Crash Theatre Company had another chance to present their Martin Sims and Adelaide Tour Ready Award-winning show Lady Macbeth Played Wing Defence (LMPWD) for one night only this past Friday the 8th at the Rechabite. LMPWD is an all-female musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth directed and composed by Bec Price (Project Bexx) that plays out on a netball court. It features a stellar ensemble cast of triple-threats who dance, sing, and spit bars of Shakespeare like it’s second nature.
The Rechabite was filled to the rafters with adoring fans of this new original musical. There were groups of audience members who sang along to the catchy tunes (the main theme, “Pick Your Player” is available on Spotify under Project Bexx and Crash Theatre Co.). Even from my perch up in the second balcony I got a sense of the excitement around the show, which I missed out on during its 8-night run at the Fantasia Hub at FRINGE WORLD.
The opening full chorus number introduces us to the Dunsinane Hell-Hounds and gives us an earful and eyeful of the pop musical/girl group roots the show springs from. With a simple light plot and minimal set consisting of a single pink bench, a single pink net, and a gridded out floor, the show will be easy to take on the road. Given LMPWD’s audience response here in Perth, it is sure strike a chord in Adelaide and beyond because of its modern and uniquely Aussie twist on a 400-year-old classic.
LMPWD centres around Mac Beth (Orla Jean Poole), an ambitious Year 11 Dunsinane Hell Hound who is ready to fight tooth and nail to become the team’s captain. Coach Duncan (writer and co-lyricist Courtney McManus) keeps promoting other players over Mac, like the perfectly popular Chloe Macduff (Shannon Rogers), a ringer from the state team, Mia (co-lyricist Ana Ferreira Manhoso), and even Mac’s sweet best friend Summer Banquo (Kate Sisley). Mac will do anything to wear that captain’s jersey, so she assassinates each new captain’s character, including her best friend’s. Through manipulation, scheming, and backstabbing, Mac attempts a coup by overthrowing Coach Duncan’s authority and naming herself captain. As for the post-coup denouement of this tale, it doesn’t quite follow the path laid by old Bill, but instead takes us to a feel-good ending.
LMPWD does a fantastic job of melding the worlds of Shakespeare and netball. Many of the songs and most of Mac’s soliloquies use (or at least cite) Shakespeare’s text. This might seem a laborious convention on the surface, and it could have turned out much clunkier and clumsier than it did. When some of the most famous lines ever spoken on stage popped up in unexpected places in the show’s script and songs, I laughed in delight. When the Weird Sisters showed up in pink satin robes as the Dagger Divas, I was bewitched.
The cast was solid right the way through, but Georgia McGivern very nearly stole the show as the lovably ditzy Brooke. The funny, quirky, minor character is arguably the best role in any comedy/musical comedy, and McGivern knows it. Poole’s delivery of the hybrid Shakespeare dialogue was effortlessly smooth and clear. McManus spent considerable time front and centre stage providing a comic foil for Poole and really driving home the show’s truly Aussie flavour.
This is a well-crafted pop musical that will have huge appeal for many audiences, but especially Gen Z-ers, 90s kids, and netball denizens. But even Shakespeare fans will get a kick out of this imaginative reworking of the Scottish play, and will enjoy finding the many Easter eggs scattered throughout the show like so many dropped bobby pins on the netball court. The Dunsinane Hell-Hounds (AKA Crash Theatre Co.) have so much to celebrate with this huge win, and I think they’re ready to go national or even international.
CICELY BINFORD
