macbeth I went back in time to the first time I was entranced with the mythic, haunting story of lust for power and inevitable guilt at imposing one’s will —under cover of night. The gorgeous sounds of the music and “whispers” added a depth and dimension to make this timeless story so vivid. Give yourself or someone else, young or old, the pleasure of a theatre experience unique and primal!”
– Goldie Eder, LICSW, BCD
“You've got to hear this production of Macbeth. It is beautiful, haunting, and innovative. Please take my word, no spoilers here!”
– Terry Martineau
"Macbeth was a tour de force! It was so engaging! Even for me… someone who is not well versed in Shakespeare!"
– Donna Bertolotti, LICSW
“[Macbeth was] Impressive. Beautiful. Distinctive.”
– Eric Richardson
“Just this moment finished Macbeth, only this time with the Sony noise-canceling Bluetooth headphones. Didn't even know what I was missing. It sounded great, I believe it was well worth the money…You make theater of the mind time well spent!”
– Justin Carr
– Joseph Shay, Ph.D.
"I was fascinated by The Psych Drama Company’s performance of MacBeth and look forward to hearing other performances by your group of dedicated professionals.
The 90 minutes flew by very quickly because your interpretation was gripping, the actors were engaged, and the sound design was terrific. It was great to hear the voices coming from various positions. The accompanying original music and sound effects were very professionally executed.
From your particular production of Macbeth, we can reflect upon inner turmoil in new ways and learn a great deal. Many of the events in the play open doors to many emotions on different levels. This panoply of feelings requires deep engagement and the actors’ relentless understanding of the emotions they have to express. All the actors in this production did that splendidly! I am very much looking forward to listening to other performances by The Psych Drama Company!"
– Carl Nisser
“Though a classic I’ve seen many times, this time, listening in the dark to this version of Macbeth I went back in time to the first time I was entranced with the mythic, haunting story of lust for power and inevitable guilt at imposing one’s will —under cover of night. The gorgeous sounds of the music and “whispers” added a depth and dimension to make this timeless story so vivid. Give yourself or someone else, young or old, the pleasure of a theatre experience unique and primal!”
– Goldie Eder, LICSW, BCD
“You've got to hear this production of Macbeth. It is beautiful, haunting, and innovative. Please take my word, no spoilers here!”
– Terry Martineau
"Macbeth was a tour de force! It was so engaging! Even for me… someone who is not well versed in Shakespeare!"
– Donna Bertolotti, LICSW
“[Macbeth was] Impressive. Beautiful. Distinctive.”
– Eric Richardson
“Just this moment finished Macbeth, only this time with the Sony noise-canceling Bluetooth headphones. Didn't even know what I was missing. It sounded great, I believe it was well worth the money…You make theater of the mind time well spent!”
– Justin Carr