Ojai Valley News
One of the most famous dysfunctional couples in theater is brought to life in the latest production of “Mac- beth,” set to open March 16 at the Ojai Art Center Theater (OACT ). Macbeth and his love plot and maneuver into the kingship only to lose it all in the end. In between, comes a voluminous spread of emotions, especially between the Macbeths. Bringing these two characters to the local stage will be the task of real- life couple Jessi May Steven- son and Ron Feltner.
“Lady M is a master manipulator,” said Stevenson. “She astutely uses every tactic to control Macbeth, sexually, emotionally, viscerally. Ron and I have an unfair advantage when it comes to intimacy on the stage. We are so comfortable with each other, there is no awkward transition to make love scenes natural or believable. We can get right to the heart of the characters’ passion by channeling a bit of our own.”
The couple first met when Feltner was acting onstage at the Ojai Art Center Theater. “I was immediately drawn to him and not just for the obvious reason,” said Stevenson, “but his talent really made me stop and take notice. At one point in the play, his character addressed a person in the audience, and that night he directed that line to me. It was like getting struck by lightning. I was living in Los Angeles, so I didn’t see him again for months, but we obviously stayed on each other’s radar, because every time I came to Ojai, poof, there he would be.”
“There was some blatant flirting,” said Feltner, “but it wasn’t until we were cast in ‘Twelfth Night’ at the Ojai Art Center Theater that we became a couple. As Orsino and Viola were falling in love, so were Ron and Jessi. We’ve carried that chemistry on the stage quite a few times now, Eddie and May in ‘Fool for Love’ and Anthony and Rosemary in ‘Outside Mullingar.’”
“Ron and Jessi are the sort of actors I love working with,” noted “Macbeth” director Michael Addision, “talented, hardworking, and very open to my input as we develop scenes. It’s such a pleasure to see two actors dig into their characters and use their skills to reveal what they discover about Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.”
“I have always dreamed of playing Lady Macbeth,” noted Stevenson, “arguably Shakespeare’s most famous and frightening female character. What is most fascinating to me about Lady Macbeth is how far and hard she falls. When we first see her, she is stronger and more ambitious than her husband. She is in complete control. That is what makes her descent into a complete physiological breakdown
so unnerving. Her guilt is as all-consuming as her ambition. Even her feelings are too powerful. She destroys herself.”
A joint production between the Ojai Performing Arts Theater and the OACT, the play runs weekends from March 16 through April 8 at the Ojai Art Center Theater.
Photo by Alexander David Schottky