Against the cacophony of droning planes and rattles of thunder, Greenwich Theatre share a very intimate story of a grand tragedy. It’s the tale that is written into the pavements of Scotland and which threatens to seize every unwitting Fringe-goer at every pilgrimage to the festival.

Having been interpreted through every era, in every space and with every combination of actors, hearing of another version of Shakespeare’s Macbeth can be enough to send you as bonkers as Lady Macbeth herself. With its famous lines often still ringing painfully in the ears from the drillings of secondary school English lessons, it can be near impossible to find a production that makes the astonishing verse ring afresh with its horror once more.

Greenwich Theatre seized upon the Second War World setting for their production, apparently calling upon a number of the ideas employed for the recent BBC adaptation starring Patrick Stewart. With vintage costumes and evocative props, I felt the 40s re-telling of the play was unfortunately executed only in surface design and not performance creating a rather confusing dissonance between the visual and more visceral element of the production.

Despite a clear knack for storytelling and a desire to probe and push out with their scripts, I would have liked to have seen a bit more innovation within this production. The space in which Macbeth was performed lent itself to a really close audience-stage connection yet time after time I felt frustratingly distant from the cast, their eyes roving towards the headlights rather than dragging the audience kicking and screaming into the intense bloodshed of it all as I would have liked.

Nevertheless, Macbeth did demonstrate a few interesting quirks with the weird sisters and their inimitable cackle screeching through unusual moments of the play that cracked through Macbeth’s typical structure.  Macbeth, here played with an Etonian kind of bravado, also added a warped slant on some key speeches in a way I had never previously seen, layering a nursery rhyme tone over Shakespeare’s angst-ridden soliloquies.

For a Macbeth virgin or someone who wants a well-played and safe version of the play, this Greenwich Theatre hits the spot.  But for a daring overhaul of everything you think Shakespeare is, it may be best to look elsewhere.

** – 2/5 Stars

Macbeth by As Told Theatre with Greenwich Greenwich is playing until the 27th August at C venues as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.