This is a story of love, and wanting the best for your family.
In the safety of the bedroom, a couple are at their most exposed and vulnerable. You are invited to sit, invisible, in the midst of this intimate space, to voyeuristically observe a relationship you may think you already know…but what happens behind the bedroom door? Enter. Watch them, through a more focussed - or more distorted - lens.
As their tight knit partnership spirals increasingly out of control, passion and obsession collide with devastating momentum. Thumbs are pricked and wicked things come, but the demons that hide under the skin, that run through the heart-blood, are far more destructive - and much more difficult to exorcise - than mere witches.
To what lengths do you go to achieve success for yourself, your partner, your blood? How do you hold onto your sense of self? Where do they stop and where do you begin?
Using only Shakespeare's original text, David Fairs re-orchestrates Macbeth into Macbeths - a retelling solely from the point of view of Thane and Lady Macbeth, which audiences are finding innovative, surprising and deeply engaging.
Holding each other together can be the same as tearing each other apart.
Macbeths
by David Fairs, from William Shakespeare
a parallel retelling of Macbeth
Cast and creatives:
Thane Macbeth
Lady Macbeth
Macduff
Director
Stage Manager
Lighting Designer
Sound Designer
Fight Direction
Photographer
Image/Film
David Fairs
Sarah Lambie
Conor O’Kane
Anna Marsland
Bryony Peach
Simon Gethin Thomas
Alex Packer
John Sandeman
James Beedham
Daniel A. Lloyd
Macbeths played at the Broadway Theatre as part of the Catford-upon-Avon festival in March 2016, before transferring to the Hope Theatre in Islington in July of that year.
@Macbeths_Play
Praise for Macbeths:
From London Theatre 1:
★★★★
'Macbeths is an impressive achievement, retaining all the drama and tension (not to mention the gore) of Shakespeare’s original, but at the same time feeling like a completely new, contemporary story. With riveting performances and a narrative that continually wrong foots its audience, David Fairs has created a gripping thriller that will appeal just as much to those who claim not to like Shakespeare as it does to die-hard fans.'
‘The production, directed by Anna Marsland, also boasts two spell-binding performances from David Fairs and Sarah Lambie, who I honestly don’t believe could have given any more. Lambie visibly unravels in front of our eyes, growing increasingly dishevelled as she loses control of events, of her smirking, petulant husband, and of her own sanity; her madness, when it descends, is frighteningly realistic. Fairs oozes charisma as Macbeth, but with a slightly psychopathic air from the outset that makes his rapid transformation into a hardened, remorseless murderer easy to accept. The two have great chemistry, their partnership as convincing in love as it is in loathing.’
From The Upcoming:
★★★★
'Fairs’ re-orchestration of the tragedy through the lens of Thane and Lady Macbeth demonstrates the power of relationships and how compelling the language and message become when told through the perspective of only two people in a setting that shows them in their most vulnerable state.'
‘Sarah Lambie as Lady Macbeth and David Fairs as Thane demonstrate their talent in an incredibly mature and polished performance, working exceedingly well together throughout, whether revealing their characters’ lust for one another, or screaming and fighting like many partners do.’
From Female Arts:
★★★★
‘Played by Sarah Lambie and David Fairs, the Lady and Thane of Glamis spend most of the play in their bedroom where they share their innermost thoughts to each other. This bedroom is a microcosm of the world of the play as each party tests the ambition and resolve of the other, egging each other on and sniffing out any traces of 'the millk of human kindness' before eradicating them. In essence it is the 'war room' where courses of action are agreed to or rejected.’
'...the way it has been interpreted gives it a fresh quality, with some famous speeches having a different emphasis. Some have more levity and playfulness than traditionally portrayed...'
In terms of the performances themselves, Lambie's Lady Macbeth is driven by purpose, eschewing doubts, yet failing to avoid the pain within. Fairs, meanwhile, as Macbeth visibly wrestles ambition and political opportunity with his conscience, betraying his firmly-held values and ultimately his sense of self.
From Susan Elkin (of The Stage):
'The script – which is by David Fairs who also plays Macbeth – condenses the play to 75 minutes and rearranges the text very ingeniously. It uses the dialogue between the Macbeths and most of their soliloquies although often not in quite the order Shakespeare intended. Occasionally they speak lines which were originally spoken by others and putting them in the mouths of the Macbeths adds insightful new nuances.'
‘Sarah Lambie[‘s]…anguished crying is deeply, movingly convincing. Hers is a very strong performance and her sleepwalking (where better to set it than in a bedroom?) is one of the best I’ve seen.’
‘David Fairs is terrific too especially at the end when he is brittle, troubled, tearful, poignant – and of course, insane – as he addresses and cradles his wife’s dead body. The transition from relatively carefree young love to evil, horror and tragedy is well managed by both actors but what really distinguishes this show is the quality of listening and rapport between the two of them. It is very intelligent, reactive acting by two people who know, really know, how to play off each other effectively.'