Shake & Stir reimagine Shakespeare’s Macbeth for the age of drone warfare, live-streamed atrocities, and social media scrutiny, building a contemporary theatrical spectacle around a 400-year-old text about prophecy, power, and ambition.

Known for large-scale adaptations of literary classics like Jane Eyre and Frankenstein, Shake & Stir celebrates its 20th year in 2026. The company has brought Shakespeare to schools around the country for many years, but this is its first Shakespearean work for the mainstage.

Shake & Stir Theatre Co’s Macbeth. Photo © Brit Creative

Shakespeare’s shortest tragedy, Macbeth follows the titular character as he puts his faith in the witches’ prophecy that he will become king of Scotland. Consumed by the pursuit of power and urged onward by his equally ambitious wife, he kills the king and ascends the throne, but soon both Macbeths descend into a dizzying spiral of murder, paranoia and tyranny.

Directed by co-Artistic Director Nick Skubij, with Associate Director Francesca Savige, Shake & Stir’s production augments the original text with modern weaponry, industrial settings and large-scale, high-impact audiovisual elements.

Drawing thematically on political theatre, the 24-hour news cycle, and celebrity surveillance, cameras fly in and out to...