Macbeth radically reimagined for our times by young people

Macbeth – Alas, Poor Country comes to Brighton’s Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts from September 25-26, performed by more than 50 young people from across Sussex, from a wide variety of backgrounds.

It comes from ThirdSpace Theatre, winners of The Outstanding Theatre Award 2017.

Dave Barnstorm, general manager and producer, said: “ThirdSpace Theatre stages Shakespeare’s Macbeth for a Britain at war in 2028 – adapted, performed and reimagined by young people.

“It is 2028. Nationalism is at its peak and Britain is at war. A boy sits at his desk.

“Why should he study for his GCSEs while his military conscription letter lies torn open beside his copy of Macbeth? What does it mean to live in a world led by mad men guided only by the scent of power? He tries to decide where his allegiances lie – with power and ideology, with himself and his community or with the letter and the absurd meaninglessness of war and existence?

“From the creators of Romeo & Juliet and BAKKHAI, ThirdSpace Theatre's company of over 50 performers aged 12-25 once again thunder onto the stage, delivering a classic epic with modern relevance – an indictment of a country's addiction to militarism and of war's disregard for human life.”

It will be performed alongside live music from The Miasma, “a band of witches who laugh in the face of the world we have destroyed. The witches of Macbeth become an ever-present, watchful eye, haunting the audience with a detached gaze that mirrors our own.

“The company bringing this production to the stage is one of the most genuinely diverse youth casts ThirdSpace has ever assembled – diverse in gender, race and SEND and drawn from vastly different walks of life.

“It includes young people with direct experience of the care system, young people who are NEET (not in education, employment or training) and students from Brighton College, standing shoulder to shoulder on the same stage, in the same company, telling the same story.

“The words and creativity of the young people involved sit at the heart of the production. Alongside Shakespeare's text, the show is shaped by what this generation thinks about the world and the society they are inheriting – their anger, their hope and their refusal to look away from a Britain at war with itself.

“ThirdSpace Theatre has also invited sister organisation, Project Female, to choreograph a set piece for the banquet scene. This move marks an exciting joint venture between the two organisations at a time when artistic collaboration is more important than ever.”

Director Tanushka Marah said: “The subject of conscription is on young people’s minds; as is a world at war and the immediacy of climate disaster. The lines ‘Alas, poor country’ lead the way in shaping our production of Macbeth.

“As a cast we have spent time discussing nationality, looking at what we hold dear about England and what we are losing with the rise of austerity, nationalism and corporate greed. However, in this tragedy we still manage to find the funny as The Miasma sings to us of all we are losing and a comedy chorus of cleaners come and mop up the blood between murders. In all its tragedy this is still an act of radical joy, as is the making of Macbeth.”

September 25 and 26, 2pm and 7:30pm, Venue: Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts, Gardner Centre Road, Brighton, East Sussex, BN1 9RA. Price: £16 full price, £12 concession, special school discount available. Duration: 120 minutes with an interval.

Link: https://www.attenboroughcentre.com/events/5755/macbeth