Macbeth Reviews
Chicago Tribune- Recommended
"...Since it's staged outdoors at night, it's also a production where the many speeches delineating the difference between night and day stand out with sharp clarity. (Most of the line readings share in the clarity, which has sometimes been a challenge in the Austin Gardens venue.) Macbeth, who functions so well in daylight on the battlefield (we see his early triumph against those opposing good King Duncan in a sort of dumb show with narration at the beginning), finds himself too easily swayed by witches and ghosts and dark imaginings once the sun sets."
Chicago Sun Times- Somewhat Recommended
"...Relevance to current events aside, director Barbara Zahora has crafted an uneven production of "Macbeth." Some things work: The production has an ancient, tribal feel befitting the story's medieval roots. Hailey Rakowiecki's costume design is rife with animal skins and strange symbols. The infamous trio of witches (and their supernatural overlord Hecate) are eerie personifications of some long-lost pagan belief system, and you can see them ominously shaping the fates of "Macbeth's" mortals throughout."
Chicago Reader- Highly Recommended
"...Even in this apolitical take on the Scottish play by Oak Park Festival Theatre, where Matthew Fahey's callow, shaved-headed Macbeth couldn't seem less like the president who shall not be named, there are moments when a canny audience member still can't help but flash on our contemporary scene. (Sample line: "Alas, poor country! Almost afraid to know itself.") But that may also be because the current production, adeptly directed by Barbara Zahora, is so simple and direct, and the bard's poetry so deftly and fluidly conveyed, that we feel all the dark power in this tight, taut, tragic tale"
Around The Town Chicago- Highly Recommended
"...Given the inherent risk of outdoor theatre in Illinois, it is very important for the Oak Park Festival Theatre to pick plays that really benefit from an under-the-stars performance. They've picked wisely with William Shakespeare's Macbeth. This famous play's eerie, diabolical tone is strongest in its night-time scenes, and in the production directed by Barbara Zahora, the striking effect of those sequences makes the whole endeavor uniquely memorable."