The dark and bloody story of Macbeth has been told across the centuries to countless generations.
The themes in Shakespeare's tale of political ambition, murder and madness feel as relevant today as when the play was first written down more than 400 years ago. But this production of the Bard's brooding classic is something very different, it's the Scottish Play as you've never experienced it before.
The audience is greeted by a stark, neon-soaked set - two monitors mounted high above the stage, an imposing screen dominating the background, the edges fuzzy, giving it an almost ethereal feel.
READ MORE: First look at chef Andrew Sheridan's new 'fully immersive' restaurant '8'
This Macbeth is a foot soldier. An orphan raised by the streets, he earns a living by killing and dealing in Estuary City, a dystopian metropolis that could be straight out of the movie Blade Runner. His bride, Lady Macbeth, has endured an equally tragic childhood, abandoned and brutalised until the day Macbeth took a knife and killed her abuser.
Now the tragically damaged pair run with a drug gang, headed by the terrifying but aging Duncan. Macbeth wants to make his life 'less s**t', but it's not until a chance encounter with three strangers in a car park one night, that a plan begins to form for him to kill his way through the mafia ranks to seize ultimate power.
The script is clever, chopping and changing between contemporary, expletive-laden storytelling and the Bard's own ye olde English. It shouldn't work, and yet it does, with powerful, almost gleeful delivery of the lines - especially from the omnipresent witches.
Amid the darkness are moments of levity, references to Heath Ledger and Denzel Washington - the audience jokingly admonished when only one person is brave enough to pipe up and answer a question at the very start.
The cast of just five players work tirelessly. As the three witches - the weird sisters whose prophecies of power and riches set Macbeth on the road to destruction - Laura Atherton, Stefan Chanyaem and Matt Prendergast never stop. Working around Benjamin Westerby's Macbeth and Maia Tamrakar's Lady Macbeth, they are the storytellers, the camera operators, and every character in between.
Benjamin and Maia don't get off lightly either. Even when the witches, in their dark overcoats and Joker-esque make up are narrating, they are in full view of the audience. Their faces in sharp focus on the screens high above the stage, so it feels that you are watching both a play and movie at the same time.
The giant screen which sits at the back of the stage provides the backdrops. Flitting from street scenes, as Macbeth drives through the night, to neon-noir nightclubs, dive bars, penthouse windows overlooking the city skyline and everything in between - all the while those edges blur and fizz, keeping things unsettled and otherworldly.
Unbelievably this take on Macbeth feels more even violent than the original. There's gang fights, with guns blazing. Duncan's demise is brutal, Macbeth setting upon him as he lies passed out, virtual blood splattering across the backdrop as the knife plunges again and again. The fates of Banquo, and Macduff's family are equally horrific, meeting their demise with a truly unique interpretation playing on the screen behind them.
With this production, Imitating the Dog has once again pushed the boundary of performance. This is Macbeth retold for a 21st Century audience, a frenetic production that can, at times, feel a little overwhelming. And while it often feels more Guy Richie than William Shakespeare, it's a visual spectacle that really should be experienced.
Macbeth retold by Imitating the Dog, is on at the Liverpool Playhouse until May 29.
READ MORE:
- Bar hidden in a truck 'off the beaten path' returns for summer
- Hamilton coming to Liverpool Empire Theatre in 2025
- Wirral Transport Museum closed 'until further notice'
- ABBA Voyage outfits on display at Liverpool's British Music Experience
- Marks and Spencer makes price change to food halls until summer
- Tesco warns thousands of shoppers about major change today
