Outdoor theatre at its finest with magnificent seven playing 27 roles

A glorious Midsummer Eve setting for one of Shakespeare's darkest and most brooding plays

- by Post Reporter

The grimness and blackness at the heart of Shakespeare's 'Macbeth' was superbly captured by The Duke's Theatre Company from Brighton on their debut at Lytham Hall.

The capacity audience of 500, having enjoyed their picnics on a glorious Midsummer Eve, are rapidly absorbed into the characterisation and plot, as the cast, clad largely in a military style, make nimble and expert use of a four-level stage and a topclass sound system.

The traditional doubling up, characteristic for six centuries of outdoor touring troupes, is handled seamlessly by the cast of seven who play 27 roles between them.