‘A world turned upside down’ could well describe TFT’s second production in its Shakespeare season, with an (almost) all-female company presenting this famously bloody tale of greed, ambition and revenge.

This was a bold venture by director Hannah Wood (also appearing as Ross), but lack of pace and dramatic energy let the tension drop too often, despite plausible performances from Georgie Gulliford as the weak-willed Macbeth and Amy Manwaring as a petulant, WAG-like lady M, the latter handling her trance-like sleepwalking scene particularly well.

In a nice touch of role-reversal, the three male witches (Kieran Lane, Daniel Scott and Nathan Webb) had some well-choreographed moments incorporating voice-over and puppetry, and also doubled impressively as Macbeth’s hired assassins.

As light relief, Rick Oakley’s Porter, a hung-over Scot in filthy underwear, showed genuinely natural comic talent, and Jess Hawkins imbued the thankless role of murdered Lady Macduff with dignity and courage.