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.