I collaborated with RIFT and Gruff Theatre on their 2014 site-specific production of MACBETH, set in the infamous Balfron Tower (28 Days Later, Hustle) and the disused underground garages below the building. The concept included Macbeth living in a Russian-style hotel in ‘Borduria,’ the fictional setting of all of RIFT’s productions, who after the murder of Duncan becomes a dictator- like figure.

I was given training in Lecoq methods and physical theatre, allowing me to perform in their June productions as a Steward, leading the audience as their physically adept guide through the dark and violent setting of RIFT”s Macbeth. In the development stages we also explored many different styles of physical theatre and storytelling, and with RIFT specifically I experimented with many Commedia Dell'arte archetypal characters that were used in the production. Each performance was set over one day, from dusk ‘till dawn, with the audience sleeping overnight in various areas of the venue, like a fever-dream that leaves you questioning ideas of space and status; dystopia and utopia; waking and sleeping.

I also assisted RIFT with the design, construction and dressing of MACBETH, some of my jobs included:

• Construction: Building and assembling the rift the audience walk through to enter the world of Macbeth. This consisted of building over 10 frames for doors that would allow them to be suspended around a disused underground garage, attached to the ceiling or from walls at various angles, with each meant to represent the doorway to a different story in RIFT’s world.
• Many secret rooms and tunnels were also built in the flat that Gruff theatre were commissioning. This included building two fake walls to make a room smaller, so that it only consisted of a creepy dental chair and a large mirrored cabinet, and behind this cabinet cutting a hole that a single audience member would have a one-on-one in, before being led back up the stairs to re-join the rest of the audience.
• Painting and decorating: When we arrived the flats were in a decrepit, unusable and unsafe state. I helped clear the rooms, paint the walls with the themed colours of green and cream for the production, which was inspired by references from the text, as well as moving and arranging the period furniture that matched the 1970’s hotel setting.
• Dressing: I also assisted with dressing the rooms with various props, items and décor to create an authenticity and realistic immersive experience, should audience members choose to go for a walk in the middle of the night to explore Macbeth’s world. This included hanging paintings of one of the three Macbeth’s who simultaneously acted in the production, small trinkets in boxes that were only found after thorough searching, and so on.

From this I gained strong skills in construction and design, and working closely with the technical and production teams also gave me an insight into how a fully- professional, hugely immersive production is created on such a grand scale.

"After meeting the witches, the play continues around the building. We are carefully led around by our fabulous guide, Piotr, played by David Loumgair, who I cannot praise enough. The Bordurian guides are not just there to shoo you between rooms; they are part of the whole set up. They get to know everyone’s names and what they are like, they encourage you to get to know each other, they ensure you are topped up with a glass of wine whenever possible but they also watch the drama unfold with you; genuinely shocked at what is unfolding before them and eventually they get conscripted into the army. Their role must be incredibly difficult given that they have to rigorously maintain their Bordurian accent and established character for the entirety of the night’s performance. Piotr did all of this to perfection. Given the crucial nature of the guides’ role, your experience will be uniquely affected by the guide you are paired with."- Playhouse Pickings http://playhousepickings1.wordpress.com/2014/07/06/review-macbeth-rift-secret-location-london/

"There is gore aplenty, death by teddy bear, and some terrific encounters, not least the meeting with the witches in an underground car park – spooky. The young Bordurian guides are unfailingly helpful and inventive, too, pointing out the strange similarities between their capital city and London's skyline." Lyn Gardner- The Guardian 

http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/jul/06/macbeth-review-rift-balfron-tower-london?CMP=twt_gu

"It's an unlikely venue for Shakespeare, a 24-storey 60s tower block in East London. But for the talented Rift Company's new production of Macbeth it creates perfect setting for innovative and intimate theatre." Adrian Bradley- Broadway World 

http://www.broadwayworld.com/westend/article/BWW-Reviews-MACBETH-Balfron-Tower-July-4-2014-20140705?PageSpeed=noscript#.U76G_uddUio

"This ‘Macbeth’ is undeniably ambitious and with a group of buddies prepared to party on into the early hours it could be fun" Daisy Bowie-Sell- Timeout London 

http://www.timeout.com/london/theatre/macbeth-58

"The cast, led by Michael Adams’s methodically sinister Macbeth, are strong and there is some inventive use of the unique venue." William Moore- The Evening Standard 

http://www.standard.co.uk/goingout/theatre/macbeth-balfron-tower--theatre-review-9588661.html

"The building spoke to us about society and about Goldfinger's idea of what future society would be, and how that got corrupted. Goldfinger's utopia became Danny Boyle's dystopia as this building was famously used for his film 28 Days Later. We wanted to look at how something so pure and so audacious could turn into a byword for something that is so horrible. So it seemed the perfect place to explore ideas of hierarchy, which is how we came to the idea of putting on Macbeth."- Felix Mortimer (Director) 

http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/jun/19/east-london-balfron-tower-macbeth-production

"What will be really interesting as the performances go on is how we can manipulate the environment to create certain things in people’s dreams – the play itself is so much about sleep and dreams and sleeplessness, it feels like a nice way of getting into people’s minds." 

http://www.thefashionglobe.com/macbeth

"Immersive theatre company Rift are staging a production of Shakespeare’s Macbeth in Erno Goldfinger’s Balfron Tower in east London. Audience members stay overnight in the tower and have breakfast in the morning with the characters. Throughout the night, they will be visited by the play's characters and woken at dawn for the final scenes and breakfast on the roof." 

http://www.theguardian.com/stage/gallery/2014/jun/19/all-night-macbeth-in-a-tower-block-in-pictures

"Macbeth was a wonderful experience, full to the brim of incredible acting talent, clever use of space and a brilliant attention to timings and detail, and underlined with the unmissable opportunity to stay in one of East London's most impressive old-school tower blocks." 

http://www.whimsicallondon.co.uk/2014/06/rifts-macbeth.html

"Among the experiences on offer is the chance to "face witches in an underground car park, drink and feast with the Macbeths as the siege rages around them and then take a restful sleep on the 27th floor." 

http://www.whatsonstage.com/london-theatre/news/02-2014/site-specific-macbeth-invites-audience-to-sleep-ov_33602.html

The Do's and Don’ts of Going Through RIFT's Macbeth: 

http://playhousepickings1.wordpress.com/2014/07/06/dos-and-donts-of-going-through-the-rift-macbeth/ 

"Mortimer ensures that each audience member enters alone and is confronted by the coven of witches in a one-on-one-type scenario that lasts for five minutes. “Audiences describe it as feeling like the protagonist in a film, as though all the characters are created just for you,” he says."Emily Jupp- Evening Standard 

http://www.standard.co.uk/goingout/theatre/are-you-ready-for-your-closeup-the-oneonone-is-taking-over-theatreland-9581249.html

"It’s an interesting form for Macbeth – a play that is itself about the tension between individual choice and prophetic or dramatic fate. “I don’t think we’d intended a metanarrative of audience-as-Macbeth”, Mortimer laughs; the idea for the play came from the building."

http://exeuntmagazine.com/features/shall-sleep-no-more/