To Be Thus
If the cost of safety is blood, could you hold the knife?
Four men are promised access to the kingdom, but only one can possess the throne. Violence is the language of the land. Tyranny has many faces. Dare hope take root?
Sixty minutes. Twelve characters. Four actors. One obsession.
To Be Thus transforms text and character to explore the beating, exposed heart of Shakespeare's Macbeth and the cycle of power taken by force.
Through the insights of a cast and creative team that includes trans, neurodivergent, global majority, and underrepresented artists across age and class, To Be Thus has been developed within the vision of theatre as a playground to place Shakespeare’s timeless language in conversation with today’s world.
To Be Thus was created as part of the EMERGENCE Festival 2024, a festival of new work from the MFA Acting/Directing Classical and Contemporary Text programme at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
Four men are promised access to the kingdom, but only one can possess the throne. Violence is the language of the land. Tyranny has many faces. Dare hope take root?
Sixty minutes. Twelve characters. Four actors. One obsession.
To Be Thus transforms text and character to explore the beating, exposed heart of Shakespeare's Macbeth and the cycle of power taken by force.
Through the insights of a cast and creative team that includes trans, neurodivergent, global majority, and underrepresented artists across age and class, To Be Thus has been developed within the vision of theatre as a playground to place Shakespeare’s timeless language in conversation with today’s world.
To Be Thus was created as part of the EMERGENCE Festival 2024, a festival of new work from the MFA Acting/Directing Classical and Contemporary Text programme at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
The Creative TeamDirector/Dramaturg/Fight Choreographer
Rob Myles Producer/Associate Director Meredith DiPaolo Stephens Script Adaptation Meredith DiPaolo Stephens Intimacy Coordinator Sharon Mackay Composer/Sound Designer Vishak Ramaprasad Associate Sound Designer Adam Gibson Costume Designer Meredith DiPaolo Stephens Set/Light Designer Rob Myles Set Construction Ian Myles Scenic Artist Rebecca Gage |
Meredith DiPaolo Stephens (Producer, Adaptor, Associate Director, Performer) is an American actor, director, writer, educator, and producer, born in Illinois and now based in Scotland with a secondary base in North Carolina. Previously assistant managing director of the North Carolina Shakespeare Festival, managing and producing artistic director of Shared Radiance Theatre, and founding managing and artistic director of the award-winning Goodly Frame Theatre in Greensboro, North Carolina, Meredith is currently focusing on acting and writing for stage and screen as well as voiceover and audiobook narration work. Meredith's training in Shakespeare’s language and performance includes work in the Unites States at UNC Greensboro (BA), the North Carolina Shakespeare Festival, Shakespeare Lives!, the American Shakespeare Center, and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival; and in the UK at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (MFA, Feb. 2024), Oxford University, and Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. Acting credits include several roles in Caryl Churchill’s The After-Dinner Joke, five characters in the solo radio drama Sparrow, and Grumio/Biondella in The Taming of the Shrew (RCS); Lucio in Measure for Measure (Shakespeare's Globe/RCS); Venus in Dido, Queen of Carthage, Antonio in The Merchant of Venice, and Duchess of Gloucester in Richard II (TSMGO London); Banquo in Macbeth, Ghost of Christmas Past in A Christmas Carol, Janis Curtis in Hands on a Hardbody, Ebenezer Scrooge in An Old Salem Christmas Carol, Feste in Twelfth Night, and Titania/Hippolyta in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (NC Regional Theatres). Directing credits include Sparrow (RCS), Much Ado About Nothing, Affairs of the Heart, Finding Shakespeare, King Lear, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Hamlet, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (NC Regional Theatres); Reboot and A Simple Jester (NC Short Films). Produced plays include Apologize and Changed (NC Regional Theatres). www.meredithdipaolostephens.com
Emma Findlay (Performer) is an actress and writer from the North East of Scotland. She graduated from Acting Coach Scotland in 2016 with a Diploma in Stage and Screen Performance. Her most recent work includes feature film Damaged, STV commercial for the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service, and playing the lead role in her award-winning play Bittersweet at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Rebecca Gage (Scenic Artist) is a 2nd year Scenic Art student at RCS with an interest in painting sets for musicals and interactive theatre. Before coming to the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland she has studied Advanced Higher Art and participated in Glasgow School of Art’s portfolio course. Credits include Merrily We Roll Along, Children of Eden, Angry Brigade, Attempts on Her Life, The Russian Double Bill and Into the Woods preformed in the New Athenaeum Theatre and Chandler Studios in the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
Adam Gibson (Sound Designer) is a sound designer, engineer, and music composer. Recent theatre credits include Prima Facie, West End & NTLive; Welsh National Opera’s Ainadamar UK Tour 2023; The Mirror and the Light, West End with The Royal Shakespeare Company; Death Drop, West End & UK & Ireland Tour 2022; Wild Actually at the Pleasance London; The Show Must Go Online Digital Theatre Project; Glyndebourne Opera; and Soho Cinders at the Charing Cross Theatre. Adam holds a BA-hons degree in Theatre Sound Design and Engineering from Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance. Adam currently has a number of music projects in the works, including an album of modern classical works, finishing his first Symphony, and a new theatre work based on the lives of young Neurodiverse people.
Sharon Mackay (Intimacy Coordinator) is an intimacy coordinator and actor from the far north of Scotland who graduated from the BA Acting course at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. She has provided intimacy support on over twenty-five productions within RCS. Within professional theatre, she most recently worked on Battery Park, by Andy McGregor, (Sleeping Warrior) which toured Scotland. Her intimacy coordination credits within film and television include: Vikings: Valhalla (Netflix), Float (BBC Scotland), Girl (Barry Crerar, BBC FIlms), Northern Lights (Deadpan Pictures), Rules of the Game (The forge, BBC), Significant Other (ITV), The Beaker Girls (CBBC) and Candy (Sharp Shorts).
Rob Myles (Director, Dramaturg, Fight Choreographer) is an actor, writer, and director. He has directed all 36 First Folio plays of Shakespeare, The Illuminated Text for Stratford Festival, and associate directed MSND for RIFT Theatre. He is the co-creator of The Show Must Go Online, a multi-award-winning pandemic digital theatre project that brought together over 500 actors and creatives from 60 countries. His book Innovation & Digital Theatre, co-written with Dr. Valerie Clayman Pye, is out now with Routledge. He is the creator of The Shakespeare Deck, a powerful, portable text-work tool for actors and creatives, and host of the Owning Shakespeare podcast. Beyond Shakespeare, Rob is also a certified teacher with the British Academy of Stage & Screen Combat. In screen, he has directed several short films, short documentaries, action for camera, and more. www.robmyles.co.uk
Cameron Prince (Performer) is a soon-to-be graduate of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland’s MFA programme. He was recently in The After-Dinner Joke and The Taming, both at RCS. He is originally from Dunbar, Scotland, and grew up in Southern California. He did his undergraduate in Acting at Cours Florent in Paris, and is now based in Glasgow. He enjoys sword fighting, swimming, and hillwalking. www.cameronprince.co.uk https://www.spotlight.com/3577-6729-4516
Vishak Ramaprasad (Composer) is an award winning Indian composer, music producer and pianist currently based in Glasgow. His musical language that involves concepts of Indian traditional music with jazz, western, classical, contemporary, pop, and sound design gives him a unique global style. He has worked in over fifteen Indian movies with industry leading actors and directors, both for background score and songs. He was signed with Viacom 18, a joint venture of Paramount Global, for three South Indian TV series. His first short movie as a music director was nominated for the SIIMA awards, 2019. He has also produced music for reality shows, podcasts, and commercials and worked with the main radio channels in Bangalore, India. His recent works have been with the GAIA duo, Rangavartula theatre productions, Red Note Ensemble, and Incognito, by Nick Payne and directed by Fonnyta Amran, exploring possibilities of live acoustic performances with electronics. His style of music has found keen appreciation by Sir James MacMillan, Mike Lindup, and Oscar winning singer Vijayprakash. Vishak is soon to graduate from RCS MMus Composition, learning with Dr. Bekah Simms and Dr. Stuart MacRae. www.instagram.com/vishak_rp
C. "Cody" William Robinson (Performer) is an American actor who has appeared in a wide variety of projects from film and television to the Off-Broadway stage. He is a graduate of the BFA Acting program at North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA 2017) and is currently completing his MFA at The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Following this project, he aims to continue gaining on-screen experience as well as establishing himself within American Shakespeare festivals.
Special Thanks To:
Josh Armstrong, Marc Silberschatz, Rogelio Nevares, Brian Furgeson, Leonor Estrada, Zander Lee, Megumi Hari, Gary Fry, Karyn Kelly, Sarah and Theia Myles, Ewan Downie, Bob Whitney, Rafa Salinas (graphic art), Julia Bauer (performance photography), Jamie Stewart (performance video), Matt Cobb (rehearsal photography), and the entire 2024 RCS MFA cohort
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