By George Basler

Murderous ambition, guilt and madness will be on display at the Chenango River Theatre (CRT) in Greene when William Shakespeare’s great play Macbeth opens Friday (Oct. 4) for a three-weekend run

But this production will be different from your standard sprawling Shakespearean fare. Five actors will play all of the 20-plus characters. The set will be minimal, just a few pieces of furniture, and the actors will wear contemporary clothing that fits their characters.

The adaptation, which is debuting at CRT, is the work of Craig Johnson, an actor/director based in Minnesota, who has previously directed two plays at the Chenango County theater: Art and Wait Until Dark.

While retaining the essence of Shakespeare’s great tragedy, Johnson has cut some of the script and merged some characters. The result is a fast-pasted show that is written “to go like gangbusters,” said Tarah Flanagan, who is directing the production.

Flanagan is a New York City-based theater artist, who has performed in more than 70 productions across the country and directed in venues that include the Cleveland Playhouse and PCPA-Pacific Conservatory Theatre. She has become a regular performer at the Great River Shakespeare Festival in Winona, Minn., most recently playing Hamlet this past summer.

“The brilliance of Shakespeare is the language, and language is the star in this show,” Flanagan said about the CRT production. The minimalist set and costumes “allow the text to shine,” she emphasized.

At the same time, “one delight of small cast Shakespeare is watching the versatility of the cast,” she added.

The CRT production will feature Zach Curtis, CRT’s producing artistic director, as Macbeth. Playing Lady Macbeth is Diana Coates, whose credits include performing with Milwaukee Rep., Asolo Rep., the Michigan Shakespeare Festival and the African Continuum Theatre Co.

The three other actors in the cast will play all the remaining roles. They are Jonathan Contreras, Jacques Roy ands Helena Scholz-Carlson.  Contreras is an actor, musician and songwriter currently based in El Paso, Texas. Roy is a founder and producing director the Guerrilla Shakespeare Project. Scholz-Carlson lives in Chicago, where she recently appeared in Richard II with Sandbox Theatre Collective/Circuit Theatre Co. She also performs with Laughing Stock, a Chicago-based Commedia dell’Arte ensemble.

To help audiences follow the action, Flanagan is working with Barbara Kahl, the costume designer, to distill every character down to a simple costume piece, such as a hat, that can be changed when an actor changes his, or her, character.

Shakespeare’s greatness is “not kings and queens speaking in high-falutin’ language. It’s his unparalleled ability to recognize and articulate the essence of human experience, so that when we hear it, we recognize it in ourselves,” Flanagan said.

One theme that the CRT production is exploring is how equivocation and double speak can breed distrust and paranoia, she said. Flanagan thinks this resonates in today’s political climate.

So does the theme of the physical and psychological effects of unbridled ambition in seeking power. Macbeth and his wife are “a golden couple” at the start of the play. Flanagan said, but they commit “a terrible transgression” that leads ultimately to their downfall.

“What interests me is what happens to people when we knowingly transgress,” Flanagan said. “We think somehow there will be no consequences.”

Macbeth issues a clear warning that this is not the case.

CRT will present Macbeth through Oct. 20. In addition to regular performances, the company has worked with two local school districts, Greene and Chenango Forks, to have their high school students attend special performances free of charge, Curtis said.

Macbeth, with its straightforward plot, is one of Shakespeare’s easiest plays to follow, he said, and has a lot of elements that grab people’s attention, namely witches, supernatural elements and battles. “It’s what people like about stories in general,” he added.

IF YOU GO: The Chenango River Theatre will present Macbeth Oct. 4-20 at its playhouse, 991 NY Route 12, Greene. Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Thursday- Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $30 for all performances. The recommended way to buy tickets is at ChenangoRiverTheatre.org. Tickets also can be purchased by calling the 24-hour box office line: 607-656-8499.

Free tickets for high school and college students are available at all evening performances. Email tickets@chenangorivertheatre for reservations, which are required for the free ticket program.