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Macbeth Did It
Macbeth Did It
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Author: John Patrick Publisher: Dramatists Play Service (cover may change) Format: Softcover # of Pages: 71 Pub. Date: 1972 Edition: Acting ISBN-10: 0822207117 ISBN-13: 9780822207115 Cast Size: 9 female, 12 male
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About
the Play:
Macbeth Did It is a full length comedy by John Patrick.
Fast moving and outrageously funny, this delightful comedy exposes
the antics of a misguided community theatre group trying desperately to put
on the Shakespearean classic, Macbeth. The play Macbeth Did It will take the
audience through nepotistic casting, chaotic rehearsals and the
fateful opening night. The production is fraught with its hilarious
complications and misunderstandings.
Macbeth Did It is a "play
within a play"
that finds a community theatre group trying to stage the Bard's
famous "Macbeth."
Gathering experience before tackling the "big time" in New
York, director Larry Rencher has decided to undertake Macbeth,
drawing on his faithful (and generally hammy) cadre of local theatre
buffs. The role of Lady Macbeth is assigned to Dolly Dibble (whose
husband owns the theatre) with the other parts being parcelled out
with similar logic. As rehearsals begin, so do the hilarious
complications and misunderstandings until, harried and out of
patience, the director storms off in a huff – leaving matters in
the hands of the meddlesome newcomer whose "suggestions"
have been a thorn in his side. As they will, things then go from bad
to worse, until the director is wooed into returning and (despite the
fact that Dolly's tipsy husband gets his head stuck in the witches'
cauldron) somehow everything gets pulled together in time for the
fateful moment of opening night.
Macbeth Did It premiered in 1974 at the renowned Flat Rock
Playhouse (the State Theatre of North Carolina). Ideal
for any high school or community theatre group looking for something
amusing and "different."
Cast: 9 female, 12 male, plus many small female and male parts
What people say:
"It's rather perplexing that
... Macbeth Did It isn't performed more frequently, especially on
the community theater level. The play requires no set, making it easy
on the budget and the workforce. It revolves around the mounting of a
local production, so it has a built-in familiarity factor, and it
offers a wide variety of roles – various ages, ethnicities and
character types. ...it's also big on the laughs. Despite its title,
which might lead one to expect a murder mystery, this is a comedy
through and through." — Queens Chronicle
(Glendale,
NY)
About the Playwright:
John Patrick (1905-1995) was a prolific American playwright
and screenwriter, writing more than a dozen screenplays and some 30
plays. He had several Broadway successes, most notably Teahouse of
the August Moon (which was awarded a Pulitzer, a Tony and a New
York Drama Critics Circle Award) and The Hasty Heart. His
movie scripts are impressive with Three Coins in a Fountain, The
Shoes of the Fisherman and The World of Suzie Wong as well as
adaptations of the two plays mentioned above. His "Opal"
series of plays remain popular with high schools and
community theatres.
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