Two week countdown to Storyhouse originals Macbeth

The countdown is on with just two weeks to go before a visceral new version of Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth opens at Storyhouse.

The Storyhouse Originals production will be staged from Friday, 6 March to Saturday, 21 March. Tickets are priced from £20.

Macbeth is adapted and directed by Jamie Sophia Fletcher, who has been collaborating with a talented cast in the rehearsal room to bring the Bard’s 400-year-old tale to life with thrilling power, pace and atmosphere.

Presented on the Chester cultural venue’s intimate ‘thrust’ stage, the production will also feature extensive use of video, soundscapes and dramatic lighting to create a riveting sensory experience.

Robin Morrissey appears in the title role while Yolanda Ovide is Lady Macbeth.

The cast also includes Mika Onyx Johnson as Macduff, Roly Botha as Lady Macduff and Nishad More as Banquo, along with Tasha Dowd (Lennox), Francesca Hughes (Caithness), Pete MacHale (Ross), Mark Mackinnon (Duncan), Ioan O’Neill (Donaldbain), Kameron Skeene (Malcolm) and Jacob Conor (Angus). The three witches are played by Roly Botha, Motheo Maloma and Evie Woodward.

All other parts are played by members of the cast, while several young actors from the Storyhouse Youth Theatre also appear.

Robin Morrissey trained at RADA. His many theatre credits include Animal Farm (Leeds Playhouse), The Importance of Being Earnest (Manchester Royal Exchange), Richard III (Rose Theatre Kingston/Liverpool Playhouse), The Government Inspector (Birmingham Rep), Juno and the Paycock (Bristol Old Vic) and Twelfth Night at the Liverpool Everyman.

LAMDA trained Yolanda Ovide returns to Storyhouse after appearing in the Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre season, playing Suzie Smith in The Gangs of New York and Cecily in The Importance of Being Earnest. Other recent theatre credits include Noughts and Crosses (Regents Park Open Air Theatre), Jitney (The Old Vic and Headstrong) and Groan Ups and The Comedy About a Bank Robbery for Mischief Theatre.

Actor, writer and performance artist Mika Onyx Johnson’s stage credits include Cyrano de Bergerac and The Seagull (Jamie Lloyd Company/West End and New York), Much Ado About Nothing (Theatre Royal Drury Lane) and As You Like It (Shakespeare’s Globe).

A multidisciplinary theatre maker and performer, Roly Botha has worked with companies including the National Theatre, Barbican, Paines Plough and as an associate artist with The Pappyshow. Credits include Strangers In Between (Kings Head Theatre/Trafalgar Studios), Ghost Stories (Lyric Hammersmith) and The Joker: Shostakovich in the 1930s (Cadogan Hall).

And Nishad More’s stage credits include The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (UK tour), King Lear (RSC), Hamlet (Embassy Theatre) and For Sale (Theatre East, New York).

The cast also includes Tasha Dowd (The Walrus Has a Right to Adventure, Liverpool Everyman and Sheffield Theatres, The Minotaur – Slung Low, Macbeth, Leeds Playhouse);  Pete MacHale (Yerma, Nottingham Playhouse, Dear Young Monster, Bristol Old Vic/Soho Theatre); Mark Mackinnon (Macbeth (an undoing), Edinburgh Royal Lyceum, Medea on the Mic, a play, a pie and a pint, Peter Gynt, National Theatre), Kameron Skeene (The Trials, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Tempest – for Kids at Storyhouse, Hansel and Gretel, CAST Doncaster), and trainee actors Jacob Conor, Francesca Hughes, Motheo Maloma, Ioan O’Neill, and Evie Woodward. The trainees came from Storyhouse Young Company Alumni. Which is a training scheme for young people aged 18-25.

Set and lighting design comes from Andrew Exeter, sound design from Sarah Victoria, projection is by Daniel Denton and April Dalton is costume designer. Michela Meazza is movement director, Kaitlin Howard is fight and intimacy director and Dan Parr from Hear the Picture is responsible for creative audio description.

Macbeth marks a return of Shakespeare to the Hunter Street stage and will also be the first of several adaptations of classics planned under the Storyhouse Originals banner during 2026.

Storyhouse Originals is the Chester venue’s strand of vibrant and imaginative homegrown productions. Previous shows include Miss Julie, Bluestockings, Sophocles’ Antigone, Faustus: That Damned Woman, The Parent Agency and Kinky Boots, as well as Storyhouse’s popular annual Christmas productions and shows at Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre.

Storyhouse creative director Suzie Henderson said today: “It’s been so exciting to watch the cast and director Jamie Sophia Fletcher in the rehearsal room as they explore Shakespeare’s timeless tale of vaunting ambition, corruption and guilt. I can’t wait now to be able to share their work with others as we present this fantastic new production to audiences here at Storyhouse.

“Macbeth is the first in a number of Storyhouse Originals productions planned for 2026, and I can’t think of a better way to launch the year than with such a gripping and potent new version of one of the greatest plays ever written.”

Macbeth plays at Storyhouse Chester Friday, 6 March to Saturday, 21 March. Tickets are available here.