STU McCloughlin shows his versatility when he takes on one of the greatest challenges in theatre, the title role in Shakespeare’s Scottish tragedy, Macbeth, at Tobacco Factory Theatres in Bedminster, from 19th February to 28th March.

The much-loved star of comedy theatre company Living Spit is familiar to audiences around the West Country, both with his late acting partner Howard Coggins, and now in different line-ups, in shows embracing every subject from the Nativity to Henry VIII’s marital troubles and Sleeping Beauty.

In fact, Stu McCloughlin has long experience of every aspect of the stage, and is a familiar face from previous Shakespeare productions at the Tobacco Factory.

This in-house production of one of Shakespeare’s darkest and most quoted plays brings together an exceptional cast of performers with deep roots at the venue and across Bristol’s theatre community, as well as experience at the RSC, National Theatre, Kneehigh, Wise Children and beyond.

Stu says: “Shakespeare feels timeless. He’s one of our most modern writers, despite being one of our oldest. Macbeth is short, fast and utterly relentless – and that makes it thrilling to perform. It’s a play that doesn’t let you hide from it.”

With its supernatural menace, psychological intensity and razor-sharp pacing, the play casts a spell that is impossible to resist. Set against a backdrop of political turmoil and ritualistic dread, this production places collaboration, humanity and emotional truth at its heart – stripping the play back to its most urgent and human questions.

“Macbeth is a play that feels relentlessly current,” says the director, Heidi Vaughan, who is Tobacco Factory Theatres’ artistic director. “It asks what happens when ambition overrides care, when individualism triumphs over community, and when power becomes more important than love. This production is about telling that story with clarity, pace and emotional force – through a company working together, in rhythm, as a true ensemble.”

Photographs in rehearsal by Craig Fuller