Stage director - Playwright - Artist
witchmacbethforest is based on Shakespeare's Macbeth but leaving the title role in the dressing room and turning our attention to the background and the landscape. The story is reconstructed from the points of view of the non-human: the forest that is cut down, bodies sliced open, the filthy air and the ground. Can the battlefield speak?
witchmacbethforest is part of my ongoing work with ecology and more-than-human perspectives. I'm excited to work with Shakespeare again, almost five years after Hamlet.
“Humanity is waging war on nature. This is suicidal. Nature always strikes back - and it is already doing so with growing force and fury. Biodiversity is collapsing. One million species are at risk of extinction. Ecosystems are disappearing before our eyes… Human activities are at the root of our descent towards chaos.” (António Guterres, general secreaty of the United Nations, 2020).
The project has been supported by the Norwegian Arts council, Dramatikkens hus, FFUK and LIRA fonds.
BILDER AV BRENT JORD
In the winter of 2024/25, I have staged witchmacbethforest as a series of reading performances in different venues in and around Oslo: the premiere took place at the book store and project space Norma T.
Photos by Johnny Vaet Nordskog