This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Skidmore chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.
Name: Madeleine Emerick
Class Year:Â 2016
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Her Campus:Â How did you get involved in theater? Â
Madeleine:Â My mom put me in a youth theater troupe when I was nine years old, and I simply couldn’t get enough of it. Â I found ways to participate in the theater every way I could from then on, and by the time I was 14 I was in every school play possible during the year, and then I spent my summers at a performing arts camp. Â I started off working mainly on musicals, but then branched out into both classical and contemporary plays by my later years in high school.
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Her Campus:Â What is your part in the production and tell us a little bit about it.
Madeleine: In this production I play Macduff, who is also known as the Thane of Fife. Â Typically Macduff is portrayed as a man, however in this production I am playing her as a woman to highlight the focus on gender in this production. Â From Macduff’s first entrance, it is clear that she is suspicious of the misfortune that seems to be surrounding the Macbeth family. Â Worried about the threat of Macduff, Macbeth sends a group of murderers to kill Macduff’s family, which drives her to exact revenge on Macbeth, and end his tyrannical reign.
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Her Campus:Â What is the most exciting part about this production?
Madeleine:Â For me, this production is the perfect combination of amazing opportunity as I am able to work on all the aspects of my craft that I am most passionate about. Â Not only do I get the opportunity to play a character which my gender would generally exclude me from, but I also am very passionate about fight choreography, and I have had the unique opportunity to work as the assistant fight choreographer on this production. Â I have been able to create some sequences that appear in the show, as well as fight a bunch myself, which is more than I could have ever asked for.
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Her Campus:Â What is the biggest challenge you have with your role in Macbeth?
Madeleine:Â I have spent a lot of time working with the differences that come up in playing Macduff as a woman. Â Besides the obvious- the Macduff family is now made up of two mothers and things like that- The more challenging aspect for me is where I fit into the world of the play. Â There is one line that I say that goes, “but I must also feel it as a man,” and it is lines like that which I can get stuck in my head about. Â It has certainly been quite the challenge, but it has also been immensely helpful in discovering new things about my character and the world of the play.
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Her Campus:Â What is your favorite part of being in a production like Macbeth?
Madeleine:Â For starters, it is always a pleasure to get to speak Shakespeare. Â A couple of summers back I trained at Shakespeare and Company in Lenox, MA and became completely obsessed with shakespearean text. Â Aside from that, there is an inherent epic-ness in a show like Macbeth that has only been emphasized more by our creative team. Â It is exhilarating to be a part of something so big and awesome- from applying all of my scars after getting into costume to stepping onto a stage that is filled with eerie haze- and that only helps me find the energy to match all the other elements of the production.
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