Mac Beth
81

Mac Beth NYC Reviews and Tickets

81%
(137 Ratings)
Positive
85%
Mixed
13%
Negative
2%
Members say
Great acting, Ambitious, Clever, Great staging, Edgy

About the Show

Seven girls hurl headlong into the unchecked passions of "Macbeth" as the line between real life and bloody fantasy quickly blurs. An encore staging of Red Bull's new adaptation of Shakespeare's tragedy.

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Show-Score Member Reviews (137)

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70 Reviews | 6 Followers
100
Edgy, Ambitious, Great acting, Clever, Absorbing

See it if You like theatre. There’s not a single word or action that isn’t said or done with great purpose.

Don't see it if It’s a bit gory. The rain scene goes on for a bit too long.

94 Reviews | 13 Followers
96
Thought-provoking, Edgy, Great acting, Exquisite, Absorbing

See it if you want to see a classic Shakespearean text interpreted in an uber-modern, uber-creepy, and uber-unique light.

Don't see it if You're expecting a classic retelling of Macbeth.

55 Reviews | 8 Followers
90
Ambitious, Intelligent, Great staging, Great acting, Edgy

See it if you love contemporary, reimagined adaptations of classic literature. It is cut down while still retaining the fundamental parts of the play.

Don't see it if you're sensitive to gore, prefer traditional adaptations of Shakespeare, or can't understand Shakespearean language.

104 Reviews | 11 Followers
88
Ambitious, Absorbing, Raw teen energy, Edgy, Visceral

See it if Like shows with a feminist, edgy spin! Or enjoy more experimental theater filled with drama and high jinks

Don't see it if dislike use of Shakespearean language in a contemporary setting; don't want to watch all-female cast perform Shakespeare Read more

94 Reviews | 9 Followers
85
Well-acted, Thought-provoking, Intense, Clever

See it if are interested in seeing Shakespeare in a slightly different form and, in the end, possibly even more frightening

Don't see it if you don't think MacBeth should be performed by a group of schoolgirls in the woods, no matter how talented they are

271 Reviews | 66 Followers
85
Visceral, Funny, Intelligent, Great staging, Absorbing

See it if You’re open to alternative interpretations of the Scottish play and would get a kick out of women playing all the parts.

Don't see it if You want the whole thing unadulterated. Read more

53 Reviews | 3 Followers
84
Resonant, Intelligent, Great singing, Great acting, Absorbing

See it if You enjoy a classic

Don't see it if Shakespearean tales bore you

72 Reviews | 15 Followers
82
Edgy, Clever, Absorbing

See it if you were a teenage girl, live with a teenage girl, know teenage girl(s).

Don't see it if you cannot stomach (literally and figuratively) graphic violence.

Critic Reviews (31)

The Wall Street Journal
February 6th, 2020

"When Teenage Angst Turns Bloody: Schoolgirl savagery is at the center of Erica Schmidt’s inventive adaptation of Shakespeare’s play."
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BroadwayWorld
January 19th, 2020

"Erica Schmidt's Psychologically Intriguing 'MAC BETH' Moves Uptown"
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Front Row Center
January 21st, 2020

Score: 97% "Once upon a time, three girls went into the forest but only two came out. In Erica Schmidt's brilliant adaptation of Shakespeare's 'Macbeth' you will discover how that could be."
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C
January 16th, 2020

"This is among the most passionate versions of the play ever performed. Chief among the main players is the impressive Brittany Bradford, who smartly captures Macbeth's almost quicksilver transition from meek but loyal nobleman to halfheartedly ambitious throne-grabber."
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The New York Times
May 20th, 2019
For a previous production

"An adaptation...that with its all-female cast becomes a raucous, sometimes impish, very dark-edged revel...Fuhrman puts a studious teen’s spin on her contemplative Macbeth, while an irrepressible mischief lurks within Mendes’s wonderful Lady Macbeth, toggling between passion and playfulness...What’s powerful in this play isn’t its climax. It’s watching a group of girls meet Shakespeare on their own electric terms — with ferocity, abandon and the occasional wild dance break."
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Time Out New York
May 20th, 2019
For a previous production

"Equally giggly and grisly...Alternates between heightened high jinks and chilling violence. At first, you may chuckle at these bad girls’ adolescent antics...even as Macbeth and her wife (standout Ismenia Mendes) go on an ambition-fueled rampage of destruction...The production works better when it veers into horror territory...The bloody savagery that these fresh-faced girls are capable of inflicting on each other is hard to wash off your mind."
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New York Magazine / Vulture
May 19th, 2019
For a previous production

"The stage is awash in concept, but the real, visceral stakes of the story at hand can be neither seen nor felt...Schmidt is so enamored of her big idea that she allows her actors to gallop through the text of 'Macbeth' as if it has nothing to offer but basic structure and forward motion...The characters they’re enacting inside Shakespeare’s play blur together, a mess of casual, hyper, contemporary gestures that never let us take the story seriously."
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The Observer
May 20th, 2019
For a previous production

"The giddy, irreverent pace and edited text help offset the inevitable stylistic trade-off: not all the actors are giving a Banquo, Macduff or King Duncan for the ages (whatever that might be)...The playing of the lead roles is generally appealing, but uneven...I wanted more 'Macbeth' on the cutting-room floor, more material about the students’ lives, less fidelity to the Jacobean source."
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