The team at Newbury’s The Watermill Theatre has announced details of their upcoming production of MACBETH, which will run at the theatre from Tuesday 31 October – Saturday 4 November 2023 ahead of a tour of local schools and village halls.
Shakespeare’s classic tragedy MACBETH is given the Watermill Ensemble treatment in the new fast-paced seventy-five-minute production, adapted and directed by The Watermill’s Associate Director Abigail Pickard Price and featuring an electrifying rock score performed by an ensemble cast of three actor-musicians.
This talented trio are Liam Bull (The Flood, Queens Theatre Hornchurch) & [BLANK], Rose Bruford) as ‘Banquo,’ Thuliswa Magwaza (Imaginary Natural Beings, Camden Fringe Festival & Much Ado About Nothing, Duke of York Theatre, NYT REP Company) as ‘Lady Macbeth’ and Jimmy Chambers (The Great Gatsby, Theatre Clwyd & Alice in Wonderland, Vic Theatre) as ‘Macbeth’.
A tempting prophesy and insatiable ambition consume the Macbeths, who stop at nothing in their pursuit of power. As tensions mount, they are plunged into a world of darkness and deceit to secure their dominance and ensure their survival.
Following the production’s run in Newbury, MACBETH will visit eight local schools over two weeks as well as Stanton Harcourt Village Hall (10 November), Bradfield Village Hall (11 November), Shrivenham Memorial Hall (17 November) and Brill Memorial Hall (18 November).
Abigail Pickard Price said, “The Watermill’s history of staging innovative productions of Shakespeare’s texts is extraordinary. It has been amazing to watch this work grow since The Watermill Ensemble was established in 2017, and something particularly wonderful has been seeing many audiences invited into Shakespeare for the first time using their unique style. I hope our production of Macbeth will continue this stream of innovative adaptations for audiences young and old, appealing to those very familiar with the text and those who are hearing these words for the first time. Entwining familiar contemporary folk and rock music with Shakespeare’s text, our production brings Macbeth into the modern world, a world where peace is but a fleeting feeling but emptiness all too known. This world will travel from The Watermill to local schools and village halls, inviting audiences to sit close and, as the guitars ring out, transport themselves to Scotland.”
