Early 2010s pop tunes boom from the speakers while the Hell Hounds, a high school women’s netball team, stretch on the court and prepare for Coach Duncan to announce who will be the team’s captain. The court’s lines, netball hoop and bench are painted hot pink, which is the definitive color palette of the production. Hailing from Western Australia, Lady Macbeth Played Wing Defence places the Shakespearean plot of Macbeth into the high-stakes world of Aussie year 12 women’s netball.
The subverted tale’s tension kicks off when Coach Duncan appoints Chloe Macduff as the Hell Hounds captain. With one sentence Mac Beth’s dreams of being year 12 netball captain starts to evaporate. Mac Beth, inspired by her hunger for power within the Hell Hounds hierarchy, decides to enact sabotage against her teammates and to betray her closest friend in an attempt to regain the chance of being team captain.
Mac Beth’s archetype is completely shattered by the decision to upend the plot’s tragic structure. There’s no catharsis when Mac Beth’s greedy nature is flipped in an attempt to create a positive spin on the tragedy of Macbeth. Nevertheless at the heart of the musical is the way hierarchical structures bring out our worst impulses and how camaraderie can overpower the need to climb to the top of that ladder.
Lady Macbeth Played Wing Defence, Assembly George Square Studios, until 24 Aug (not 6, 13, 20), 4.15pm