Macbeth is a tragedy play by William Shakespeare. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those who seek power for its own sake. I had the pleasure of visiting the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester for the first time to see this world known phenomenon.

The first thing which caught my eye was a strange circular structure in the middle of this huge historical building, turns out it's the auditorium and I am just simply amazed by how stunning it is. The round design of the stage with stage level seating and two upper balconies above the stage is a great way to allow the audience to experience the play up close. 

The show started in the middle of the action, with shooting, blades in the guts and breaking the neck. Then we have witnessed the prophecy that Macbeth would become a queen. This prophecy should be the core of the Shakespeare idea behind fate and free will, the guilt and daemons hunting Macbeth and her wife... unfortunately, it was a little bit lost along the way.

Lucy Ellinson as Macbeth

​Macbeth played by Lucy Ellinson was a very vivid character. Her performance was probably one of the best on the stage that night. She shined in a scene where she saw witches, ghosts and dead
people. The presented parts where she was insane were very close to reality. We could feel this
craziness filling us as well as feeling sorry for her character and at the same time, we condemned her for the actions which she took.

Theo Ogundipe as Banquo, was another great actor. His voice and articulation were evident. The almost unnatural movements; especially in the slow motion scene; looked like his character is out of this world or at least a living dead.

The voices of the three witches were perfectly combined; the overlapping while telling the prophecy done only through the use of their voices with no technology was astonishing. Unfortunately, their movement was lacking the ‘wow’ factor as each witch was moving freely instead of following the same set of movements for each one of them.

For his performance in the second act, a deserved mention goes to Paul Hickey for his performance as Macduff. Very well played devastating moment when Macduff learned about his family.

In general, the show was really good. I did like the idea to change the genders of the characters and how the relationships were presented. It was nice to have the modern settings with guns and costumes. Unfortunately, the primary means of the Shakespeare's play were lost in the process of all these modern changes. It appears that it is much more important to show modern times then the problem of fate, whether humans have a free will, and what it means to be possessed by daemons.

This show gets:

Overall, the show featured some excellent acting, sound & visual effects with a great venue to set the mood. Even though, the idea behind of modernising the classic was great,  in the process of it the play has lost something.