Ever since its founder, Tyrone Guthrie, hung out his shingle in Minneapolis and launched the regional theater movement in the early 1960s, the works of William Shakespeare have been core repertoire for the Guthrie Theater. It’s a commitment that its current artistic director, Joseph Haj, doubled down on – or perhaps tripled down on – two years ago by presenting the Bard’s three “History Plays” in repertory, even making them available as an all-day, 13-hour event.
While that was indeed a very impressive trio of productions that deserved to be the destination theatrical event it was, it’s been several years since I’ve experienced an interpretation of a Shakespeare play as powerfully gripping as its current staging of “Macbeth.”
Haj’s predecessor as the company’s artistic director, Joe Dowling, has returned to the big blue venue to helm this production, and it’s an unimpeachable success, a moving meditation on the consequences of unbridled ambition and a sharply drawn investigation of how evil can take shape within a human heart.
Meghan Kreidler (Lady Macbeth), left, and Daniel Jose Molina (Macbeth) in the Guthrie Theater’s production of Shakespeare’s “Macbeth,” which marks the return of former Guthrie Artistic Director Joe Dowling to the director’s chair. The show runs through March 22, 2026 at the Minneapolis theater. (Dan Norman / Guthrie Theater)
Boasting well-sculpted characterizations throughout its cast of 17 – particularly from Daniel Jose Molina and Meghan Kreidler as the aspiring royals at its center – it’s a swiftly paced production that clips through Shakespeare’s text in a breathtaking, intermission-less 110 minutes. It also benefits from a design scheme that takes this tragedy’s darkness quite literally: Black is the core color of Riccardo Hernandez’s set, Judith Dolan’s costumes and Philip Rosenberg’s lighting, accented with scarlet splashes when the story’s many murders ensue.
If it’s grand scenery and flamboyant dress you desire in your Shakespeare, this isn’t the “Macbeth” for you, for the simplicity of its staging is a big part of what makes it so compelling. The Guthrie’s sprawling thrust stage acts as a blank canvas on which the actors deliver the play’s transporting poetry with precious little distraction.
That makes all the more compelling the monologues that give us entree into the troubled souls of the power-mad couple at the story’s center. It also throws into sharp relief the movement orchestrated by Joe Chvala (particularly when the chilling Weird Sisters spin their prophecies) and the climactic fight scenes devised by Annie Enneking.
I’ve never encountered a “Macbeth” that so skillfully captures the impressive economy of its text. There doesn’t seem a spare or superfluous word in this interpretation, every phrase seemingly propelling the tale relentlessly forward.
But don’t take that to mean that the pace keeps audiences from absorbing the poetry that emerges from the mouths of its conflicted characters. Molina’s Macbeth is an insecure and uncertain protagonist who’s seemingly second-guessing himself from the start, and his vulnerability may inspire your empathy for this mentally fragile murderer. And Kreidler admirably inhabits his determined and ultimately haunted wife, making a convincing transformation from confident architect of an assassination plot to a woman tortured by guilt.
While all the actors impress, John Catron is particularly affecting as Macduff, believably balancing his grief with his vengefulness. And kudos to David Michaeli for seizing upon this dark drama’s lone somewhat comic character, Macbeth’s armorer Seyton, and making him so arrestingly intriguing. But it’s to Dowling’s credit that he’s succeeded in convincing each actor to bring vivid layers to their portrayals. Such creative commitment is the chief force behind this powerful production.
‘Macbeth’
When: Through March 22
Where: Guthrie Theater, 818 Second St. S., Mpls.
Tickets: $94-$18, available at 612-377-2224 or guthrietheater.org
Capsule: A breathtakingly compelling descent into darkness.
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