The pleasant surroundings of Queen’s Park could have been slightly at odds with the brooding, murderous tragedy of The Scottish Play (it is still considered ‘unlucky’ to say the name M*cbeth, 408 years after it was written) but the shivers sent down the spine were not due to the evening breeze.

Illyria, the most prolific and well-known outdoor theatre company in the UK (this being their 23rd season on the road) certainly know what they’re doing when it comes to the Bard.

Five actors play the entire cast and the production feels somehow closest to the way Elizabethan actors may have performed it – declaiming to the spectators rather than to each other, and slipping in and out of costumes round the back of the simple stage to appear as a witch one moment, Lady Macbeth or Macduff the next.

There are modern touches to this interpretation too: some of the Porter’s ‘light comedy’ scene takes place amongst the spectators, with the actor pilfering a bottle of beer from one member of the audience, a bag of crisps from another.

But despite the slapstick that ensues whenever the drunken porter appears, there is a genuine feeling of menace behind the murders, and the bloody tragedy plays out at just the right pace.

The complex relationship between the Thane and his wife is acutely realised, and the iconic speeches well-delivered. On this evidence, it would be worth catching some of Illyria’s other summer productions.

For info about the plays on tour visit www.illyria.uk.com