Macbeth Unsexed! is a creative re-imagining of Shakespeare’s Scottish play, devised in part by the ensemble of sixth-formers from St Mary’s Calne who also perform it. Most of Macbeth’s familiar action has been put aside in favour of a romp through the variant, deviant flavours of female death-dealing. These girls, identified with Shakespeare’s eerie witches, kill the old, the young, the guilty and the innocent, the fragile and the strong; like modern Maenads, they kill delightedly.

Clad in translucent white boiler suits, the cast enacts a series of brief scenes and grim tableaux, assisted by well-chosen props: bowls of raw chicken, bowls of blood, blank white masks. Their performances are assured and, considering their very young ages, admirably abandoned: there is no hint of teenage self-consciousness here. All the actors are fully engaged with the piece, and their gleeful destructiveness delivers some authentic chills. At the same time, the cast members are capable of modulating their performances in order to deliver quieter scenes: abusive relationships seen from the inside are, in terms of the quality of the acting, a particular high point.

The problem with Macbeth Unsexed! is its incoherence. To design the narrative structure of a showcase drama – as this play aspires to be, with a selection of female murderers that includes archetypal black-widow tropes and some notable names – is a challenging task, unsurprisingly somewhat beyond the capabilities of a group of authors still in their teens. Many of the individual scenes work well, and the characters have convincing and individualised voices, but the play as a whole hangs together only loosely. Too often, the lure of a fantastic visual image or a memorable stage-tableau has taken precedence over ensuring that Macbeth Unsexed! works as a piece of drama.

This is such a short play, however, that its faults do not ruin it. The cast’s infectious energy is a pleasure to watch, and there is considerable acting talent on show. The short scenes are from time to time very funny, and the staging thoroughly professional. Macbeth Unsexed! has little to say to Shakespeare’s Macbeth, as it does not seek to engage deeply with the source text – but for a school production it is impressive, bursting with creativity and enthusiasm. The production’s catchphrase, “It’s too late to start crying over spilt blood”, is literally enacted during the course of the show: unlike Macbeth, this play won’t make you cry, but it will make you laugh – and, more than once, gasp in unfeigned horror.

*** 3/5 Stars

Macbeth Unsexed is playing at C eca until 11th August as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. For more information and tickets see the Edinburgh Fringe website.