Meredith Williams
Arts and Entertainment Editor
Ella Mitchell
Photography Editor
As the sun went down outside of Sewanee’s Convocation Hall, the lights inside dimmed, and community members, faculty, staff, and students were met with the haunting chants of Macbeth’s iconic three witches. Something wicked this way comes to Sewanee.
The audience in Convocation Hall is not normally what the Nashville Shakespeare’s 60-minute production of Macbeth is geared toward; usually, they condense Shakespeare’s oeuvre to hold the attention of young audiences. During the pre-show Q&A session, the actors shared that this cutting of Macbeth is intended to grasp the attention of high schoolers who are getting out of class to watch a traveling production of Macbeth.
The pacing of the performance does a great job of keeping the story moving while maintaining the audience’s attention. Cutting a two-and-a-half-hour iconic Shakespeare play down to sixty minutes is a great feat. Because Nashville Shakespeare condensed the production, it is filled with action-packed scene after action. Each actor delivered a fully committed, high-energy performance that kept the audience engaged.
Sewanee also has the privilege of having direct ties to two of the show’s cast members. Nick Govindon (C’ 24), who plays numerous roles in the production, is a recent graduate of Sewanee. Andrew Johnson, who plays Macbeth, was a guest artist last fall and handled the fight choreography for Sewanee Theatre’s production of She Kills Monsters.
The cast of Macbeth included five people: Caroline Conner, Govindon, Johnson, Rebeka Rosales, and Inez Vega-Romero, with each member playing multiple characters aside from Johnson, who solely played Macbeth. With a lot of cutting, thanks to the director, Katie Bruno, the two-and-a-half-hour performance of Macbeth was shortened to one 60-minute production. Govindon explained, “In the 60 minutes that we have, we have to make really clear and defined choices, so the audience can actually tell what’s going on.” Johnson added, “We need to focus on how we get from point A to point B and what we must do to get there. With Macduff, we don’t need to see his family die, we just need to know that they’re dead.”
With only two weeks on the books and only five rehearsals with everyone present, perfecting everything took a lot of work. Connor explained that the process included “lots of trusting in one another and doing the homework beforehand.” The Macbeth cast was on tour from Oct. 23 to Nov. 15, 2024, with nearly a show every day and sometimes even two shows a day.
Almost all five actors in the production play multiple roles and have several intense, quick changes. The cast worked so cohesively together that the transitions between each actor’s characters were seamless.
When asked about the process of blocking the play, Govindon explained, “I think the great thing about Shakespeare is that he always tells you which way you need to go and when. Like Andrew talks about it all the time, how Shakespeare probably wrote for the worst actors in the world, he got so sick of them not doing exactly what he wanted.”
Convocation Hall as a setting added more drama and mystery to the production because of the building’s architecture and acoustics. The performance was loud, high-energy, action-packed, and well-choreographed. The inclusion of very engaging, well-choreographed fight scenes during the end of the performance kept the audience of all ages focused and on the edge of their seats until the very end.
Every year, the Nashville Shakespeare Festival announces a season of plays that they will perform within the year. With four large productions, Macbeth being one of them, the cast and crew are extremely busy. Thankfully, Sewanee was able to experience the talent and exhilarating performance of Macbeth and get a glimpse into the world of touring theater and Shakespeare.