On Halloween night, jack-o’-lanterns will glow on porch steps, children and college students alike will be clad in spooky costumes and local residents will prepare for eager trick-or-treaters by filling large punch bowls with chocolate, licorice and lollipops.At TCU, students will perform a portion of William Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” during “Bard on the Rocks” on Monday night among the rocks of “Froghenge” in front of the Ballet Building,
“The scene consists of the three witches and their encounter with Macbeth who is demanding to know if he will continue to be king,” play director Julienne Greer said. “Later during the scene, apparitions or ghosts appear to him. It’s very spooky,”
Greer, a professor of theater and radio-TV-film, said she took on the show after Nowell Donovan, provost and vice chancellor for student affairs, offered the idea during the faculty retreat meeting at the beginning of the year.
Greer said she relishes the opportunity to perform in an unusual setting.
“It’s an opportunity to take theatre out of its usual structure,” she said. “It’s a chance to tie in to the environment. I think that having this production outside will really make it accessible to everybody. They will be able to connect with it in a more natural and personal way.
“Witches are very interesting to me. In their society they were outcasts, usually due to physical disabilities and birth defects. They were very much misunderstood.”
The performance consists of 12 actors, theater and nontheater majors.
“The cast is amazing,” Greer said. “They have really just gotten excited about this and jumped into it. It’s going to be great.”
Senior theater major Dave Vieira, who plays Macbeth, said if students watch the performance, they’ll get a visual of the famous playwright.
“Most people only get to read Shakespeare in class, and it never really makes sense to them,” Vieira said. “This is an opportunity to see it come to life. It’s going to be really creepy, really spooky, and everyone should come out to see it.”
The performances will be at 10:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m.and should last 10 to 15 minutes.