MAKBET
March 2nd at 8:00pm The Good Coffeehouse Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture
FOOLS MASS
Special Easter Vigil Performance
April 7th at 11:00PM The Cell Theatre
MAKBET April 27th & 28th at 8:00 The Shed Space In Park Slope
Makbet is available for both private and public bookings through June of 2012
“Witnessing Dzieci’s Makbet and the ecstatic and organic and deeply ceremonialized process of the play unlocked places in me that I had been longing to find in the theatre but didn’t know how to create. Dzieci had found the sacred and were weaving it into everything they did. As an audience member, when you see their work, you are not simply a witness. You are on the journey with them, invited into the tribe and embraced as community.”
- Isis Phoenix -
“Makbet is the first time I’ve ever seen true Dionysian theatre. Absolutely liberating!”
- Russ Hudson -
“A powerful, immediate work that left the audience in a stunned silence at the end.”
- David Gimpelevich -
“The sheer force and depth of your commitment shines through
and transforms the audience’s consciousness.” - Antero Ali -
“With the combination of ceremony, improvisation, and Shakespeare, Dzieci has created a fascinating, risky, and original work.” - Mitchell Conway, nytheatre.com -
“A profound, exhilarating experience that I will never forget.”
- Katherine Kettle, Saranac Lake -
“You are all so deliciously skilled and charismatic!” - Lauren Elder -
You have not seen anything like Dzieci’s Makbet. A Gypsy tribe greets you with song and dance, drinks and divination then embarks on the wild, whirlwind of a ritual, which is their show. An immersion beneath the skin of Shakespeare, an explosion of the art of story telling, and an experience which audiences have said is -
“Absolutely liberating!” “Wonderful!” “Remarkable!” “Profound and exhilarating!” “Spellbinding!” “Fearless!” “Amazing!!!” “Wowing, engulfing, just wow!”
This ageless tale of greed, corruption, omens and foul deeds, is told through the unflinching performance of a handful of actors who take turns spontaneously trading off parts at the drop of a hat (literally), creating a palpable level of immediacy and danger. Propelled by the energy and acumen of the cast, the story moves feverishly along, fervently following the “6 Rules of Engagement”.
MAKBET
6 Rules of Engagement
1- Actors must know the entire text.
2- Actors may not play the same role in successive sequences.
3- Roles can be taken or given, embraced or refused.
4- Three actors alone must play the principle roles.
5- A chorus will guide the ceremony.
6- Nothing else is planned.
Review by Mitchell Conway · April 1, 2011
This is Macbeth as rendered by a group of Eastern European Gypsies: Makbet is more ritual than tale. With the combination of ceremony, winging it, and Shakespeare, Dzieci has produced a fascinating, risky, and original work.
In the small cafe where this performance took place, there is a small circle of chairs. Surrounded by the circle are a red rug and a collection of props, as well as audience and actors mingling together. Improvised pre-show interaction with the characters includes passing around some wine and receiving personalized fortune-telltale. While the other performers mill with the audience, Jesse Hathaway has already begun a complex ritual: shifting candles, dripping wax, spilling water and rubbing it into the carpet, and spitting into various corners of the room. The ritual feels precise and executed as though it were the hundredth time.
The actors openly chat about whether they ought to commence, who should go turn off the lights, and question an audience member to read a set of rules about the performance from the program. All the actors have learned the entire text. Three are chosen at the start to perform all the play’s parts. They switch roles throughout the performance by handing off objects to signify their reputation. The other actors become involved in a handful of scenes, but mainly make the production’s wailing choral soundscape, including Eastern European folk songs. In fight scenes, the chorus is incorporated innovatively to emphasis moments of violent contact. Throughout the performance, Hathaway conducts these background vocals with a spot-on sense of ambiance and engagement. Without any spoken words, he is his own dynamic presence.
The three actors come together as the weird sisters and with a witchy summoning they are off. They sustain the “Gypsy-actor” accents while shifting their voices between characters. The chorus members and actors coordinate the use of flashlights and candles to set alight the entire show. To accommodate the small circular performance interval, there is a dynamic upward and down flow of action, tending towards lower in interval than a more predictable performance.
A number of moments stick out in my mind. Matt Mitler delivered Macbeth’s Act 5, Scene 5 “Tomorrow and tomorrow…” soliloquy in a solid rhythm, kneeling, pleading to the planet. I’ve heard this speech many times, but this time I heard it anew. Rebecca Sokoll erratically waves a lantern while oddly contorting her body, and later hangs hauntingly (and precariously) over Macbeth by a red shawl. She switches from this unpredictable, possessed ghost to Macbeth cowering in his wife’s arms at the feast, frightened of the ghost she has just produced, unwaveringly. Megan Bones’s squinting, limping Duncan seemed to take up half the room with his gray overcoat. Later, Bones tears through the austerity of the interval when she enters smiling as Macduff, providing a much needed release.
When the company filled a barrel with candles, it was gorgeous. Their hands, outstretched over the set alight, flew magnetically together into a clump. For one scene the pink sunglasses of Malcolm were placed on my head, so the necessary fourth reputation could be present. When Mitler removed the glasses, I had the privilege of a cinematic close-up as he finished his speech and turned his face away from his flashlight into dark. The ritual when Banquo is killed—touching candles to his head, shoulders, and chest, then passing the candles to audience members—resonated with me and I could not say why.
The tempo of the text is consistently slow, with seldom more than a couple words spoken without pausing between them. This makes an overall textual rhythm that often detracts from the meaning of phrases. But since this production focuses on making the dynamics of a ritual rather than effectively communicating a plot, it is doable that this approach to the text is employed to intentionally prioritize maintaining rhythm over the meaning of foreign language.
For the curtain call the actors bring the audience to their feet for a final dance.
Dzieci is reaching for something. Their like and determined are felt in the air. The group is there for each other, supporting the chaotic organize and making it doable. Makbet is quite a daring feat.
Coming Up
MAKBET
March 2nd at 8:00pm
The Good Coffeehouse
Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture
FOOLS MASS
Special Easter Vigil Performance
April 7th at 11:00PM
The Cell Theatre
MAKBET
April 27th & 28th at 8:00
The Shed Space
In Park Slope
Makbet is available for both private and public bookings through June of 2012
“Witnessing Dzieci’s Makbet and the ecstatic and organic and deeply ceremonialized process of the play
unlocked places in me that I had been longing to find in the theatre but didn’t know how to create.
Dzieci had found the sacred and were weaving it into everything they did. As an audience member, when you see their work,
you are not simply a witness. You are on the journey with them, invited into the tribe and embraced as community.”
- Isis Phoenix -
“Makbet is the first time I’ve ever seen true Dionysian theatre. Absolutely liberating!”
- Russ Hudson -
“A powerful, immediate work that left the audience in a stunned silence at the end.”
- David Gimpelevich -
“The sheer force and depth of your commitment shines through
and transforms the audience’s consciousness.”
- Antero Ali -
“With the combination of ceremony, improvisation, and Shakespeare,
Dzieci has created a fascinating, risky, and original work.”
- Mitchell Conway, nytheatre.com -
“A profound, exhilarating experience that I will never forget.”
- Katherine Kettle, Saranac Lake -
“You are all so deliciously skilled and charismatic!”
- Lauren Elder -
You have not seen anything like Dzieci’s Makbet. A Gypsy tribe greets you with song and dance, drinks and divination then embarks on the wild, whirlwind of a ritual, which is their show. An immersion beneath the skin of Shakespeare, an explosion of the art of story telling, and an experience which audiences have said is -
“Absolutely liberating!” “Wonderful!” “Remarkable!” “Profound and exhilarating!”
“Spellbinding!” “Fearless!” “Amazing!!!” “Wowing, engulfing, just wow!”
This ageless tale of greed, corruption, omens and foul deeds, is told through the unflinching performance of a handful of actors who take turns spontaneously trading off parts at the drop of a hat (literally), creating a palpable level of immediacy and danger. Propelled by the energy and acumen of the cast, the story moves feverishly along, fervently following the “6 Rules of Engagement”.
MAKBET
6 Rules of Engagement
1- Actors must know the entire text.
2- Actors may not play the same role in successive sequences.
3- Roles can be taken or given, embraced or refused.
4- Three actors alone must play the principle roles.
5- A chorus will guide the ceremony.
6- Nothing else is planned.
Review by Mitchell Conway · April 1, 2011
This is Macbeth as rendered by a group of Eastern European Gypsies: Makbet is more ritual than tale. With the combination of ceremony, winging it, and Shakespeare, Dzieci has produced a fascinating, risky, and original work.
In the small cafe where this performance took place, there is a small circle of chairs. Surrounded by the circle are a red rug and a collection of props, as well as audience and actors mingling together. Improvised pre-show interaction with the characters includes passing around some wine and receiving personalized fortune-telltale. While the other performers mill with the audience, Jesse Hathaway has already begun a complex ritual: shifting candles, dripping wax, spilling water and rubbing it into the carpet, and spitting into various corners of the room. The ritual feels precise and executed as though it were the hundredth time.
The actors openly chat about whether they ought to commence, who should go turn off the lights, and question an audience member to read a set of rules about the performance from the program. All the actors have learned the entire text. Three are chosen at the start to perform all the play’s parts. They switch roles throughout the performance by handing off objects to signify their reputation. The other actors become involved in a handful of scenes, but mainly make the production’s wailing choral soundscape, including Eastern European folk songs. In fight scenes, the chorus is incorporated innovatively to emphasis moments of violent contact. Throughout the performance, Hathaway conducts these background vocals with a spot-on sense of ambiance and engagement. Without any spoken words, he is his own dynamic presence.
The three actors come together as the weird sisters and with a witchy summoning they are off. They sustain the “Gypsy-actor” accents while shifting their voices between characters. The chorus members and actors coordinate the use of flashlights and candles to set alight the entire show. To accommodate the small circular performance interval, there is a dynamic upward and down flow of action, tending towards lower in interval than a more predictable performance.
A number of moments stick out in my mind. Matt Mitler delivered Macbeth’s Act 5, Scene 5 “Tomorrow and tomorrow…” soliloquy in a solid rhythm, kneeling, pleading to the planet. I’ve heard this speech many times, but this time I heard it anew. Rebecca Sokoll erratically waves a lantern while oddly contorting her body, and later hangs hauntingly (and precariously) over Macbeth by a red shawl. She switches from this unpredictable, possessed ghost to Macbeth cowering in his wife’s arms at the feast, frightened of the ghost she has just produced, unwaveringly. Megan Bones’s squinting, limping Duncan seemed to take up half the room with his gray overcoat. Later, Bones tears through the austerity of the interval when she enters smiling as Macduff, providing a much needed release.
When the company filled a barrel with candles, it was gorgeous. Their hands, outstretched over the set alight, flew magnetically together into a clump. For one scene the pink sunglasses of Malcolm were placed on my head, so the necessary fourth reputation could be present. When Mitler removed the glasses, I had the privilege of a cinematic close-up as he finished his speech and turned his face away from his flashlight into dark. The ritual when Banquo is killed—touching candles to his head, shoulders, and chest, then passing the candles to audience members—resonated with me and I could not say why.
The tempo of the text is consistently slow, with seldom more than a couple words spoken without pausing between them. This makes an overall textual rhythm that often detracts from the meaning of phrases. But since this production focuses on making the dynamics of a ritual rather than effectively communicating a plot, it is doable that this approach to the text is employed to intentionally prioritize maintaining rhythm over the meaning of foreign language.
For the curtain call the actors bring the audience to their feet for a final dance.
Dzieci is reaching for something. Their like and determined are felt in the air. The group is there for each other, supporting the chaotic organize and making it doable. Makbet is quite a daring feat.