This production of Macbeth by Filter Theatre is a smartly crafted piece of theatre that still has the playfulness and experimentation of a rehearsal room. Scenes are spliced together ingeniously creating a great pace, lines are liberally reallocated and a live soundscape manipulated by the performers underscores much of the action. Although the text is cut dramatically and the show runs at about an hour and twenty, the story is still told in a linear and fairly faithful manner.

That said, if you don't already know the play Filter Theatre's production would leave you in the dark. Actors played multiple parts but without the standard accent change or hat to mark them out, so although Macbeth, Lady Macbeth and Malcom were recognisable, the characterisation on the whole was weak.

With costume being minimalist modern day dress in a palette of greys, and props being few and far between (yet striking when they do appear) the sound design is what creates and carries you through the show. The focus on sound makes sense not only because Filter Theatre are hugely creative and successful in this domain, but because the weird sisters are conjured from the array of electronic instruments and devices. The witches not only bookend the performance, but the eerie soundscape gave them a shadowy presence throughout.

On the whole, this production could have been far more powerful in a smaller space. I wanted to be nearer to the blood, caught up in the madness and able to see more of how the noise was being created - less of the text and more of the irreverence. Like many rehearsal room experiments, Macbeth is almost brilliant but mostly half-baked and underwhelming.

This is a stripped down Macbeth in every sense. No set, the black brick of the Playhouse back wall exposed, costumes which look like every day casual wear in muted greys and blacks, using only the key scenes familiar to us all, and all done and dusted in 80 minutes.

There is some staging; a small group of musicians and a sound engineer sit centre stage in what looks like a mock-up of the BBC Radiophonic workshop. Macbeth is full of references to sound – the thunderous drums of war, owl cries, beatings on the castle door, disembodied voices –and this cacophony is beautifully realised by the ensemble using percussion, synthesisers and live mixing of music and voice. Some of the text’s visual imagery is reimagined through sound too, culminating in delightful whistling for the birds of Birnam Wood. Credit to composer Tom Haines for this soundscape and coaching the actors to be confident in performing this alongside their more usual roles.The blending of both is most successful in conjuring up the witches.

Just seven performers tell the story, cantering through (mostly) Shakespeare’s text with some modern dialogue thrown in. Shakespeare himself played fast and loose with recorded history, finding the character of Macbeth to carry his plot of latent evil, bloody power grabs, doubt, insanity and revenge. We get most of this in Filter’s reimagining but despite the (literal) blood bath on stage it was all a bit tame. Unfortunately it was at times more interesting to watch what the recording engineers were up then focus on Macbeth and his Lady. But when some of the scenes were pulled apart more vigorously such as the visceral game of Blind Man’s Bluff at the royal feast, then it felt like a more coherent set of ideas put into action.

Particular mention must go to Victoria Moseley who gives us a Banquo who is a credible warrior, loyal companion and vengeful ghost. She is moving as Macduff’s son helping us engage with what was otherwise a rather banal slaughter of the innocents. Geoffrey Lamb as Macduff also stands out among other performances which were a bit lacklustre although the sheer energy expended by Poppy Miller as the practical and resourceful Lady Macbeth paid off.

For good chunks of the play it is like watching a very good radio recording which begs the question of what was added by what we could see. There are some technical problems which a touring production will always face; sometimes the sound drowned out the actors and a key exchange was not lit. The little visual jokes which add colour to the characters of recording engineers (jelly babies, packets of Wotsits, take-away coffee) are amusing in themselves but don’t sit comfortably within the tragic tone.

Filter Theatre refer to the delicate balance required when undertaking such major mechanical destruction, and sadly this production settles firmly in a middle ground which neither does justice to Shakespeare’s original nor their own creativity. If the intent of this Macbeth is to see every part of the workings then on the whole that is realised; the reassembly into a performance piece falls short.