The bloody Shakespeare classic Macbeth is enjoying a New York resurgence with two major productions in the past year, including a solo production on Broadway starring Alan Cumming. Now word comes, courtesy of Entertainment Weekly, that the King of Scotland will take the stage at Lincoln Center this fall in a new production starring Ethan Hawke. LCT reps could not confirm the Broadway plans, so no word yet on dates, creative team or further casting.
“It’s a part I’ve always wanted to play,” Hawke said on Shakespeare Uncovered.
Macbeth follows the title Scottish general (Hawke), who receives a prophecy from three witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition, Macbeth murders King Duncan and takes the throne. He soon becomes a tyrannical ruler and commits several murders to protect himself. The bloodbath takes Macbeth and Lady Macbeth into realms of arrogance, madness and death.
Hawke last appeared onstage as the director and star of Jonathan Marc Sherman’s Baal-inspired Clive. His other off-Broadway credits include Ivanov, Blood From a Stone, A Lie of the Mind, Sophistry and Hurlyburly. Hawke received a Tony nomination in 2007 for Lincoln Center Theater’s masterpiece The Coast of Utopia. He also appeared on Broadway in Shakespeare’s Henry IV and Chekhov’s The Seagull. His vast screen credits include Reality Bites, The Purge, Great Expectations, Training Day, Dead Poets Society and Hamlet.
Click below to see Hawke dive into Macbeth on Shakespeare Uncovered.