You can expect something different from the direction of Barrie Rutter and his Northern Broadsides company so do not expect a traditional adaptation of a William Shakespeare play when you visit “The Round” to see Macbeth. The set is strange with four unrelated poles sticking up at the corners of a square walkway surrounding a fluffy red carpet. The music is even stranger, being played by various members of the cast, making you wonder if it was needed at all. So what of the play?

The acting is great, though at times it is difficult the distinguish the words from the accents. Scarves worn with modern overcoats are passed around to distinguished who is the king. Andrew Vincent gives a good account of himself as Macbeth and gets to wearing the scarf as he goes about his grisly deeds with the adequate help of Helen Shealds as Lady Macbeth. You can always rely on the rest of the cast to give what is required to make the plot move smoothly along and this is what they have done in this production. All the ingredients of the play are there with the witches going about their deeds in costumes to match the carpet.

A mixed audience sat quiet and took in Shakespeare’s words without an interval and applauded with much enthusiasm as the cast took their final bow. An intriguing evening at the theatre. © BA

“Macbeth” is in at the Round in Scarborough from the 8th of April until the 13th of April, 2002.