An iconic tower’s next act: Immersive Macbeth production is a hit in Maitland

The historic tower on Maitland’s waterfront has become part of the set for the St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival’s production of Macbeth.

Philip Ling, the owner of the property that the tower sits on, was thrilled when the theatre asked to use the site for the show.

“I was really pumped,” said Ling, a retired electrical engineer and businessman.

The show makes use of the various stone structures on the property, namely the tower and a long-decommissioned stone flour mill dating back to the 1820s. After Ling bought the property in 2016, he had the interior stonework of the tower redone to preserve its structural integrity.

Another building where scenes are performed is the “charthouse,” a stone structure Ling spent nine years restoring. It once housed a business producing navigation charts owned and operated by Peter Webster, an entrepreneur and inventor who employed 35 people in Maitland through his company, Maitland Charts.

Ling says that the theatre festival using the property for Macbeth adds a piece that was missing from his vision for “the Hippocampus,” as he has dubbed the property.

Named after the structure in the brain responsible for memory formation, Ling sees the Hippocampus as a shared community space dedicated to education, creativity and honouring the history and natural environment of Maitland — something he believes the tower’s location on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River represents perfectly.

“The science, biology part, I’ve got a relationship with that, which is great,” said Ling, referring to his relationship with the River Institute in Cornwall, which he welcomes on the site to conduct research on the river’s ecology every year.

“I felt that there needs to be now an arts and cultural relationship,” he continued.

“I asked myself: how do I grow this arts and cultural place here in a way that’s local and that’s relevant to who we are?”

His answer came when the artistic directors of Macbeth toured the site. They loved what they saw and immediately knew it would be the site for the play.

“At the beginning of Macbeth, there are witches around a cauldron and there are ravens. There’s a raven’s nest inside this tower,” said Ling, pointing to a large nest roughly halfway up the inside of the tower perched on the remains of a wooden beam.

“You’ve got this medieval setting. You’ve got the ravens, there’s scenes in the big banquet hall and so the charthouse is perfect for that and the river as well.”

Left: A raven’s nest inside the tower; Right: A prop cauldron inside the tower surrounded by guest seating. – Kevin Clasper-Inglis/Brockvilleist

Throughout the play, scenes move from outside the tower to the inside and then to the charthouse, lending authenticity to the performances and offering the audience a more interactive experience.

Since there is limited space in the tower and charthouse, the audience size is limited to 60 or 70 people, adding intimacy to the performance.

Macbeth is proving to be a popular show.

After opening on July 24, an initial 10 nights of performances over two weeks are completely sold out, and the seven shows that were added are almost sold out as well, according to Ling.

He believes the location is partly what’s drawing people in.

“A lot of people are going, ‘Oh, I’m not a Macbeth fan or I’m not a Shakespeare fan,’” said Ling. “Because Macbeth is a heavy play and people can’t necessarily relate to the language in Shakespeare or it’s too complicated, but they want to be here as well. And they say, ‘I’ve never been in the tower, I’ve never been in the charthouse. I’ve never wandered around here.’ So, it’s a way of experiencing the space as well. There are multiple levels happening here, which is great.”

Ling’s involvement in the production is hands-off; he says he views himself as a facilitator, and that’s how he likes it.

Ling views the Hippocampus as filling a function that exists somewhere between a privately and publicly owned space. While Ling owns the property, he wants to keep it a space for the community to enjoy without a profit motive.

He is open to people using the different buildings on-site for any array of purposes, as long as it facilitates learning, creativity and an appreciation for Maitland’s history and natural heritage.

“I don’t have all the ideas,” said Ling.

He’s still in the process of getting a few of the other buildings restored to a state where they can be used for different purposes.

One building, which Ling calls “Dirty Paws” because of its location directly on the shore and its use for hands-on activities, is the site where the River Institute has been conducting its annual research.

An adjacent building may one day be used as storage for kayaks and other recreational water sports equipment leased from Augusta Township to provide locals with a place to get out and enjoy the water free of charge.

The largest but most dilapidated building of them all is the stables, which housed the horses used on the riding track that was once on the property, including the famous show-jumping horse Big Ben.

Ling already has plans to convert part of the ground floor into a makerspace where anyone can work on projects of any kind.

“People ask me all the time what I’m going to do with this place, and I say I’ve done what I needed to do, which is pull it back and revive it,” said Ling.

He admits he has no idea what people will eventually want to do with the Hippocampus.

“But the potential is amazing and it really is up to people. I can only enable it to be done.”