The stars of Guthrie’s “Macbeth” kiss the First Lady Panther

Sitting in a room at the Guthrie Theater overlooking the Mississippi River, Megan Kreidler says she relates to Lady Macbeth, the driving force of ambition and cunning in Shakespeare’s “Macbeth.”

“In terms of its intensity and ambition,” says Kreidler. “What extremes will you go to to get what you want?”

He’s not planning to kill the king like Lady Macbeth, Kreidler explains with a laugh, but:

“I felt like in my career, I want to push myself to achieve certain things, but then I feel a lot of internal conflict about what I need to do to succeed or get what I want,” says Kreidler, who also leads the research team. Minneapolis rock band Tiger Kiss.

Lady Macbeth is “terrible, but somehow wonderful in her awfulness.

Kreidler plays Lady Macbeth in… The Guthrie Theater production of “Macbeth” The play continues until March 22. The events of the play revolve around Macbeth, a Scottish general, who seeks to obtain the crown at any cost after three witches share a feeling that he will be king of Scotland.

It is the first time Guthrie has mounted “The Scottish Play” in more than a decade. Former Guthrie artistic director Joe Dowling, and Daniel Jose Molina, who appeared in Shakespeare’s play, are directing. “History Plays” at the Guthrie in 2024stars as the titular character.

To many, Kreidler is best known for “The Tiger’s Kiss,” but she has a deep theatrical background and a relationship with Shakespeare and “Macbeth” that goes back decades.

I have appeared in "As you want it" and "Christmas carol" In Guthrie, "Flower drum song" and "Hot Asian doctor husband" At the Mo and Theater "Vitjon" In Mixed Blood Theater, among other roles.

In 2013, she received her BFA in Acting from the University of Minnesota. In his sophomore Shakespeare course, Kreidler was assigned a monologue for Lady Macbeth.

“That was my first taste of Lady Macbeth,” she says. That same year, Kreidler saw Michelle O’Neill play Lady Macbeth in a production also directed by Dowling. (O’Neill is also in the current production in Ross and cameo roles.)

“I have a long history with her personally and an attachment to her, and I’ve always felt very drawn to this character, and I feel like I was made to play her a little bit,” Kreidler says.

In the lead-up to “Macbeth” — a play about power, corruption and paranoia — Kreidler says she was thinking about what was happening politically in Minnesota and the country.

“There are a lot of parallels with the world we live in now and with our current leadership, or lack thereof, in this country, and how tyranny can bleed through an entire country and affect everyone,” she says.

Although Macbeth is one of Kreidler’s favorite plays, she had some ambivalence towards Shakespeare.

“In recent years I’ve been like, ‘Why? Why are we doing this? Let’s move on. It’s old,'” Kreidler says. “But now that I’ve revisited it, I’m fascinated by the language and the precision it takes to perform Shakespeare.”

“I’ve always felt that rock ‘n’ roll and Shakespeare and augmented classical texts have a lot of similarities with each other, just the energy and attention that it takes to perform in both arenas, but with this play in particular,” Kreidler adds.