A NEW production of one of the greatest plays in the English language closes the current OVO season.

The St Albans drama group, which has its theatre in Pudding Lane off Chequer Street, is putting on Macbeth from tonight (Thursday) until next Saturday, July 23.

OVO promises the production will “strip Macbeth bare” by throwing away the kilts and swords and dispensing with the guns and the battlements to present the play raw and unadulterated.

Set in the present day, somewhere in Europe, where warlords carry mobile phones and witches wear jeans, it is directed by Imogen de la Bere who said: “We feel that the evil Macbeth unleashes is possible at any time and any place, no matter how civilised we think we are.

“We are still only decades away from the worst atrocities humanity has ever unleashed on itself and just a few years and a few thousand miles from the horrors of the Balkan wars.”

Macbeth is OVO’s 10th Shakespeare and marks the first time in nine years and 28 productions that the company has returned to a play for the second time.

Artistic director, Adam Nichols, explained: “Revisiting Macbeth after six years has been exhilarating. Much as we were proud of our previous production, it felt like unfinished business. Perhaps it is such a profound play that it can never truly be mastered – although we aim to give it a go!”

The production features many of the leading actors on the local theatre scene together with an original score composed and performed by James Pitchford.

Tickets at �12.50 with concessions �7.50 are available from the box office on 07807 521436 or online at www.ovo.org.uk