Having played nine venues on the east coast of the US, the Cambridge American Stage Tour returned to the ADC theatre for its home run exhibiting one of Shakespeare’s finest plays performed and produced by some of Cambridge’s finest theatrical talent.

The Director’s Notes page of the programme might have been a little opaque, but the directing team of John Haidar and assistant Niall Wilson must have had things straight in their own minds for the direction was masterful. It is best to ignore claims such as “Macbeth is king of nothing” at least until after seeing the play, as the quality of the direction spoke for itself far better on stage than in the programme.

The barren set was unsettlingly effective and the absence of kingly trappings focussed the audience on the human element of Shakespeare’s play. The production emphasized the tragic consequences of lusting after power, exploring the effect of a tyrant on his subjects. The positioning of the interval was a particular stroke of genius, with the scene of Banquo’s ghost played from Macbeth’s perspective and then from the point of view of the crowd in the room on either side of the break. As well as allowing the play to flow this gave an expert portrayal of Macbeth’s degenerating madness.

The witches offer great scope for imaginative direction, and here too Haidar does not disappoint.  A combination of sound, lighting, positioning and delivery conveys the witches’ control and Macbeth’s impotence, while voodoo-esque dolls mark the mounting death toll stemming from Macbeth’s avarice – concluding with himself. As the rest of the play works so well it is a shame that in the second scene the director chose to show the Sergeant being tortured, a move unjustified in the text, and an error compounded by the actor’s gasping for breath making it rather difficult to hear what he was saying.

The acting, however, is flawless, and each character clearly understood the subtleties and impact of every word in the script. Nick Ricketts is excellent as Macbeth and now looks every bit the accomplished Shakespearean actor, finding much more to work with in the deeper and darker character of Macbeth than in his previous title role of Romeo. His variation in tone and portrayal of madness is matched if not surpassed by Victoria Ball who plays Lady Macbeth outstandingly.

Abi Tedder too deserves mention, as this stalwart of the Cambridge theatre scene gives a master-class in playing a supporting role. At times character changes could have been more marked, but the casting has matched actors to characters perfectly, making full use of having the free pick of Cambridge’s acting talent for such a prestigious touring show to ensure there were no weaknesses to be seen.

From a staging perspective, technical director Edward Louth warrants high acclaim, for this is the most professional student production I have seen in Cambridge. The lighting in particular created the atmosphere for the direction and acting to flourish, as spotlights and flashlights were used with great skill to pick out the actors well enough to be seen whilst maintaining the general sense of eerie gloom. In every area of production and performance this is a very powerful and successful production that deserves to distract a good crowd from the rival attractions of Freshers’ Week.