Following its successful UK and international tour in 2023 and 2024, ETT (English Touring Theatre) today announces Macbeth will return to the stage for a limited run. Artistic Director of ETT, Richard Twyman will direct Alex Austin in the titular role as Macbeth and Lois Chimimba as Lady Macbeth in the 2025 production at Lyric Hammersmith Theatre.
Macbeth will open on 5 March, with previews from 28 February and runs until 29 March 2025 at Lyric Hammersmith Theatre.
ETT’s Artistic Director Richard Twyman and Executive Producer Sophie Scull said today, “Following a UK and international tour in 2023/2024, seen by more than 40,000 people, we are delighted to be bringing our production of Macbeth to the Lyric Hammersmith, with the exciting talent of Alex Austin and Lois Chimimba playing Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. We can’t wait to introduce you to the rest of the cast and hope that audiences in London will find something both familiar and provocative in the story and society that unfolds on stage.”
Full cast to be announced shortly.
★ ★ ★ ★
‘This is a bold and dagger-sharp evening — a thriller in all the right ways.’
The Times
‘Twyman’s production finds humanity in its most visceral moments.’
★ ★ ★ ★
The Stage
Lyric Hammersmith Theatre presents an ETT production
Originally co-produced by ETT, Shakespeare North Playhouse, Northern Stage & Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg, and in association with Bristol Old Vic.
MACBETH
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Richard Twyman
28 February – 29 March 2025
A struggling and divided nation, tearing itself apart. So, when the Macbeths see their chance at the crown, why shouldn’t they take it?
But things don’t go according to plan. Dreams quickly turn to nightmares, humanity erodes, nature stirs. As society strives to make sense of the darkness that sits inside it, how long will it take for people to fight back against the endless cycle of violence and corruption?
A visceral and contemporary new production that speaks to a world we find ourselves living in now, asking why has Macbeth haunted our fears and nightmares for centuries, and what lesson this cautionary tale is still urgently trying to communicate to us?
Alex Austin plays Macbeth. His theatre credits include As You Like It (Shakespeare’s Globe), Blackout Songs (Hampstead Theatre), LOVE (Park Avenue Armoury Theatre, New York), Wuthering Heights, The Skriker (Royal Exchange Theatre), Ivan and the Dogs (Young Vic), The End of Eddy, Henry The Fifth, The Nutcracker, The Man With The Disturbingly Smelly Foot, How to Think the Unthinkable (Unicorn Theatre), A New and Better You (Yard Theatre), Gundog, Grimly Handsome, Primetime, Yen, Pigeons (Royal Court Theatre), Thebes Land (Arcola Theatre), Fury (Soho Theatre), Barbarians (Bad Physics/Young Vic), Idomeneus (Gate Theatre), Hope, Light and Nowhere (Underbelly) and My City (Almeida Theatre). His television credits include Andor, I Hate Suzie, Doctor Who, The Mallorca Files, Liar, Sherlock, The Interceptor, New Tricks, The Musketeers and Misfits; and for film, The Bike Thief, Blood Out of a Stone, Legacy, The Christmas Candle, The Hooligan Factory, The World’s End and The Swarm.
Lois Chimimba plays Lady Macbeth. Her theatre credits include wonder.land, Common (National Theatre), Three Sisters (Almeida Theatre), Parliament Square (Royal Exchange Theatre/ Bush Theatre) and Noises Off (Lyric Hammersmith Theatre). Her television credits include Cold Water, Still Up, Nightsleeper, The One (as series regular Hannah Bailey), Vigil, Avenue 5, The Outlaws, The Thief, His Wife and The Canoe, Doctor Who, Top Boy, Trust Me and A Discovery of Witches.
Richard Twyman took up the role of Artistic Director of ETT in November 2016. He was previously Associate Director (International) at the Royal Court Theatre, where he worked with playwrights across the world to develop their plays. Prior to this, he spent five years at the RSC working on fourteen productions, including the hugely acclaimed Histories Cycle, for which he directed Henry IV Pt II, which were honoured with three Olivier Awards, the Evening Standard Editor’s Choice Award and named by The Guardian’s Michael Billington as his production of the decade 2000-2010. Twyman has directed at the Royal Court Theatre: You for Me for You by Mia Chung, Torn by Nat Martello-White, Harrogate by Al Smith and The Djinns of Eidgah by Abhishek Majumdar. His other credits include Ditch by Beth Steel, which opened the Old Vic Tunnels; Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Christopher Hampton at Theatre Cocoon, Tokyo/Osaka; Deliver Us and Stolen Ground by Anna Leader at Théâtres De La Ville Luxembourg; Give Me Your Hand (New York), nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Unique Theatrical Experience in 2012. For ETT, he has directed Martin Crimp’s Dealing with Clair at the Orange Tree Theatre, Samuel Adamson’s The Ballad of Hattie and James at Kiln Theatre and the critically acclaimed production of Othello, which toured the UK and internationally from 2017-2019.
