Macbeth – Connaught Theatre, Worthing

Henry Maynard – Artistic Director

Simon Gleave – Associate Director

Original Writer – William Shakespeare

Reviewer – Lela Tredwell

With the pounding of drums, the clatter of hooves and the jangle of chimes, this enlivened soundscape is enough to wake even the deepest slumbering of scholars. With a performance to invigorate the senses, Flabbergast Theatre brings the Scottish Play to the iconic Connaught Theatre. Shifting priority away from the text, the actors play with voice and physicality in surprising ways making this an unpredictable, if rather surreal, performance for the newcomer and the seasoned-in-Shakespeare alike.

Manipulated by forces beyond this worldly realm, nobleman Macbeth, played with gravitas and mastery by Henry Maynard, is tempted into regicide. Having already served up the least palatable of wines, he hesitates over the deed that will surely award him the title of Worst Host in History. His wife (Vyte Garriga), having shed her ‘womanly’ skin in preparation for the party, is on hand to cajole him with a speech that sounds a little more like she is encouraging him to try a spicer dish on the menu than kill his guest and King (Daniel Chrisostomou). However, once the crime is committed, it seems our ascendency-hungry pair have not reckoned for how their actions will affect their sanity and also call another very disappointed ghost to their unstable dinner table. 

Flabbergast’s retelling takes a while to get going. Despite the fanfare and clatter, the text falls unexpectedly flat with some of the earlier speeches muddied by being spoken collectively or not well articulated over the clamber of instruments. After the regicide however, things start to pick up. The comedic antics of the rapturous porter (Dale Wylde), rewritten for a modern audience, really steal the show. The stalls erupt into laughter and from here-on-in, with the permission to snicker, we are able to draw a little closer and enjoy the subsequent moments of whimsy that sit in-between the butchery and barbarism. Each time the actors fall into clowning and break the fourth wall you can feel their enthusiasm lift along with the audience’s spirits. At points, they run or jump or rattle through the auditorium making us unexpectedly giddy with the contagion of their energy. 

The Flabbergast team keep a sparse set but an ever busy stage, often engaging collectively even in more intimate scenes. The Weird Sisters (Lennie Longworth, Vyte Garriga, and Reanne Black) are physically present throughout the performance, appearing as puppet-masters, reminding us how they are manipulating these earthly matters. Dramatic lighting creates ominous and eery shadows on the back wall of the stage putting us in the mind of the reanimated dead or an alien hybrid from science-fiction. 

Although still a visually striking performance, the company choose not to bathe the stage in blood, using instead wine to stain themselves and each other. Their weapons are blunt, instead being long wooden staffs or small twigs. Mainly the ensemble are their own props and set dressing. After the Macbeths move into power, the cast form a cluster onstage, which gives the impression of an imposing beast of tyranny. Sparse props and plain puppets are largely well used, with a particularly inspired deployment of party hats in the beautifully choreographed haunted banquet scene, along with the delightful utilisation of a picnic basket by Malcolm (Elliot Pritchard) during his exchange with the stalwart MacDuff (Daniel Chrisostomou) whose words on men needing to feel their emotions ring all the more loudly in this production.

The costume choices to clothe all the actors in a communal outfit with long flowing dirty beige skirts held up by braces over a plain vest helps to emphasise an equality which falters as the play progresses. Some actors then remove their skirts to reveal trousers, seemingly signifying a crisis of masculinity. With Banquo (Simon Gleave) in peril, his death imminent, he struggles with his britches around his ankles, in what is a striking, if somewhat odd scene. 

Any decent reimagining of a classic text should give us something new for our times, and Flabbergast do this through emphasising how power hungry ambition is really such nonsense. The elements of farce they inject into the show highlight to us the futility of tyrants and their sacrifices of gratitude, compassion, companionship and merriment, and really to what ends? Why the bother? Why the slaughter? Isn’t this just another much ado about nothing, be it a much move savage kind?

This is a valiant performance which blurs some of the barriers between a Shakespearean tragedy and comedy in an extremely innovative way, but it is not one for savouring the bards infamous words. It shines when Flabbergast dance in their own joyful direction with Macbeth but to truly ascend, it could do with a little push to ensure the most impactful speeches of the play are still audible and to form a more cohesive and consistent experience. Regardless, it is a performance which will invigorate your senses, encourage you to marvel at its bold choices, and make you grateful not to wear the uneasy lying crown. 

*Please note: a cast list was requested but not provided by the company so sincere apologies for any misidentification of actors in specific roles.

Reviewed on the 17th April 2026