Something Wicked

Sophie McIntosh’s play Macbitches depicts the events that follow the announcement that a college freshman has unexpectedly been cast in the coveted role of Lady Macbeth. The recent production of McIntosh’s play by Spirit Gum Theatre begins with two of the older undergraduates arranging furniture in the apartment where they and their frenemies in the theatre department will supposedly celebrate the casting announcement—but in fact will subject the novice Hailey (Katie Pelikan) to a series of mind and drinking games. Fireball and Svedka are their witches’ brew; red Solo cups are their cauldrons.

At the outset, as the young women set the stage with the apartment’s furniture, it isn’t clear whether the audience is witnessing the characters in their first moments. That blurring of the real world and the realm of the play continues throughout the eighty-five-minute performance as audience members often feel more like eavesdroppers at a real-life thespian gripe fest than theatregoers, so convincing were the portrayals of Hailey (Pelikan), Rachel (Elise Kimpel), Lexi (Ireland Barile), Cam (Hunter Harrell), and Piper (Ally Shelton).

The frenemies ply Hailey with so much Fireball and Svedka, I convinced myself—and wrongly so—that she has not simply passed out on the couch but in fact has died of alcohol poisoning. What would follow, I told myself, is an argument among Rachel, Lexi, Cam, and Piper regarding what to do next: Should they leave Hailey on the couch and phone 911, or should they sneak Hailey’s body back to her dorm?

What actually unfolds is much darker, and the showdown isn’t between the ringleader, Rachel, and Hailey but between Rachel and Lexi. The audience watches aghast as “[w]hat’s done cannot be undone” (Shakespeare 5.1). It’s not the ending we expect, which is another of the play’s merits. As the lights dim, we feel surprised but not misled and find ourselves meditating on the intersections of life and art, both the beauty and the horror.

Work Cited

Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. Folger Shakespeare Library, https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/macbeth/read/.