Patrick Stewart, Fiona Shaw to Headline at BAM in 2008

Patrick Stewart will play the title role in Macbeth and Fiona Shaw will headline Beckett's Happy Days at BAM in early 2008. Both productions are transferring from successful runs at British theaters.

Stewart's Macbeth, directed by Rupert Goold, will play at BAM's Harvey Theatre from February 12 to March 22, 2008. The acclaimed production began life at the Chichester Festival and is playing through December 1 at the Gielgud Theatre in London's West End. Goold's stark, austere Macbeth places Shakespeare's tragedy in a timeless and nameless country with a law of its own. Disturbing and unsettling, the production centers on the tensions, paranoia and fear that lead to violence and murder. Royal Shakespeare Company veteran Kate Fleetwood plays Lady Macbeth opposite Stewart.

Shaw will play Winnie opposite Tim Potter's Willie in Happy Days at the Harvey Theatre from January 8 to February 2, 2008. Directed by Shaw's frequent collaborator Deborah Warner, the production premiered at the Royal National Theatre and has since toured internationally.