Shakespearean drama receives a radical makeover

Taipei County-based avant-garde theater group, Into the Next Wave Theater Troupe (前進下一波表演劇團) will take to the stage this weekend, when it brings its off-center look at Shakespeare's Macbeth to the stage of Taipei's popular alternative theater venue, Hua Shan Arts District's (華山藝文特區) Plum Wine Factory (烏梅酒廠).

Although the group -- which is made up of graduates from the National Taiwan University of Arts (台灣藝術學院) -- took on its rather longwinded moniker only early last year it is no novice to drama, or revamping Shakespeare.

In 1999, the troupe made its debut with a performance of Romeo and Juliet, a show that saw the Elizabethan playwright's masterpiece time traveling to present day Taipei. Two years later, the group veered away from drama when it performed its first dance piece, He Leads Them (他帶著她和她).

The group's latest production, which is titled As Ants Nibble, Lady Macbeth Rhapsody (蟻蝕 馬克白夫人狂想), tells the well-known story of Macbeth from the perspective of Lady Macbeth, rather than her sword-fighting husband.

The up-coming performance incorporates not only drama but also makes use of dance and lighting in order to create a mystical world in which the troupe's players perform their own, off-center and surreal reworking of the Bard's classic tale.