Theatre

Shakespeare’s tragedy has been the downfall of many ambitious directors, but judging by Out of Joint’s production set in the Congo, and now Rupert Goold’s memorable version from Chichester, part of the key is to place the play somewhere that still scares us today. Goold has picked on Stalin’s Soviet Russia, and although references to kings clearly clash with communism, and the use of film of a Soviet rally jars, he creates a world we recognise as terrifying in which a night-time knock on the door is something to be feared. Who’s afraid of old women with beards? Far more frightening is a trio of nurses, who aren’t the angels of mercy they should be, but rather finish the Bloody Soldier off with a lethal injection before ensnaring Macbeth with their prophecies.

Anthony Ward’s claustrophobic, white-tiled design recalls hospital, abattoir and kitchen, and is dominated by a sinister clanging lift by which all the important entrances are made including Banquo’s bloody ghost. Not only does Goold play the banquet scene twice, once with the ghost as seen by Macbeth, and the second time without as seen by the guests, but the director also astonishingly gets away with having an interval in between courses.

The ghost’s appearance is one of the very few times that Patrick Stewart’s exceptional, poker-faced Macbeth lets his mask drop. Earlier, he jocularly intimidates his guests in the banquet scene, and he calmly prepares a sandwich as he gives the murderers their instructions. Only the audience gets to listen in on his inner turmoil and is aware of his sleepless nights. He’s well-matched by Kate Fleetwood’s feline Lady M who greets the King in a pinny and pops a tasty morsel in his mouth, but when sleepwalking turns on a tap that runs with blood. It’s the unusual combination of this kind of slasher-movie trope plus a deep understanding of the play that marks this production out as one of the very best – that and the fact that the actors make every word tell.