©  2013 Acting Like Mad

The TragiComedy of Mac-Beth

A new dark comedy inspired by Macbeth, from critically acclaimed writer and director, Sebastian Rex.

In a small room, Mac and Beth sit. They type. Words. They long to find more meaning in their lives, looking to emulate their Supervisor, the Man Behind the Door. Into their world come Ste, Whit and Che; three childish creatures who prophesied that the couple will become great - if they are willing to kill for it. And so begins a journey into their worst nightmares.

Based on Shakespeare’s great tragedy, this sparse re-imagining is told with only five characters and set in the minds of a frustrated, sleep-deprived pair. Mac-Beth couples some of Shakespeare’s most powerful verse with Rex’s acerbic contemporary language.

Reality and hallucination merge in this unique piece of theatre, as Mac and Beth begin to feel the vice-like grip of past sins and the harrowing consequences of murder.

The marmite of theatre strikes again with a 4* review from Views from the Gods saying it was “perceptive and stimulating” and a 1* review from The Public Reviews saying it had “little intellectual coherence”.

"(Sebastian Rex) never fails to create as interesting and thought-provoking a staging as his script"

 (Views from the Gods ****)

“A kaleidoscopic connection of theatrical whimsy and ingenuity”

 (The Kent Messanger)

"Very watchable energetic performances"

 (The Public Reviews)

“In (Beth’s) lines, Rex’s considerable skill at blending Shakespearean and modern English is most evident”

 (Varsity)

A big thank you to our supporters: White Light, Stuart Houston, Imogen Hirsch, Gabrielle Wales, Hannah and Gabi Bitton, Niamh de Valera, Elitza Bantcheva, Nimrod Levin, David Byrne, Peter, Paula and Frey Lawler, Ido Gonen, Sam Brown, Rob and Nat Breedt, Georgina Grant, Alan Bates and Graeme Henderson