Chasing after the Scottish play

About, oh, 2 years ago, I started talking about a version of Macbeth that I wanted to direct. This was before I even started producing with MFb, and as a concept and a framework, it's lived in my head for even longer. But I was busy with running The Tank and launching Magic Futurebox, so the idea of taking on one of the last and most sophisticated of Shakespeare's plays was not only daunting, it wasn't even possible. 

Then, Sleep No More came to town, and suddenly there was absolutely no reason to do Macbeth. Touted as an immersive version of Mackers in every theater review, there simply wasn't room in the NYC theater landscape for another version of the Scottish play. Now that Sleep No More has become its own thing, more a staple of NYC nightlife than a theater geek's foray into Dunsinane, I woke up on Tuesday and announced that I was ready to start work on Macbeth, finally. My concept was solid, I knew how it would apply to the major scenes of the play, and now it was time to plan to put it up on its feet in 2012.

That morning, somebody a lot more established than I also, apparently, woke up to tell the world he was going to do it, too. LITERALLY THE SAME DAY, the NYTimes Arts Beat blog announces that Alan Cumming is going to do a one man Macbeth next year, no doubt inspired by his several visits to Sleep No More. 

The thing is, fine. I get it. There will always be someone doing Macbeth. But when it's someone as famous and talented and crazy (in the best way) as Alan Cumming doing something as ludicrous and gimmicky and probably awesome as a one man Shakespeare play, you step aside and you don't compete. Not yet. 

But I want to do this work. I want to start reading and playing with this text and hearing actors speak it and seeing it happen. And I have a big old white box in which I can do just that. So... Starting on January 2nd, 2012, I am hosting Mackers Mondays every week from 7:30 - 10:30 at Magic Futurebox. I invite any theater artists-- actors, playwrights, directors, designers, dramaturgs, whatever-- or just people interested in Shakespeare or Macbeth, to come and play with me on this text. If no one shows up, I'll just do work on my own. No need to make a reservation. Just show up. Let's face this most feared play head on and learn it inside and out. I'll bring the Scotch. 

Now to find a wholesale purveyor of salt. 

Cross-posted to http://suzaneraslan.tumblr.com