At first, it looks like Macbeth retooled as a history play about the corrupting effects of war. The drama of murderous ambition, power and guilt is all there in Simon Godwin’s intelligent production but with violent conflict at the fore. Shakespeare’s 11th-century battleground is turned into a modern-day war zone and Ralph Fiennes’ Macbeth emerges in army fatigues.
This production is staged in custom-built spaces and starts its tour in a hangar-like warehouse in Liverpool. An initial set up that we walk through – a room-sized installation with the scorched remains of a car, oil tanks, broken telegraph wires, rubble, smoke and fire – resembles Punchdrunk’s The Burnt City. You cannot fail to see the destruction of Gaza in this flattened, charred and apocalyptic landscape.
