Macbeth at King's Theatre

Dominic Hill, Artistic Director of the Citizens Theatre, revives his brooding, atmospheric Macbeth in celebration of the 2014 Year of Homecoming. Inspired by events in the war-torn Balkans, Hill’s production is at once contemporary and ageless; a world of camouflage-clad leaders and grungy, chain-smoking witches, where power is all, but it comes at a price.

Macbeth has heard a prophecy, given to him by three hags, that he will become King. His wife, spurred by ambition, persuades him to seize his opportunity and kill Duncan, who currently sits on the throne. Murder follows murder, and soon Macbeth has the blood of two men on his hands. Haunted by apparitions, visions and guilt, he returns to the witches for guidance, but their words give him little comfort in his future.

Unsettling and full of tension, Hill’s production underlines the drama of Shakespeare’s play and the brilliance of Verdi’s score, here performed by chamber orchestra. Desperate and furious, at times ethereal and visionary, Verdi’s music becomes even more immediate in this intimate setting, the tragedy even more intense.