2005/06: Macbeth

The start of a new theatrical tradition

Giovanni Netzer, man of the theatre from the Swiss canton of Graubünden, directed "Macbeth" in March 2006 and in doing so opened a new era of theatre at the Lyceum Alpinum Zuoz. "Shakespeare is difficult to learn, even more difficult to act. The power of the text, the multi-layered meaning, the concentration on the spoken word and, above all, the intensity of the plot represent a challenge for any professional company, not to mention for so-called school theatre.  Nevertheless we are going to give it a try. Every Shakespeare sentence which is engraved on my mind is a gain for my own personal language and speech development, and what is more the direct experience of an artistic language with poetic intensity, with the fundamental human condition. You cannot put a price on that."

What does a murderer feel?

Netzer is not just concerned with language: Shakespeare is not an author to be analysed by literary buffs around the coffee table - he is a full-blooded dramatist. "Shakespeare thinks for the stage, he creates roles for living, very much alive figures with strong characters which one has to immerse oneself in." Finally that is the most important and demanding challenge for an actor in a school play. Questions arise: What is it like in the mind of a murderer? Does desire for power justify getting rid of one's opponents? Could I ever imagine what it's like to murder someone? What is it like to feel the grief of a man who has just lost his entire family? All of these are questions which open new vistas of thought and are emotionally very taxing. As time goes on there are some of the cast who can no longer sleep very soundly. Theatre always means reflecting on oneself and that is strenuous.

The actor as team player

Theatre is also a training ground for teamwork. The mourner on stage is only believable to the extent that the other actors permit and encourage his grief. This requires empathy and pity, the ability to withdraw into the background. And thus it happens that students pace the venerable corridors of the Lyceum gravely reciting Shakespeare, as if the wheel of time had been turned back and Macbeth would haunt the long corridors and dark passageways.

The gallery is empty.