Following their open air sell-out productions of ‘Hamlet’ last year and ‘Comedy of Errors’ in the summer, Ad Lib Theatre are bringing Shakespeare into Bembridge Village Hall with perhaps the Bard’s most famous tragedy, ‘Macbeth’. Or if you’re in a theatre, ‘The Scottish Play’. With shows at 7.30pm on November 24th and 25th and a 2.30pm matinee on 26th, this is a tale just suited to those murky, late-in-the-year days, tracing the path of a once noble soldier’s ambition, from his reward for loyalty and courage to kingship and tragic downfall.

The play may be over 400 years old but it still has plenty to say about life in the modern world, dealing as it does with choices and problems central to life, whenever it is lived. Today’s reality TV shows aim to give us an insight into other people’s lives and issues, but they don’t do it anywhere near as well as Macbeth! The central couple see their love and loyalty tested in far stronger ways than having to eat weird food or undertake made up ‘challenges’ which pale in the face of the real situations faced by the Macbeths.

The world of witches’ predictions, superstition and killing a king to gain his throne may seem a long way from our society, but the emotions are the same – we’ve all felt love, shame, guilt, loyalty, fear, anger…and can relate to the way the characters deal with these feelings: in doing so, as with all good drama, we learn something about ourselves and our relationships too.

Macbeth not only has something to say about our world, it is incredibly entertaining: a central love story offset by the weird world of the witches – weird in a different way in this production. There are moments of laughter – anyone who has had a bit too much to drink the night before will recognise the Porter’s description of drunkenness – along with suspense, genuine sadness, and horror! Oh, and fighting – Ad Lib’s team of swordplay experts have been at work again to create some tense and only-too-believable scenes of combat, which contributes to the pace of the piece.

This production, with a contemporary setting, is faithful to the original text yet with a modern twist: the witches, whom Macbeth unwisely trusted, are presented as representatives of sources of information we may or may not be wise to trust today…. Although we may find the idea of witches telling us what to think and do rather quaint, who has not believed an advert that promises a product is too good to be true? Who has not – even momentarily – been taken in by a social media post, a newspaper or magazine article? Who has not watched a party political broadcast or listened to a politician or businessman justifying their actions or telling us how the world is, wanting us to believe their words? Should we?

Intrigued? Whether you know the play well, dimly remember it from school (indeed are currently studying it!) or have never seen it performed, come along – you’ll be entertained and given food for thought: Ad Lib aims to show that even after 450 years, Shakespeare still has something to say about our lives!

Tickets are available online at https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/ad-lib-theatre or call 07747738338.