Eric Vosmeier says he’s stoked by a show he’s just added to Know Theatre’s production schedule for the summer. He’s set to direct a modern take on Shakespeare’s Macbeth called Toil and Trouble. Lauren Gunderson’s play had its world premiere at Impact Theatre in Berkeley, Calif., last November; Know is giving the show its second production, opening July 26 and running through August 24.
Landing it, Vosmeier says, is “another victory for our new schedule model by securing the rights for the first production of this show following its world premiere. We’ve been looking for a strong comedy for quite some time, and I think this fits the bill perfectly. This contemporary retelling of Macbeth is spot on, but with enough twists and turns to keep the audience guessing. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Toil and Trouble is the story of two ambitious guys and a badass lady who decide to fight the recession with dictatorial dreams. Instead of going to grad school like everyone else they know, Adam, Matt and Beth are Bay Area thirtysomethings with too much education and not enough employment. They’re overqualified to work at Borders, and Adam is brimming with ideas — but most of them involve robots.
Thanks to three fortune cookies with some creepy fortunes (remember, Toil and Trouble this is based on Macbeth, which commences with three witches predicting Macbeth’s rise to power), the trio settles for taking over a small island nation off the coast of Chile. The show throws baseball, investors, Wikipedia, hypothetical sex and real violence into one bubbling cauldron. The overlay of Macbeth brings hipster malaise and ridiculous modernity into the mix, demonstrating that hubris, greed, power and passion never go out of style.
Vosmeier has cast Breona Conrad as Beth, Joshua Murphy as Matt and Chris Wesselman as Adam. Conrad and Murphy have been touring for several seasons in Know’s production of the Fringe hit Calculus: The Musical. Vosmeier says, “I’m thrilled to have one more chance to work with Josh and Breona before they leave Cincinnati.”
You can purchase tickets in advance for $15; they’ll be $20 the week of performance, beginning Mondays at noon. (Your best deal is to purchase one of Know’s flex-passes, six tickets for $90. You can use some for Toil and Trouble, and save the rest for future shows.) Info: 513-300-5669.
