Photos and video by Jeffrey Blackwell/Memorial Church Communications

Arts & Culture

The plot, and the fog, thicken

Haze-draped Arboretum sets eerie stage for ‘Macbeth’

1 min read

The fog rolled. The plot thickened. And the Actors’ Shakespeare Project (ASP) commanded a special twilight performance of “Macbeth” on Sunday amid the trees at Harvard University’s Arnold Arboretum.

More than 1,000 people were in attendance as Frederick Law Olmsted’s landscape design and Fujiko Nakaya’s climate-responsive fog sculpture set the stage for the 400-year-old tragedy by William Shakespeare.

The free performance was co-sponsored by the Harvard University Committee on the Arts. ASP’s production of “Macbeth” from the new verse translation by playwright Migdalia Cruz is at the United Parish in Brookline through Nov. 11. Nakaya’s Fog x Hill is on display at the Arboretum through Oct. 31.

“Fog x Macbeth."
Banquo and Fleance (Maurice Parent and Shanelle Villegas) wait in the wings.
Banquo and Fleance (Maurice Parent and Shanelle Villegas) wait in the wings.
Macbeth (played by Nael Nacer) and Lady Macbeth (Paige Clark) plot the murder of King Duncan.
Macbeth and the witches.

Macbeth (played by Nael Nacer) and Lady Macbeth (Paige Clark) plot the murder of King Duncan; witches (Jade Guerra, from left, Alex Casillas, and Trinidad Ramkissoon) show Macbeth the future.

Fleance flees as Banquo is slain.
Fleance flees as Banquo is slain.
A witch watches Macduff kill Macbeth.
Malcolm (left), played by Kai Tshikosi, holds Macbeth’s head and claims his title.

A witch watches Macduff (Ed Hoopman) kill Macbeth; Malcom (left), played by Kai Tshikosi claims Macbeth’s title.

Macbeth (played by Nael Nacer).
Nacer as Macbeth.
Actors bow.