★★★★★
A classic tale of excessive ambition and greed is reimagined in Macbeth, presented by Shake & Stir Theatre Co and Queensland Performing Arts Centre. For a limited time, the Playhouse is home to a thrilling battleground of humanity’s greatest flaws.
In this production, Shakespeare’s classic text has been transported into a modern context. Gone are the old-fashioned Scottish battlefields; instead, Dunsinane Castle is the picture of contemporary glamour.
It’s the same thrilling story of betrayal and fear, but the stakes have gotten far worse. Macbeth (Jeremiah Wray) and Lady Macbeth (Nelle Lee) meddle their way into a fame they cannot handle. Their every move is broadcast on the media. Their paranoid breakdowns are seen by everyone.
Marking their 20-year anniversary as a theatre company, the incredibly talented cast and crew prove that a story written over 400 years ago is just as relevant today as it ever was. As an award-winning theatre company, Shake & Stir finds innovative ways to tell old, beloved stories and make them new again.
Established in 2006 by three friends who love performing Shakespeare, the company beautifully ignites that passion in their audiences. They’re now well-known with their younger spectators for their entertaining in-school performances and bringing to life the books read in English class.
This electrifying adaptation of Macbeth is the first of Shakespeare’s works that Shake & Stir have brought to the mainstage. Its stimulating designs and raw performances cement their truly epic reputation.
Director and Co-Artistic Director Nick Skubij, presents a play that provokes every sense and emotion. There’s no doubting the meticulous planning of each detail in this eerily beautiful masterpiece.
The set design by Josh McIntosh is complex and constantly evolving. At times it takes up the entire stage, the pieces looming high above the actors, and elsewhere it’s minimal, but always tying in perfectly with the story.
The immersive technology behind the many screens and close-up camera angles is ingenious in making the audience feel almost complicit in the Macbeths’ crimes. Video designers Jeremy Gordon and Nevin Howell create a powerful display across the stage’s varying screens. Every element is well-timed for the best effect.
The lighting is absolutely stunning and puts every terrible deed in full view. A series of overhead lights drops from the stage’s ceiling in a blindingly vivid arrangement. They leap up and down, as well as intimately follow the actors in their soliloquies. Lighting Designer Jason Glenwright proves that stage lighting is an intricate art form that can hold its own.
Every aspect of the stage’s design is flawless and only sharpens the play’s intensity.
Jeremiah Wray brilliantly captures Shakespeare’s monster in his portrayal of Macbeth. For the most part, he’s cold and stony like a determined zombie on a mission, with only his military and family responsibilities alighting any sort of spark in his character. Yet when he snaps, Wray gets into a frenzied manic state that is truly frightening to watch, but impossible to look away from.
Shake & Stir’s Co-Artistic Director, Nelle Lee, perfectly executes the complicated emotional depth of Lady Macbeth. She balances her portrayal of a grieving mother and cunning usurper with an unexpectedly suave and caring disposition. The scene where Lee’s Lady Macbeth succumbs to her guilt in a sleepwalking daze is deeply unsettling and will surely shock audiences.
The Weird Sisters, played by Will Carseldine, Jodie Le Vesconte and Rachel Nutchey, are bewitching for their magical synchronicity. The way that they speak their lines in unison while moving into strange and difficult physical positions is hypnotic. A spectacularly spellcasting trio that could’ve stepped straight out of the pages of the Bard’s writing.
Heavy is the head that wears the crown, but this cast and crew bear it extraordinarily.
Like a spectre, Macbeth is totally unbelievable and will haunt the minds of theatregoers for quite some time. A wicked treat and a nightmarish dream, this adaptation is well worth any possible troubles to come see.
Macbeth is presented by QPAC and Shake & Stir Theatre Co and runs to 21 June in the Playhouse, Queensland Performing Arts Centre.
Tickets: https://qpac.n.qtix.com.au/tickets/series/shakestirmacbeth26
Website: https://www.qpac.com.au/whats-on/2026/shakestir-macbeth
Socials: https://www.instagram.com/atqpac/ and https://www.instagram.com/shakeandstir/
Photo credits: By B’rit Creative
