Macbeth

Macbeth description

Take one of the most popular Doctor Who actors... ever. Add a remarkable British actress and writer best known for her role as attorney Lucca Quinn in CBS drama series The Good Wife. Then roll them into one of Shakespeare’s best-loved dramas. What do you get? It’s West End perfection!

The brilliant David Tennant plays Macbeth, joined by Cush Jumbo (The Good Place, Julius Caesar) as Lady Macbeth, to tell this epic story of ambition, insanity and murder. Welcome to the latest iteration of The Scottish Play, which sold out in record time at the Donmar Warehouse to leave thousands disappointed. Now’s your chance to see it for yourself.

As well as the extraordinary sound you get haze, smoke and flashing lights, plus explorations of psychosis and mental health issues. There’s blood, violence and death on stage in a masterwork you’ll never forget. Shakespeare would have been awestruck.

A sell-out at the Donmar Warehouse

The original Donmar Christmas production won five-star reviews for risk-taking and original performances, earning Tennant an Olivier nomination for best actor. He and Cush Jumbo will deliver another landmark performance in Shakespeare’s legendary psychological drama. He has made a marvellous job of other Shakespeare roles, appearing in Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing, Richard II and Romeo and Juliet. But this portrayal of Macbeth, a play he has always been haunted by, is unusually thrilling.

The action takes place at super-fast speed thanks to Max Webster’s extraordinary direction. The result is a compelling blend of uncomfortable intimacy and brutal violence, enhanced to an extraordinary level thanks to groundbreaking sound design and live on-stage Celtic folk music. You’ll experience the magic through the special lightweight headphones provided, which totally immerse you in the actors’ thoughts and actions. This is the Bard’s work like you’ve never seen it before, as shocking and real as it’s possible to get.

A star-studded cast and creatives

The rest of the cast comprises Moyo Akandé, Annie Grace, Brian James O’Sullivan, Casper Knopf, Cal MacAninch, Kathleen MacInnes, Alasdair Macrae, Rona Morison, Noof Ousellam, Raffi Phillips, Jatinder Singh Randhawa, Ros Watt, and Benny Young.

The sound design is by Gareth Fry (The Encounter). Live music will come from an onstage Scottish folk band led by Alasdair Macrae and featuring award-winning Gaelic singer Kathleen MacInnes. The production is designed by Rosanna Vize with lighting design by Bruno Poet, movement by Shelley Maxwell, composition and musical direction by Macrae, fight direction by Rachel Bown-Williams and Ruth Cooper-Brown of Rc-Annie Ltd and casting direction by Anna Cooper.

Playing at Harold Pinter Theatre (venue info)

Performance Times for Macbeth