Baltimore Playwrights Festival

Five Minutes with the Playwright: An Interview with Jonathan Tomick

  • March 8th, 2021
jonathan Tomick
  1. BEWARE, MACDUFF is a recent play you’ve submitted to The Baltimore Playwrights Festival. What is it about?
    BEWARE, MACDUFF is a prequel to Shakespeare’s Macbeth. The play follows young Macduff as he grows into the man who eventually stands up to an evil king. It’s a play about masculinity, reconciliation, and breaking cycles of violence.
  2. What were the challenges of writing a play using a well-known Shakespearean character who was also an historical figure?
    It’s easy to feel beholden to the previous material in both Shakespeare’s character and historical records. Obviously Shakespeare’s characters inspired this play, so most of the time it’s exciting to read and re-read (and re-read) Macbeth for additional insights, but I also wrote BEWARE, MACDUFF because I see elements of these characters that don’t exist in Macbeth: more history, more trauma, and more facets to their personality. Focusing too much on where Macduff and the others end up often distracted me from building out where they start. As for the historical records, it’s so much fun to learn about the real versions of these people, but I had to remind myself that my goal wasn’t to write historical fiction.
  3. What came most easily in the writing of BEWARE, MACDUFF and what challenged you the most?
    Writing young Macbeth came easily to me, which was a surprise. In retrospect, I think the reason is that I wanted to show he is motivated by insecurity, by not feeling good enough or “man enough.” I’ve experienced these feelings throughout my own life, so they were easy to channel into his character. Writing Macduff’s character challenged me the most. He changes rather dramatically over the course of the play, and I wanted his evolution to feel genuine and convincing, not forced.
  4. Tell us about yourself.
    I am a writer and educator living in Baltimore city, and I love that we live in an era that embraces remakes. I’m fascinated by the way we return to old stories and make them new again. I love how each version speaks to different time periods, audiences, and concerns.
  5. What are you working on now?
    Mostly raising my one-year-old son, but when find time to write, my main project is a fantasy novel that explores our misconceptions about fear.
  6. What is coming up next for you?
    I have two plays that have been knocking around in my head for some time now, one based in C.S. Lewis’s world of Narnia and another that tinkers with the James Bond archetype. I hope to build out both in the near future.