William Shakespeare's Macbeth—“…what, will these hands ne'er be clean?”

When a trio of supernatural witches predict that he will be King, ambitious Macbeth reluctantly murders his way into power... and becomes a tyrant.

The primary theme in Shakespeare’s Macbeth is the corrupting power of unbridled ambition. Spurred on by his wife, Macbeth kills ruling King Duncan in his sleep while a guest at his home, taking the crown for himself. Beset with guilt and paranoia, he quickly transforms from heroic warrior into tyrannical ruler, steeped in the blood of both enemies and friends.

This version of “the Scottish play” sets the action in an imaginary Scottish-American colony during the late 1600’s, not long before the Salem Witch Trials.  Driven by the spirit of Manifest Destiny. the aggressive European colonization of the “New World” was marked by violence; the so-called “peaceful” immigrants massacred indigenous peoples, aggressively expanded into Native American territory, and set the conditions for the widespread institution of slavery that followed. 

Contemporary Classics, formerly Gwinnett Classic Theatre (GCT), exists to challenge and transform classic Western theater traditions by creating an inclusive community of diverse people, ideas, and cultures.