{"id":11925,"date":"2026-03-31T15:17:58","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T15:17:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/?page_id=11925"},"modified":"2026-03-31T16:02:29","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T16:02:29","slug":"macbeth-at-the-guthrie-with-prof-matt-burgess-and-co","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/home-2\/the-words-march-26\/macbeth-at-the-guthrie-with-prof-matt-burgess-and-co\/","title":{"rendered":"“Macbeth” at the Guthrie with Prof. Matt Burgess and Co"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Daniel Graham ’26<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

As spring\u2019s early arrival brought sunlight to the Twin Cities, Professor Matt Burgess decided to cast some darkness on his International Storytelling class. On Saturday, March 7th, Prof. Burgess\u2019s class took a trip to downtown Minneapolis to see a matinee showing of William Shakespeare\u2019s Macbeth<\/em> at the Guthrie Theater.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>

\"Macbeth<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prof. Burgess devised the International Storytelling class years ago in response to student requests to read more international literature. He wanted to offer those students a new lens for their writing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think sometimes when we take creative writing classes, it seems that there’s like rules to do things,\u201d Prof. Burgess said. \u201cAnd this class offers an opportunity to interrogate some of those rules [and] power structures behind some of those assumptions we make about storytelling in an attempt to be more aware of what we’re doing. [We can] broaden our understanding of the ways in which literature can talk to people across space and time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Macbeth<\/em> allowed Prof. Burgess to explore these ideas while taking advantage of the Twin Cities community. The Guthrie has an extensive history of excellent Shakespearean productions, and this one was no exception. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA lot of times I’m watching Shakespeare, and I don’t really know what’s going on \u2014 and I’m a college professor,\u201d Prof. Burgess said. \u201cBut some actors are able to say the lines [in a way that] you can completely follow. It’s like a magic trick. And the folks in this production were really good at that \u2026 and because [its plot has so much causality], for me, it’s a play that’s easier to keep in my brain while I’m watching. So, it was a lot of fun.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The class paired the Scottish Play with a screening of Akira Kurosawa\u2019s 1957 film Throne of Blood<\/em>, a samurai adaptation of the production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[Kurosawa] uses some of the principles of cinema and Noh Theater to talk about this Shakespearean drama in ways that are sort of perfectly aligned with what we’re trying to do as a class,\u201d Prof. Burgess said. \u201c[The movie helped] broaden our ideas of storytelling and the ways in which times and culture affect all that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prof. Burgess most enjoyed the play\u2019s brief runtime \u2014 it\u2019s the shortest of Shakespeare\u2019s tragedies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI loved that there was no intermission and that it was like two hours,\u201d Prof. Burgess said, \u201cbecause I have to go to the bathroom a lot. So that was great.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He specified that he still had to go to the bathroom during the play: \u201cThat’s why I was glad when it was over.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Guthrie\u2019s production, Daniel Jos\u00e9 Molina has a delightful descent into madness in the titular role and a spectacular delivery of Macbeth\u2019s \u201cTomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow\u201d soliloquy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was weird watching a Macbeth who was younger than I am,\u201d Prof. Burgess said. \u201cI felt strange about that, but it made sense [for a play about] peak ambition. And for this guy, I like that he looked like Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The production had a lot of other things to like, too: Meghan Kreidler plays a masterful Lady Macbeth alongside him. Scenic designer Riccardo Hern\u00e1ndez\u2019s stripped-down set allows those tragic performances to pop. Costume designer Judith Dolan\u2019s outfits mix futuristic and vintage silhouettes. Joe Dowling (who served as the Guthrie\u2019s artistic director for 20 years) brings the whole production together with his expertise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The International Storytelling class is one of many ways that students can learn about other modes of storytelling through the English and Creative Writing department. Every semester, the department offers classes across genres, eras, and disciplines that invite students to think in new ways. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf students are interested in learning more about Shakespeare, I encourage them to take Professor Penelope Geng\u2019s courses,\u201d Prof. Burgess said. \u201cAnd if students are interested in the ways in which stories talk to each other across time, I encourage students to embrace the historical periods we [teach] here to enrich their understanding of literature and their own writing.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Daniel Graham ’26 As spring\u2019s early arrival brought sunlight to the Twin Cities, Professor Matt Burgess decided to cast some darkness on his International Storytelling class. On Saturday, March 7th, Prof. Burgess\u2019s class took a trip to downtown Minneapolis to see a matinee showing of William Shakespeare\u2019s Macbeth at the Guthrie Theater.\u00a0 Prof. Burgess […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1193,"featured_media":0,"parent":11937,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-11925","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1193"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11925"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11925\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12073,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11925\/revisions\/12073"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}