In new ‘Macbeth,’ Tampa’s Jobsite Theater plans to break down preconceived notions about Shakespeare [PHOTOS]

Greed, ambition, and a lust for power also stand to be prevalent themes in 2025, and the Straz Center’s resident theater company will tackle all of them when “Macbeth” opens this week.

Jobsite Theater’s creative team is referring to its version of the classic as “Pictofuturism” that reimagines the lives of the ancient Picts people in the north of Scotland.

“This fantastical approach will inform all of the technical elements of the play, while maintaining Shakespeare’s original rich text in a slightly streamlined cutting,” a press release says, adding. “When Macbeth meets three witches who predict he will become Thane of Cawdor and then King of Scotland, madness sets in and he and his wife seize power by all possible means, leading to murderous consequences.”
Best of the Bay-winning director David Jenkins follows Shakespeare’s lead for this production and stages it out of period, this time working with Chris Giuffre’s design team to build a world closer to what someone might recognize from “Dune.”

“I think, visually, a style like this might break down some barriers or preconceived notions folks have about Shakespeare. People might often feel intimidated by this stuff, but then I watch them binge hours and hours of content in the worlds of Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones or Dune with no problem,” Jenkins wrote in promotional material. “If we can adopt an aesthetic that makes this stuff feel more accessible to folks from jump, why wouldn’t we do that?”

Starring Bay area theater scene giant Giles Davies—2024 winner of Theatre Tampa Bay Awards’ Outstanding Actor in a Play—alongside fellow favorite Katrina Stevenson, plus Cornelio Aguilera, Troy Padraic Brooks, Logan Franke, Mona Lim, Jared Sellick, Katherine Yacko and Blake Smallen, Jobsite has once again tapped Jeremy Douglass for a new original score that will have newbs to the company’s musical repertoire saying, “What bloody man is that?”

Tickets to see “Macbeth” inside Tampa’s Jaeb Theater at David A. Straz Center for the Performing Arts Center in Tampa on select nights from Jan. 15-Feb. 9 start at $24 and increase by demand.

UPDATED 01/09/24 12:21 p.m. Updated to include cast member Katherine Yacko.