Macbeth: hell is murky

Derby Theatre’s Macbeth is a lean, urgent evening of theatre that feels both immediate and quietly devastating.

Director Mark Babych’s production, co-produced with Hull Truck and Bolton Octagon, strips the play back to a modern, militarised world where the machinery of power and the aftermath of conflict are never far from sight, and this gives the tragedy a sharp, contemporary edge.

Oliver Alvin‑Wilson’s Macbeth is a soldier turned sovereign whose moral erosion is rendered with intelligence and restraint, and Jo Mousley’s Lady Macbeth is a fierce, magnetic presence whose ambition and eventual unravelling are tracked with precision. Their chemistry doesn’t always land, but the implication of having lost a child explains the emotional distance as well as making the couple’s rise and fall feel intimate as well as catastrophic. The rest of the company excel in multiple roles, but special nods to Simon Trinder’s hardy and resolute Macduff, physically recoiling in disbelief and horror at the news of the murder of his family, and Daniel Poyser’s doomed Banquo.

The three witches are a striking, physical force throughout, visually somewhere between The Purge and Pan’s Labyrinth, their sequence with baby dolls both disturbing and mesmerising, evil creatures who relish in toying with their playthings.

The design team amplifies with a rusted, industrial set, spare military costuming and a soundscape that punctuates moments of violence and paranoia, although the spotlessly clean camo gear was noticeably jarring in the opening scenes of soldiers returning from battle.

If the evening sometimes prefers measured tension to full‑throttle shock, that restraint serves the play’s moral core: power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely, and the human cost is unmistakable. This GCSE-friendly Macbeth is a character‑driven, visually coherent production that speaks to contemporary anxieties while remaining faithful to the play’s emotional truth.