Pittsburgh Fringe 2024

Brawling Bard Theater’s “The Scottish Play” is Shakespeare’s Macbeth, without Macbeth. Most of the props and two actors, each with multiple roles, are also missing. The rest of the cast decides to put on the show anyway as best as they can. The result is a funny and unpredictable series of on-the-spot costuming and understudying with improvised props.

The dialogue came across as natural, exactly what you’d expect actors to say when they’re trying to remember what comes next and what’s missing. The script includes conflict between actors regarding decisions about how to proceed, especially around how to handle the absence of Macbeth. There were some pretty clever choices. Each character had their own experience in developing the play before things went wrong, and the actors convincingly brought those differences to life. The comedy was strong in both the writing and the acting. They worked in a good number of laughs in every scene, be they physical comedy, crisp banter, or jokes for Shakespeare fans. The performance space had its own unique characteristics that were well exploited, yielding a few clever choices for where Macbeth allegedly was at a given moment. At points during the show, the audience is surrounded by the action, the excitement of which is only heightened by fight scenes that were well choreographed yet presented as though the actors with the swords were not at all prepared to be swinging them at each other. One thing I would have liked to see was a bit more panic and uncertainty from the characters, maybe overcome throughout the show. Such could give it the emotionally compelling oomph that it certainly does not need given how funny and simply fun this show is.

I laughed quite a bit during this show. I’m not a Shakespeare buff, so there were some insider jokes that were lost on me. I know that they were jokes because much of the rest of the audience was laughing. I’m a big fan of the art of dancing through chaos, so the theme of this show was a delight to me. I found the premise to be clever and the solutions that emerge on stage even more so.

Overall, the show was very clever and funny. It is an hour well spent. If they worked in some story arc for the characters as they go through the challenge of presenting a show under such trying circumstances, this show could also be moving, which completes one of the very special trifectas of art. As such, I rate this show as recommended.