Macbeth: Alan Cumming, coming to Broadway

The National Theatre of Scotland's production of Macbeth featuring a solo performance by Tony and Olivier Award winner Alan Cumming (Cabaret, TV: "The Goodwife") is to be presented on Broadway.

The production premiered at Tramway, Glasgow in Jun 2012, then transferred to the Lincoln Center Festival in New York. Ken Davenport, an independent New York producer, will be presenting the production on Broadway for 73 performances only, opening at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on 21 Apr 2012, following previews from 07 Apr 2013, and closing on 30 Jun 2013.

Neil Murray, Executive Producer at the National Theatre of Scotland said, "We are thrilled that a leading New York commercial producer is taking on our acclaimed production of Macbeth, featuring Alan Cumming's stunning performance. We believe that this will be the first time that Shakespeare's Scottish play will have been performed by a Scottish actor and a Scottish company on Broadway."

Olivier and Tony award-winner Alan Cumming takes on all of Shakespeare's characters, in a re-imagining of Shakespeare's tale of desire, ambition and the supernatural. The production is set in a psychiatric unit and centres on a patient who is reliving the story of Macbeth. CCTV cameras watch the patient's every move and the white clinical walls of the unit come to life in a multi-media theatrical experience.

Davenport told the New York Times, "It's a chance to see one of the most versatile theater actors in a unique performance of one of the greatest plays ever written. I think there will be an audience for that."

Alan Cumming was reunited with the National Theatre of Scotland's John Tiffany to offer this new interpretation of "the Scottish play". Macbeth is directed by John Tiffany ('Once,' 'Black Watch' - both currently touring in the UK) and Andrew Goldberg ('The Bomb-itty of Errors').

This will mark the Company's eighth run in New York and the National Theatre of Scotland's second on Broadway, following presentations of 'The Wolves in the Walls' at the New Victory Theater, three runs of 'Black Watch' and 'Beautiful Burnout' at St Ann's Warehouse, and 'The Bacchae' and 'Macbeth' at the Lincoln Center Festival.