Taking on any production is daunting.
In the case of a Shakespeare adaptation, there is perhaps no production as daunting as “Macbeth”.
For Killian Glynn, the man responsible for the adaptation and producing of the forthcoming ‘Scottish play’ for Where We Are Now festival in May, the story he wanted to tell would not leave him.
His Macbeth takes a unique twist on the classic tale. Gone are the Highlands of Scotland, swapped for New York City in 1996 and court of Macbeth is exchanged for the New York party scene.
“I adapted the script for the play and brought it to Declan Drohan who I have worked with a lot and who will direct the piece. I just saw this [story] in my head. Our story is based on the Club Kids from the 1990s and the adaptation tells the story of the manslaughter of Angel Melendez by Robert Riggs and Michael Alig,” Killian explains.
Kids Club would be known to fans with RuPaul’s Drag Race and would have been a popular drag movement in the early 1990s.
One of central plot points of Macbeth is the relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. For Killian’s adaptation, it was important to look at both characters relationship and focus on that.
“I think we just look at them as characters. We don’t see them as this is a man or that is a woman. They both have traits and characteristics. It has been a interesting rehearsal process because the actors come to me and ask ‘am I playing a man or a woman because I want to know how to act’ and I always direct them to Declan but I think that it does visually change. To watch two men play Lady Macbeth and Macbeth is interesting. It makes an interesting conversation,” Killian commented.
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