Teen pop star adaptation turns Macbeth into hit

Ask playwright Yve Blake about the rave reviews of her latest show Mackenzie, and she’s actually more excited about what the audience is wearing. “People are really showing up to this experience as though it’s a concert, and I am tickled pink,” said Blake. Audiences are arriving at Sydney’s Neilson Nutshell theatre in velour tracksuits, butterfly clips, and low slung jeans, to see her noughties-era adaptation of Macbeth. The play imagines the main character not as a Scottish general but as 13-year-old pop star Mackenzie,

complete with a flip phone and a ruthless stage mum named Ruth. Mackenzie has a modest part on a children’s television show, until a make-up artist has a vision that she is destined to be the world’s biggest pop star. Every generation has its child stars, from Shirley Temple to Drew Barrymore, Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears, Miley Cyrus, and Jojo Siwa. And every child star has a use-by date, giving rise to demands for constant reinvention, said Blake. “You have a limited time in the

spotlight before you are outdated and cringe, and I think we all have these fears about ourselves,” she said. “I’m so interested in how we ask young women to constantly shed their skin like a snake and contort themselves into a new image.” Teen stardom proved to be fertile ground for a re-examination of Macbeth’s toxic ambition, and while the play is packed with references that Shakespeare buffs will relish, audiences don’t need to know the original to enjoy the adaptation. Blake’s previous musical Fangirls

was years in the making and won a string of awards after it premiered in 2019, touring nationally before a run in London. Writing Mackenzie, she smashed out a first draft in three weeks, with a mere 18 months from inception to performance. The production stars Kimberley Hodgson, Nikki Britton, and Ryan González. It’s not a musical as such, but features some catchy bubblegum pop tunes Blake penned with Tom Lowndes from Hot Dub Time Machine. The Bell Shakespeare production is directed by acclaimed writer/actor/director

Virginia Gay – whose mother just happens to be Sydney University Shakespeare scholar Professor Penny Gay. Knowing teenagers are often force-fed Shakespeare, Blake was determined to make Mackenzie the most surprising and naughty school excursion ever. “Automatically a lot of teenagers are going to get dragged along . so how do I make a play that doesn’t lag for a second, and is ideally a kind of gateway drug to attending the theatre,” she said. Bell Shakespeare’s Mackenzie is on at the Neilson Nutshell until

July 18, before touring to Arts Centre Melbourne from July 23 till August 9.

Mackenzie, Macbeth, Yve Blake, Neilson Nutshell, Bell Shakespeare, Virginia Gay, Kimberley Hodgson, Nikki Britton, Ryan González, Hot Dub Time Machine, Tom Lowndes