Masculine Fear of Feminine Power – Macbeth
In this classic tale of greed and guilt, Flabbergast’s Macbeth fuses a rigorous and respectful approach to text and storytelling to bring a magical, lucid interpretation of Shakespeare’s blood-soaked tragedy to life.
Flabbergast have developed their first narrative text-based production (after extensive R&D with Wilton’s Music Hall London, and Grotowski Institute Poland). They present the bard’s original text, accompanied by exhilarating live music, to produce a provocative show.
Flabbergast Theatre in a scene from Macbeth
The music and vocal work combine into a powerful live soundscape creating a uniquely atmospheric production. The set is sparse, the design striking, and the tight-knit ensemble performs a dark and visceral manifestation of the work’s underlying themes.
The theatre company work with Shakespeare’s devastating human tragedy, to draw out its parallels with modern society. At its heart, the dominant recurring theme and fundamental narrative that powers The Tragedy of Macbeth is a masculine fear of feminine power; and in this sense, the play is as pertinent today as it has ever been.
The work examines what it means to be a man or a woman, and underscores the social contracts between the two that dictate the actions of the protagonists. The notion that gender is a social construct is never more clear than during Lady Macbeth’s “unsex me here” soliloquy, as she fights to set aside her feminine role, lest it hinder her dark ambitions. And the witches – who can appear as crones or maids – embody the power which threatened the patriarchy.
Flabbergast Theatre’s Macbeth will show in the White Rock Theatre main auditorium for one night only, at 7.30 pm on 19 April. whiterocktheatre.org.uk/whats-on/?date=19.04.2026
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