After killing King Duncan and two guards to claim the Scottish throne, Macbeth laments that all the oceans of the world can not wash clean his hands, which would make “the multitudinous seas incarnadine”. This year, it is the play that has been multitudinous as, in the last six months, I’ve watched five Macbeths turn stages across England red with gore.
David Tennant and Cush Jumbo, playing the Macbeths at the Donmar Warehouse in London, follow Ralph Fiennes and Indira Varma (Liverpool Depot, now touring), Reuben Joseph and Valene Kane (RSC, Stratford-upon-Avon), Mike Noble and Laura Elsworthy for English Touring Theatre (starting at Shakespeare Playhouse North in Prescot, now on the road) and Max Bennett and Matti Houghton (Shakespeare’s Globe, London).
