Harrogate Theatre: Thrilling Macbeth with bit of Bollywood

Part Shakespeare, part Bollywood and part soap opera, a thrilling new version of Macbeth is coming to Harrogate Theatre this week.

It’s the first production from Black Theatre Live, a pioneering consortium of eight regional theatres, and Harrogate is one of only two Yorkshire venues included in its UK tour.

Running from next Tuesday, May 5 to Saturday, May 9, with a blend of Indian music and movement, this new production by Tara Arts sees Shakespeare’s tragedy reimagined in a contemporary context when a brew of treachery and ambition sets an Asian family on a road to destruction.

The cast includes Robert Mountford, whose credits include Much Ado About Nothing for the Royal Shakespeare Company and Silent Witness for the BBC.

He will be joined by Shaheen Khan, whose credits include Rafta Rafta at the National Theatre and the film Bend it Like Beckham.

Tara Arts artistic director Jatinder Verma, said: “Spirits in Indian traditions combine vivacity with viciousness. By casting the witches in Macbeth as provocative Bollywood queens, it’s possible to explore the dangerously vain ambition driving Macbeth.”

Tickets are available on 01423 502116 or at www.harrogatetheatre.co.uk