"Macbeth” by Bear Left Theatre Company
Bonington Theatre, Arnold.

One of the greatest tragic plays ever writ by one of the best playwrights ever. This play has everything you want from a great tragedy where the key is fear and power. There should be no need to tell the story of Macbeth and his murderous ways, the witches and ghosts, because I am sure that you all know the story.

Shakespeare’s plays lend themselves to adaptation really well, which is why you can see several versions of the same play and not see the same play… you know what I mean, and Bear Left Theatre have created something slightly different as well in this, their full blown Shakespeare production. It also just happens to be one of my favourite Shakespeare's plays.

Directed by Sally Nix, who really kept the flow of the play going, making sure that there was never an empty stage and keeping the tension, panic and fear to the fore.

Emma Burbage (Lady Macbeth) gave a powerful performance, showing what a strong character Lady Macbeth should be.

Arun Hayes (Fleance and Donalbain) is no stranger to the Nottingham stages, and no stranger to Shakespeare, and this shows in the confident performance he gave.

Lizzie Norris (Duncan) is a new member of Bear Left and a welcome addition to this wonderful cast.

Kynan Wells (Malcolm) gets some lengthy pieces of script and, like all the other cast members, showed that he had great understanding of Shakespeare's words and delivered them with feeling and passion.

Samantha Badman (Ross) is another new member of Bear Left, who I last saw in Long Eaton in "A Bunch Of Amateurs" shows a completely different side to her acting here, and I loved it.

Gerard Hesketh gets to show his murderous side, and looks like he is really enjoying this role.

Hatty Hollowell (Banquo), as Macbeth's ally is soon seen off and plays a good death scene

Steve Mitchell (Macduff) is a perfect casting in this role with a lovely array of emotions without taking them over the top. Steve really suits classic period drama like this and his previous role in "She Stoops To Conquer"

Fiona Shore gets to play the only witch in the play, but with three voices, often all at the same time, she looks and sounds quite unnerving, as well as very different.

Robert Goll plays the main man. Now as soon as I heard that Rob was to play this role, and he only discovered this himself only recently, I just knew that this play had just got its' cherry for its' cake. Rob is where he is literally king. His love and understanding of the Bard, and his plays is second to none, and not only does he deliver a wonderful performance as Macbeth, he is also a very sharing actor when it comes to stage craft.

The staging is quite stark which is great for the imagination while not distracting from the performance, but really evocative.

A wonderful cast, directed well with an imaginative and fresh approach, which should be appreciated by more lovers of classic theatre and theatre goers alike, especially over the next few days (hint hint).

“Macbeth” by Bear Left theatre Company is at the Bonington Theatre in Arnold until Saturday 22 September 2018.

Photography by Marina Kyriacou.