Macbeth reimaged as the story of a 13-year-old TV star named Mackenzie with a ruthless stage mother? It may sound mad – and it is a bit bonkers – but it works a treat in Yve Blake’s smart, deliciously funny new play Mackenzie.

Kimberley Hodgson in Bell Shakespeare’s Mackenzie. Photo © Brett Boardman

In 2022, in a bid to attract a new, younger audience, Bell Shakespeare presented the world premiere of Laura Murphy’s musical The Lovers – a 21st-century look at romance through the eyes of the four young lovers in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Now, in a similar vein, the company is staging the world premiere of Mackenzie, a play with songs, which it describes as “a camp, dark and deranged retelling of Macbeth”.

Blake wrote the hit musical FANGIRLS, which explored teenage girls’ obsession with boy bands. Like FANGIRLS, Mackenzie is pitched at a young adult audience, but there is plenty in it to appeal to a far wider age group.

The glitter-soaked pop-culture satire is set in a TV studio in the early 2000s, home to a top-rating children’s show starring 13-year-old nepo baby Dahlia. Mackenzie has just landed her first TV gig – a tiny, comedic role in the show, which comes with a hideous bowl cut wig – where she has formed a friendship with the kind-hearted Beau. But when Pickle, a substitute make-up artist who has strange visions, prophesies that Mackenzie will become “number one pop girl of the world” and that someone related to Beau will also become a star, the die is cast.

Mackenzie’s mother Ruth, who is bitter at her own thwarted ambitions and wants to live out her dreams through her daughter, seizes the opportunity. Coming up with a plan to dispense with Dahlia, she eggs Mackenzie on and before you know it, McKenzie is the star of the show, with a swish new wig.

Mackenzie follows the structure of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, with a neat retooling of all the key plot points. You don’t need to know Macbeth to enjoy the show – the story stands on its own feet – but there is much fun to be had in recognising all the Shakespearean beats and references.

The play is performed at a heightened fever pitch reminiscent of classic noughties teen culture (think Hannah Montana, High School Musical and the like). What’s more, it’s genuinely, laugh-out-loud funny.

Left to right: Jane Watt, Kimberley Hodgson, Ryan González and Billie Palin in Bell Shakespeare’s Mackenzie. Photo © Brett Boardman

It includes four original songs written by Blake – pop bangers which reference the era, of which Mackenzie’s World is the most ear-wormy. They don’t work as musical theatre numbers do to drive the action and reveal more emotional and psychological nuance, but they ramp up the energy and had the opening night audience bopping along. A couple more songs wouldn’t go astray. The audience was also keen to give it their all when roped in as the TV studio audience.

Blake’s reworking doesn’t delve anywhere near as deeply as Shakespeare’s tragedy, but it addresses issues around toxic ambition, the pursuit of power, the pressure on child stars who live with the inexorable ticking of the clock, and the tense relationship between a manipulative mother and her daughter, with definite strains of the musical Gypsy in the journey arc of Mackenzie and Ruth.

Mackenzie is deftly directed by Virginia Gay, with set and costume design by Keerthi Subramanyam. There’s little to no staging, but the costumes are fabulous. Together with Ella Evangelista’s choreography, they capture the vibe of the Y2K era. Meanwhile, Kelsey Lee’s dynamic lighting shapes the space, with sharp sound design by Tom Lowndes.

At the heart of the show, Kimberley Hodgson is a pocket rocket as Mackenzie, driving the action and unleashing powerhouse vocals as she moves from a naïve, hard-working 13-year-old to a ruthless, self-centred 18-year-old popstar, consumed by the fear that someone younger and shinier is about to take her place.

She is supported by a terrific cast – Nikki Britton as Ruth, Ryan González as Beau, Billie Palin as the network boss and studio chef Gayle, Anusha Thomas as Dhalia and Jane Watt as the TV producer – all of whom double in other roles and perform with comic gusto.

Running 90 minutes, Mackenzie becomes a bit hysterical at times and won’t be to everyone’s taste, but it knows exactly what it is and who it’s for. And it nails that.

Bell Shakespeare’s production of Mackenzie runs at The Neilson Nutshell, Pier 2/3, Walsh Bay, Sydney until 18 July, and Arts Centre Melbourne, 23 July – 9 August. More information here.