Macbeth Is Coming!

November 4-6 and 11-12 at the Hangar Theatre

Witches and ghosts, madness and murder, swordfights, soliloquies, and two of the most compelling characters ever created...

Part myth and part morality play, a profound examination of the psychology of guilt and the forces that influence human action, this great supernatural thriller makes the perfect finale to the Halloween season!

Tickets are on sale now through the Hangar box office:

Buy online here, or call the Hangar box office at 607-273-ARTS (2787).

Want to see the show for free? Sign up to be an usher here!

Macbeth is a play about...History

"Had he not resembled my father as he slept..." (Act 2, Scene 2)

Macbeth is not just a great tragedy, but also a history play — though a fascinatingly unfaithful one. Macbeth was King of Scotland in the eleventh century, and his claim to the throne was about as strong as Duncan's; they were in fact both grandsons of the same previous king. Macbeth did take the throne by killing King Duncan in 1040, but it was on the battlefield and nothing as covert as Shakespeare's play stages.

Lady Macbeth was also a historical figure, a woman named Gruoch, and she was a descendent of a different earlier king. This little-known fact brings interesting depth to Lady Macbeth's reason for not killing King Duncan herself: "Had he not resembled my father as he slept, I had done it" (2.2). Interestingly, Lady M had been married before, and her first husband was killed by Macbeth — who then married her and became stepfather to her son from that first marriage.

Together, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth ruled peacefully over Scotland for seventeen years until Macbeth was killed in battle when Duncan's son Malcolm returned from England. Is there a trace of this fair/foul history in Shakespeare's play? And did Shakespeare improve on history with the changes he made to the story? Come and see for yourself!

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Rehearsals are under way...

Get tickets now

Or call the Hangar box office at 607-273-ARTS (2787).

Made possible by a grant from
The Tompkins County Tourism Program

The Ithaca Shakespeare Company · Ithaca, NY 14850 · info@ithacashakespeare.org