Review: Macbeth by Austin Shakespeare
by Brian Paul Scipione
Austin Shakespeare’s latest production tackles one of the best-known classic works of drama in the western literary canon: the Scottish play. Austin Shakespeare began in the 1980's as Free Shakespeare in the Park. From that humble beginning, in 2001 it established its association with the Actor’s Equity Association as an Equity house, meaning essentially that they honor AEA standards and practices when employing Equity actors. They are allowed to use non-Equity actors ( interestingly the reverse is not true: Equity actors are not allowed to perform in theaters without an AEA agreement).
In 2008, Ann Ciccolella directed Macbeth at The Long Center costarring Marc Pouhé and Sharron Bower (now Executive Director of ATX Theatre) (click HERE for CTXLT review). In 2013, Austin Shakespeare became a resident company of the Rollins Theater of The Long Center. Ciccolella again directed Pouhé as Macbeth in the 2016 Free Shakespeare in Zilker Park, with Helen Merino as Lady Macbeth. So, Ciccolella's 2026 production, featuring Pouhé and Merino, represents quite a homecoming.
Macbeth is one of the big four Shakespeare tragedies, alongside Hamlet, Othello, and King Lear. That quartet is a high school English teacher’s scholastic dream because they encompass weighty topics such as ambition, betrayal, corruption, envy, honor, loyalty, madness, manipulation, morality, mortality, retribution, guilt, and vengeance. These themes are universal, so it is easy for directors to get creative with the play’s setting and time. This version, for example, is set in modern-day Africa. Shakespeare can be the devil’s playground for eager and excitable theater artists, but it can also be a comfortable refuge for drama veterans. This production is the latter.
Not surprisingly, Marc Pouhé as Macbeth and Helen Merino as Lady Macbeth utterly dominate this production. Both are mesmerizing from start to finish. They chew the gristle out of every bit of text and fully realize every silent beat with glory and indulgent glee. Merino's epic sense of timing means she can transfix the crowd even in her quietest moments. She transforms her character’s gamut of emotions into palpable moments of tension, excitement, admiration, fear, and terror. Pouhé is her equal at every turn, commanding the audience’s attention every second he is on stage. His voice is velvet but the emotions that he rings out of it are as harshly uncomfortable as sandpaper. The pair have magnetic and diabolical chemistry. They're not just worth the price of admission; they are the price of admission.
The rest of the production is on a different level. Aaron Kubacak certainly had fun with the costume design creating realistic soldier uniforms for a fictional authoritarian African country and unique tribalistic garb for the weird sisters. The costumes and the alteration of some of place names are the only elements that indicate the setting is African and in a near future. There are no attempts at accents or references to current political events.
The set is rather sparse, and the lighting design seems to highlight this rather than create intimate shadows in which the actors can work. The sound design? The soundtrack was great and, like the costume design, combined both tribal and militaristic themes.
This production is great example of the consistency that audiences have come to expect from Austin Shakespeare.
Macbeth
by William Shakespeare
Austin Shakespeare
February 13 - March 1, 2026
Rollins Theatre, Long Center, Austin
