Review: Lady Macbeth Played Wing Defence | Edinburgh Fringe 2025

Name: Lady Macbeth Played Wing Defence
Brand: CRASH Theatre Co
Rating: 4 (1 reviews)

Lisa in the theatre
Aug 4
3 min read

Lady Macbeth Played Wing Defence ★★★★☆

review: 03 August 2025 | Assembly George Sq studios - Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Following an award-winning run at the Adelaide Fringe, female-led, Perth-based Australian group CRASH Theatre Company bring Lady Macbeth Played Wing Defence to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

A high-energy, fun, original musical that reimagines Shakespeare's iconic tragedy through the cutthroat world of high school netball, Lady Macbeth Played Wing Defence comes to the Edinburgh Fringe fresh from winning accolades at Sydney Fringe, Perth Fringe and Adelaide Fringe. Most recently they won the prestigious House of Oz Purse Prize, and it's House of Oz who have brought this pink, sparkly, bouncy new musical to Assembly George square and with it, the Macbeth legend back home to Scotland.

Lady Macbeth Played Wing Defence features all the Shakespearean characters we know from the timeless play, but here they are played by an all-female cast who sing through their anguish, wear pink vests and perform funky choreography to electro-pop tunes on a netball court.

Mac Beth dreams of becoming captain of the Dunsinane Hellhounds high school netball team, but she's devastated when Coach Duncan appoints Chloe Macduff instead. What follows is 60 minutes of Mean Girls on a netball court as the playful new musical explores the themes of Macbeth (such as unchecked ambition) through the lens of the most terrifying of creatures - teenage girls.

A fantastic concept for an original musical

With a script by Courtney McManus, lyrics by McManus, Ana Ferreira Manhoso and Bec Price, and an electric pop-synth score by Project BEXX (Bec Price), Lady Macbeth Played Wing Defence bounces on to the stage and roars at full-throttle through a sporty story of ambition. The dramatic story does suffer a little from being condensed into 60 minutes - the resolution coming all too easily - but then this compactness works well for a fringe show with everything wrapped up nicely with a positive message of girl power within the hour.

The costumes are superb and there are some genuine ear-worms in the score; the high-energy base-filled soundtrack and flurry of pink sparkles create a thrilling buzz in the auditorium. The captivating company engage the audience all the way through, and the roars of appreciation from the crowd at the end speak volumes.

This musical is a clever recital of Lady Macbeth's determination delivered via a creative, well executed production. But more than anything, it's just tons of fun! This show is for anyone who enjoys Mean Girls, Heathers the musical, pop dance anthems and pink sequins.

Lady Macbeth Played Wing Defence is a fantastic concept for an original musical. It breathes new life into a literary classic, making it modern rather than medieval, and far more accessible for a younger audience. Lady Macbeth Played Wing Defence would have William Shakespeare himself dancing in the aisles. Go go, Dunsinane Hellhounds!! ★★★★☆

Lady Macbeth Played Wing Defence is at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe until 25th August, 2025. Full details below.

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Courtney McManus comments: "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 netball court became the perfect setting: it’s a space charged with competition, hierarchy and unspoken rules, and this allowed me to write power struggles in a way that was not only relevant to the source text but was a realistic confrontation that teenage girls on a netball team would have."

‘Fair is foul and foul is fair’ as this show welcomes back the politics of a PE class. Lady Macbeth Played Wing Defence is for anyone who’s ever been told they were too much, too intense and too ambitious.

The show is part of the House of Oz Edinburgh 2025 season.