Silviu Purcarete's Macbett or When Ionesco Meets the Bard at The Swan

This paper reviews Silviu Purcărete’s RSC debut with Macbett at the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, as an actorly and spectatorly experiment of exposure to and involvement in the crossing of boundaries – historical, cultural and, most importantly, theatrical. In doing so it examines the encounter in the Bard’s village between the directorial style of „the world famous auteur”, conversant with Ionesco and the absurd, and on the other hand, translator Tanya Ronder’s Englishing of the play, and the actors’ and spectators’ Macbeth baggage.