The successful combination of actor Patrick Stewart and director Rupert Goold returns to West End in September when the current Chichester production of Macbeth transfers to the Gielgud. The duo last worked together on the RSC production of The Tempest seen at the Novello in March. Playing Lady Macbeth to Stewart's murderingly ambitious Macbeth is Kate Fleetwood. The rest of the Chichester company transfers with the production, which runs from 21 September to 1 December.
Among the actors currently performing Macbeth in Chicester, where they are also performing Twelfth Night in repertoire, are Paul Shelley, Scott Handy, Ben Carpenter, Martin Turner, Michael Feast, Mark Rawlings, Tim Treloar, Bill Nash, Christopher Knott, Christopher Molan, Hywel John, Suzanne Burden, Polly Frame, Niamh McGrady and Sophie Hunter.
Stewart began his career as a stage and RSC regular, before sending his profile to the stars as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek. More recently he has appeared as Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men film trilogy and returned to the London stage in Antony And Cleopatra, The Master Builder and A Christmas Carol. Fleetwood's credits include Love's Labour's Lost (National), The Winter's Tale (RSC) and Hecuba (Donmar).
Macbeth, which tells of how ambition, an unhealthy relationship and a touch of the supernatural turn a valiant hero into a power-hungry butcher, has been a popular Shakespeare to stage in London in recent years. The Open Air staged a production earlier this summer, while Stephen Dillane, Simon Russell Beale (both Almeida), and Sean Bean (Noel Coward), have all recently played the insane thane.
MA