This October, audiences are invited to draw their curtains tight, turn off the lights and enter the realm of the witching hour for an up close, personal and haunting theatrical reboot of one of Shakespeare’s most well-known plays. 

Oxford’s Creation Theatre Company has joined forces with Big Telly Theatre to bring you their adaption of this timeless blood-soaked tale of murder, lust and power.

“The show is going to be loaded with technology aimed at playing tricks on the mind, eyes and ears of the spectator”

Directed by Zoe Seaton, who brought us Creation’s virtual and critically acclaimed The Tempest – Live, expect technical jiggery and virtual pokery, as she creates a heightened sense of suspense and tension for this special production.

“Expect a world where reality and illusion are hard to tell apart,” she says. “A hinterland of hype where fate is twisted, control is remote, and comfort is in entirely another zone.”

So how will this manifest itself? “Think of the witches like spyware – whose malicious behaviour gathers information and infiltrates the system,” Zoe explains.

“A special midnight show will be performed on the October 30, the night before All Hallow’s Eve”

“The show is going to be loaded with technology aimed at playing tricks on the mind, eyes and ears of the spectator.

“I want the audience to feel privy to every dilemma and dark corner of this classic text, but we also want to be playful and have fun with the characteristics of digital theatre.

“So expect garbled audio, inexplicable dropouts, fake locations, special effects – the unpredictability of the internet – exactly what is live and what is not – like in horror films when there seems to be a power cut – what if your connection hasn’t been lost – what if it’s been taken? Constantly shifting between the dark and the light, between horror and comedy.”

With an atmospheric Celtic inspired soundtrack composed by Garth McConaghie, special effects by Martin Collett, and a five strong cast of Nicky Harley, Lucia McAnespie, Dennis Herdman, Aonghus Og McAnally and Dharmesh Patel, it looks like we are in for another Creation treat of terrifying proportions, hence the 14+ age guideline.

The world premiere of this fully immersive digital theatrical production of Macbeth will open at the Belfast International Arts Festival before transferring to Creation Theatre in Oxford as a co-production from October 17 – 31. 

A special midnight show will be performed on the October 30, the night before All Hallow’s Eve. 

Macbeth runs from October 17– 31 online at Creation Theatre. For detailed showtimes go to www.creationtheatre.co.uk. Box office 01865 766266. Tickets: £20 per device