‘Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires.’
In times of uncertainty, power is within reach for those with the strength and courage to seize it. A ruthless, violent struggle for power leads to a devastating coup. Fuelled by greed, ambition and desire, the Macbeths will stop at nothing to survive.
Blazing with tension, energy and passion in their boldest production to date, The Watermill Ensemble return with Macbeth.
Inspired by the fierce sounds of Johnny Cash, The xx and The Rolling Stones, The Watermill’s resident Shakespeare company fuse electrifying actor-musicianship with Shakespeare’s thrilling tragedy.
TWELFTH NIGHT, 2018
‘A night out that makes one glad to be alive’
★★★★★ London Theatre1
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM, 2018
‘Expect the unexpected’
★★★★ WhatsOnStage
ROMEO AND JULIET, 2016
‘Vibrant and youthful’
★★★★ The Stage
RUNNING TIMES
Act I: 1 hour and 10 mins
Interval: 20 mins
Act II: 45 mins
Directed by Paul Hart
Designed by Katie Lias
Movement by Tom Jackson Greaves
Lighting designed by Tom White
Sound designed by David Gregory
Video projection design by Louise Rhoades-Brown
Musical Director Maimuna Memon
Sign Integration Consultant Ilan Dwek
Victoria Blunt
MALCOLM
Theatre includes: Mrs Baldock/Caroline in A Christmas Carol (RSC); A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet (Watermill Theatre); Dead Funny, Lady Windermere’s Fan (West End); Love’s Labour’s Lost (Oxford Shakespeare Company); Once Upon a Christmas (Unicorn Theatre).
Television includes: Borderline.
Sally Cheng
LADY MACDUFF
Theatre includes: A Christmas Carol (RSC); Love’s Labour’s Lost/Robin Hood (Guildford Shakespeare Company); Twelfth Night (RSC); A Christmas Carol (RSC); Footprints on the Moon (Finborough Theatre); The Emperor and the Nightingale (Theatre by the Lake); Singin’ In the Rain (Bolton Octagon, Salisbury Playhouse, New Vic Theatre).
Eva Feiler
FLEANCE and PORTER
Theatre includes: Square Rounds (Finborough Theatre); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Watermill Theatre); The Dog Beneath The Skin (Jermyn Street Theatre); The Picture of Dorian Gray (Watermill Theatre); Northanger Abbey (UK Tour); Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth (Royal Festival Hall Shakespeare 400); Othello, The Merchant of Venice (Royal Shakespeare Company); See What I See (Oxford Playhouse); Eldorado (Arcola Theatre); The Winter’s Tale (Sheffield Crucible).
Television includes: Father Brown (BBC 1); Parkinson: Masterclass-Simon Russell Beale (Sky Arts).
Radio includes: Wild Honey, Believe It!, A Small Town Murder (BBC Radio 4).
Lillie Flynn
BANQUO
Theatre includes: Twelfth Night (Wilton’s Music Hall); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (The Watermill); Fantastic Mr Fox (Nuffield Southampton Theatre/Lyric Hammersmith); Sunny Afternoon (Harold Pinter Theatre); Sunny Afternoon (Hampstead Theatre); Wicked (Apollo London); Love Story (Duchess Theatre); Love Story (Chichester Festival Theatre); Quadrophenia (Q Theatre Productions); The Spirit Of Broadway (China Tour); The War of the Worlds (Live Nation).
Emma McDonald
LADY MACBETH
Watermill credits include: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2018); The Picture of Dorian Gray, Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet (2017).
Other theatre includes: Twelfth Night (Wilton’s Music Hall); Much Ado About Nothing (Iris Theatre); Pride and Prejudice (The Crucible, Sheffield); Antigone, Tribes (Nottingham New Theatre); Lysistrata (Lakeside Arts Centre); Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Gut Girls, Stags and Hens (Nottingham New Theatre); Jerusalem (Nottingham New Theatre and NSDF); The Comedy of Errors (Fine Frenzy Theatre Company with Nottingham New Theatre).
Short film: The Fifth Continent (Headspace Films). Upcoming feature: Get Luke Low (The Fuchsia Corner).
Peter Mooney
DONALBAIN
Watermill credits include: Mercutio, Romeo and Juliet (2016)
Other credits include: Dick Whittington (Clwyd Theatr Cymru); Once (New Wolsey Theatre); The Commitments (West End & UK Tour); Save + Quit (New Theatre Dublin); Eye of the Storm (Theatr na nÓg); The Ballad of Rudy (Goblin Theatre).
Offue Okegbe
LENNOX
Theatre includes: Utterson and Hyde, Jekyll and Hyde (Trestle Theatre); Feste, Twelfth Night, Theseus and Snout, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Mercutio, Romeo and Juliet (The Watermill Theatre); Horatio in Hamlet (Black Theatre Company); Henry V (The Unicorn in London); Alice in Wonderland (Bolton); Amiens, As You Like It ( UK Tour/Shakespeare At The Tobacco Factory); Miguel, Children of Fate (Inside Intelligence/Bussey Building); Witch, Hansel and Gretel (Queens Theatre Hornchurch); Mardian, Antony and Cleopatra (Chichester Festival Theatre); Jimmy, For Jimmy (Intraverse Productions); Malcolm, Macbeth (Custom/Practice); Kid Brother, Invasion! (Tooting Arts Club); Big Brother, Playlist: Christmas - The Riddler (Theatre 503); Mardian, Antony and Cleopatra (Liverpool Playhouse); Garveyite/Student,Big White Fog (Almeida Theatre).
Workshops/readings include: Threshold (Collective Artistes); The New Voice of Home (AFTA conference); Let Me Go and Children of Fate (Inside Intelligence).
Other credits include: Paul, Six Degrees of Separation (Tower Theatre); John Proctor, The Crucible, Sir Fopling Flutter, The Man of Mode (Brighton Dome Youth Theatre/Inservice Productions).
Short Film: Let Refugees Learn.
Billy Postlethwaite
MACBETH
Theatre includes: The Madness Of George III (Nottingham Playhouse); The Plague (Arcola Theatre); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Bath Theatre Royal; The Mother (Bath Theatre Royal And The Tricycle Theatre); Brave New World (Northampton And UK Tour); Journey’s End (Watermill Theatre); Our Ajax (Southwark Playhouse); King Lear (Bath Theatre Royal); Longing (Hampstead Theatre); Cinderella The Midnight Princess (Rose Theatre Kingston); Collaborators (Cottesloe And Olivier Theatres At The National Theatre); Fireface (Young Vic Theatre); As You Like It (Royal Exchange Theatre Manchester).
Television includes: Chernobyl, Father Brown, Game Of Thrones, Holby City, Foyles War, The Suspicions Of Mr Whicher, Midsomer Murders.
Film includes: Tomb Raider, Amazon Adventure, Containment, Tea For Two.
Max Runham
DUNCAN
Theatre includes: Threepenny Opera (Graeae Theatre); The Funfair (HOME theatre); The Family Way (Bolton Octagon); Gods Are Fallen And All Safety Gone (Greyscale); A Pacifist's Guide to The War on Cancer (National Theatre and Complicite); Tommy (Ramps on the Moon; Reasons to be Cheerful (Graeae Theatre); Red Riding Hood (New Wolsey Theatre); A Taste of Honey (Oldham Coliseum); Queen Margaret (The Royal Exchange Manchester).
TV includes: Hollyoaks (Channel 4); Comedy Playhouse, Hospital People, The Royals (BBC).
Max has been performing extensively as a solo artist throughout London over the past 6 years and recently composed/recorded music for an upcoming documentary Chalk. He's also just released his debut EP, 'Better Get in Line'.
Mike Slader
MACDUFF
Watermill credits include: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2018), Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet (2016/17).
Other theatre includes: Twelfth Night (Wilton’s Music Hall); Robin Hood and the Babes in the Wood (Stafford Gatehouse Theatre); Dreamboats and Petticoats (UK tour); Aladdin (Stafford Gatehouse Theatre); Frankenstein (Salisbury Playhouse); Robin Hood and the Babes in the Wood (City Varieties); Dreamboats and Miniskirts (UK tour); Dick Whittington (City Varieties); Delirium (St James Theatre); Carnaby Street in Concert (UK tour); Tiny Tempest (Brighton Dome); Carnaby Street (UK tour); Ovid’s Metamorphoses (Pleasance Dome); On the Third Day (Mill Theatre); Close (Cockpit Theatre); Four Boys (Old Red Lion); Grimethorpe Race (Arcola); Twelfth Night (UK tour); The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe (Chichester Festival Theatre); Doctor Faustus (Minerva Theatre).
Film includes: Six From Eight; Cruizer.
As a musician Mike has performed with many bands over the years touring both the UK and internationally.
Lixi Chivas
Sign Performer
Lixi is a Level 6 BSL sign performer, based full-time in the Watermill Theatre Outreach department. One of the weekly Watermill youth theatre groups she runs is called Duologue. This group brings together Deaf and hearing young people and adults, and if you’re interested in trying the group, do get in touch. Lixi also Audio Describes at The Watermill, giving a live narration of the action on stage to audience members who have limited or no sight. Lixi has been creating sign integrated performances for The Watermill since 2016.
“I love the process of translating for the stage and rehearsing with the cast. When I’m onstage I try my best to create a mirror of each character I’m portraying and deliver my sign translation as simultaneously as possible with the actor.”
Fliss Becker
Sign Performer
Fliss is a registered sign language interpreter and completed her degree in Theatre Arts, Education and Deaf Studies at the University of Reading in 2008. She has been a keen observer of integrated signed performances, particularly at The Watermill and is extremely excited to be involved in this production. She draws on both BSL and Visual Vernacular to create an artistic interpretation on stage. This is her first time creating an integrated performance.
"Working closely with the actors and my fellow sign performer has been key to creating this performance. I hope to do much more of it in the future!"
Watch the trailer for MACBETH!
Behind the Scenes: An interview with Billy Postlethwaite
Go behind the scenes as Director Paul Hart chats to Billy Postlethwaite in rehearsals to find out how he is approaching playing the title role in this bold new production that fuses electrifying live music with Shakespeare's thrilling tragedy.
Live from the rehearsal room: House of the Rising Sun
Go behind the scenes of Macbeth with members of the Watermill Ensemble performing House of the Rising Sun from the rehearsal room.
Director's Playlist: Macbeth
Listen to the songs inspiring the creation of Macbeth.