Credit: K Darius Photography
What’s in Grace’s Satchel this week? Netballs, bibs, and bloody ambition!
This show is one of Theatre Village’s top 10 shows we are getting behind and cheering on for Edinburgh Fringe. Lady Macbeth Played Wing Defence!
Oh darlings, I nearly spat out my cup of squash (half-time ritual) when I read this one — Lady Macbeth is back, but not as you know her. Instead of stalking the halls of a gloomy castle, she’s prowling the netball court, and let me tell you… she’s still got killer instincts.
This absolute corker of a show from the gals at CRASH Theatre Co had everyone in Adelaide screaming “centre pass to Mac Beth!” and now it’s storming Edinburgh with glitter, gossip, and goals. Ambition? Check. Betrayal? Check. Fierce ponytails and synth-pop anthems? Double check.
It’s a wickedly funny, gloriously girl-powered retelling that doesn’t just breathe new life into the Bard — it does a full-on chest pass to Shakespeare’s ribs. Lady Macbeth Played Wing Defence has won just about every Aussie award worth knowing, and frankly, Theatre Village is ready to hand them another one: Show Most Likely To Be Discussed Loudly in the Courtyard While Eating a Falafel Wrap.
Catch it if you can, love. Just don’t stand between Mac Beth and that Captain’s bib…
— Grace x 🏐💌
Lady Macbeth swaps her crown for a bib in this fierce, funny, and fast-paced musical mash-up.
After scooping up a glittering haul of awards at Adelaide Fringe, Lady Macbeth Played Wing Defence charges into the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with fire in its belly and a netball in hand. CRASH Theatre Co brings the heat in this sharp, high-energy musical that blends Shakespearean tragedy with sporty teen drama and a thumping pop-synth soundtrack.
Set in the ultra-competitive world of high school netball, this bold reimagining sees Mac Beth — determined, driven, and dead set on the Captain’s bib — thrown off course when Coach Duncan appoints Chloe Macduff instead. What follows is a breakneck showdown of betrayal, ambition, and redemption, all taking place from the first centre pass to the final whistle.
Already celebrated at home, the show has claimed Sydney Fringe’s Best Cabaret and Musical Theatre Award, the Perth Fringe Martin Sims Award, the Adelaide Fringe Tour Ready Award, and the House of Oz Purse Prize. It’s a show that refuses to play by the rules.
Written by Courtney McManus with lyrics by McManus, Ana Ferreira Manhoso, and Bec Price, and featuring an electric score by Project BEXX, Lady Macbeth Played Wing Defence is the work of a powerhouse all-female Australian creative team.
As McManus puts it: “I wanted to see what would happen if Lady Macbeth was stuck on a netball court instead of in a Scottish castle – still scheming, still ambitious, but with a bib instead of a crown.” The result? A razor-sharp exploration of teenage power struggles, the politics of PE class, and what it means to be ‘too much’ in a world that prefers its girls to stay in line.
This production is part of the 2025 House of Oz Edinburgh season, which also features You’re An Instrument by The Sonicrats, The Listies: Make Some Noise, FLICK by Mad Nun Productions, Ten Thousand Hours by Gravity & Other Myths, TRIPTYCH Redux by Lewis Major Projects, Orpheus and Eurydice by Circa, and Skinny by Michelle Pearson.
Lady Macbeth Played Wing Defence | Edinburgh Festival Fringe
About the Author
