Dark prophecies, an insatiable lust for power and a bloody path to the abyss: in the new production of Macbeth at Theater Basel, Verdi's opera becomes a depressing reflection of human abysses - powerful, radical and harrowing.
In Giuseppe Verdi's dramatic opera "Macbeth", the Scottish king encounters the warning of three witches, ambition awakens, murder takes its course and, in the end, guilt and madness remain. Under the musical direction of Dirk Kaftan and Danila Grassi, the Basel Symphony Orchestra unleashes the full force of Verdi's vision of sound in this production: rhythmically cutting winds, lashing strings and a vocal dynamic that knows no rest. Director Herbert Fritsch shifts the play into a grotesque world in which entanglements of power and blood are depicted - scenes of domination and terror appear like caricatures of an object of desire, the last inhibitions have fallen.
The protagonists (Iain MacNeil as Macbeth, Heather Engebretson as Lady Macbeth) lead us through the maelstrom of ambition, love and despair - their voices reverberate, their actions never let go. Alternating between loud and quiet, the opera is not experienced here as a nostalgic pleasure, but as a cold psychodrama that stays with us for a long time. First choice for all those who understand musical theater as a physical and borderline experience.
Premiere January 22
Further performances: January 24 and 30, February 1, 7 and 14, March 1, 12, 18, 21, 26 and 28, 2026
www.theater-basel.ch
