With an all-male cast and attention to authentic detail, The Lord Chamberlain's Men theatre troupe recreates this Shakespearean tragedy just as the Bard himself would have done it.

Named after Shakespeare's own theatrical troupe, the newly-formed company is touring picturesque spots around the country with an open-air production of one man and his wife's murderous ambition.

The idea is to keep to Shakespeare's original style as much as possible and the show opens with the play's famous witches moving and singing to live mandolin and pipe whistle music.

There are also 16th Century costumes, stage fights and travelling minstrels who weave through the audience giving the odd female a little wink.

"Back when the original actors travelled around the country, they'd normally have a bit of a flirt with the duchesses and ladies in the audience," explains Mark Puddle, artistic director for The Lord Chamberlain's troupe. "So we've got our minstrels being a bit cheeky as well.

"We wanted to recreate it this way for historical interest, to see how it was all done. We can't even find out when the last male Lady Macbeth was but we reckon several hundred years ago."

The idea of men dressing up as women may seem too farcical for such a serious piece as Macbeth. Yet Mark insists the approach not only allows us to see it in its original form but brings a new perspective to perhaps his best-known heroine, Lady Macbeth, in all her power-hungry glory.

This is helped by the fact that, despite the all-male cast, 90 per cent of the productionteam are female, including award-winning director Lucy Pitman-Wallace.

"Our Lady Macbeth is a realistic figure who people can relate to even in this day and age," he says. "It is not comical or panto-like at all, and it's definitely not about camping everything up.

"There's been such a fabulous response to this play we want to do it again, but maybe with a comedy rather than a tragedy next time. The hardest to do would be any of the cross-dressing ones - that could all get a bit confusing!"

Starts 7.30pm, matinees at 2.30pm, tickets cost £12.50/£7.50. Call 01272 709709 or visit www.lordchamberlainsmen.co.uk>