Radical adaptation of Shakespeare’s tragic play MAC//BETH from innovative Welsh company De Oscuro to play a limited season at Wales Millennium Centre and Linbury Studio Theatre in November 2013
Judith Roberts directs Eddie Ladd, Gerald Tyler, Gwyn Emberton, Matthew Harries and Sean Palmer, with music by Conor Linehan.
From 1 – 6 November 2013, new Cardiff-based dance-theatre company De Oscuro will present a unique and innovative production of Shakespeare’s classic, dark tale at Wales Millennium Centre followed by two nights at the Royal Opera House’s Linbury Studio Theatre from 12 – 13 November before touring to Pontio at Beaumaris Centre (20 November), Aberystwyth Arts Centre (26 November), Emlyn Williams Studio, Theatr Clwyd (3 - 4 December).
This radical adaptation titled MAC//BETH will weave Mererid Hopwood’s new Welsh-language translation with English, Polish and Hebrew in a fusion of exhilarating dance and text. Welsh theatre director Judith Roberts will direct renowned dance artist Eddie Ladd as Lady Macbeth and Gerald Tyler as Macbeth alongside Gwyn Emberton, Matthew Harries and Sean Palmer. Irish pianist and composer Conor Linehan’s haunting new score will be played live on stage by the Elysian Quartet.
Mererid Hopwood is an acclaimed Welsh poet who made history in 2001 by becoming the first woman ever to win the bardic Chair at the National Eisteddfod of Wales. In 2003 she won the Crown at the National Eisteddfod and in 2008 she was awarded the Eisteddfod's Prose Medal for her book O Ran.
Judith Roberts is an experienced theatre director who has worked extensively in both the English and Welsh languages. Her many credits include national Welsh tours of La Casa de Bernarda Alba, Le Misanthrope and The Crucible for ThGC (National Language Theatre of Wales), where Judith was Associate Director from 2004-2009.
Since graduating from University College of Wales, Aberystwyth in 1985, physical theatre performer Eddie Ladd has worked with the Moving Being company (Cardiff), Hijinx, Taliesin, Volcano and Theatrig between 1987 and 1990. For twelve years she has worked frequently with Welsh Language experimental theatre company Brith Gof: performing, writing and composing music. Eddie creates performance in which dance, bilingual text, music and new media technologies are featured.
Gerald Tyler has been a part of physical theatre company Earthfall for over ten years as a performer. He began creating his own work in 2006 and has participated in projects with both Brith Gof and Eddie Ladd. Gwyn Emberton has worked as a dancer with Matthew Bourne, Jasmin Vardimon and Scottish Dance Theatre amongst many others. He is an associate artist at Aberystwyth Arts Centre where he will create his first Wales based work in 2013/14. Matthew Harries graduated from Swansea Metropolitan University in 2013 and recently performed in Willi Dorner's Bodies in Urban Spaces as part of the Adain Avion event in Swansea. Sean Palmer graduated from Manchester Metropolitan University in 1999. He now lives in Poland and has performed extensively in Warsaw where credits include The Oresteia (directed by Michał Zadara), Tragedies of Princesses, and Echo. As a vocalist and a beat boxer he has worked with artists including Tomasz Stańko, Niewinni Czarodzieje, Chocolate Moose and Soul Service DJ Crew.
Born in Dublin, Ireland, Conor Linehan studied piano at the Royal Irish Academy of Music and, subsequently, in London with the renowned Peter Feuchtwanger. He has composed music for concert, theatre, dance and film, working with companies including the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre and the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, where he has worked extensively on scores for King Lear, The Dead, and Translations amongst many others. In 2010 Conor won the Irish Times Theatre Award for Best Sound Design and was nominated in the Judges Special Award category 'for setting the standard for original composition in theatre'.
The Elysian Quartet is a British string quartet specialising in contemporary, experimental and improvised music, who formed at London’s Trinity College of Music. Since forming 10 years ago, the Elysian Quartet have performed all over the world in a multitude of diverse scenarios including prestigious concert halls, theatres, clubs, a volcano, helicopters, wild meadows, multimedia art installations, beaches, fire sculptures, barns and forests. In recent years the Quartet have worked with the legendary vocalist and composer Meredith Monk and for the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad the Elysian Quartet performed Karlheinz Stockhausen’s infamous Helicopter String Quartet, in which the players perform from four separate helicopters flying through the air, as part of the first ever complete staging of the epic opera Mittwoch aus Licht. |
