Cover image: Writer and director Dean Lovatt in Bogan Shakespeare Macbeth. Credit Brian Taylor

“Tis a tale told by an idiot!” In a hundred thread count flanno, no less.

The jewel in the crown of Subi’s WA Comedy Week (alongside an appearance from Joel Creasey last weekend), Macbeth as performed by the local legends behind Bogan Shakespeare, BS Productions, makes its home the Ellenbrook Cricket Club.

Macbeth, aka Macca (Rhys Hyatt) is your standard, beer swindling, sports-loving everyman. That is, until Sabrina the tuckshop witch suggests the sort of grand designs that might make your average Joe question his otherwise simple destiny.

Yes, it’s the same Shakespearean plot we know and love just with a little more outer Perth suburban charm. Colloquialisms and all.

“What a mind fuck!” Macca exclaims following the spooky encounter. Little does he know what his more ambitious missus (Lady Macca, obviously) will have in mind. Things spiral, accordingly; tragedy ensues.

If you’re yet to catch this rowdy mob’s takes on the great Bard then, frankly, you’re missing out. The brainchild of local writer and director Dean Lovatt (he plays Narrator and Club President Duncan amongst other characters in this production), from previous success stories King Lear to Hamlet to Romeo & Juliet, they are never short on quick-witted one liners, laugh-out-loud hilarity, and raucous audience interaction.

As good as Lovatt is, impressive newcomer Kira Feeney stole this show as Lady Macca. A proud Pakana performer who grew up on Wathawurrung land in Victoria before completing WAAPA’s Aboriginal Performance course, her dry delivery was a highlight all night, as she slowly became the show’s ultimate supervillain.

Of course, it’s not a tragedy without a little death. “Is this a dagger which I see before me?” Actually, it’s probably a nut allergy from “Nibbling Nobby’s nuts” or… beef wellington anyone?

Ending a performance of famously evil femme fatales with some well-placed feminist humour, Macca is eventually replaced as Club President by a woman due to the fiscal responsibility seen in her lower wages. The gender pay gap giveth and the gender pay gap taketh away. Fair is foul, and foul is fair!

This back-to-basics production allowed the script to shine, while the intimate surrounds of Subiaco Arts Centre felt like a home away from home. If you’re looking to see this mob in full swing you shouldn’t have to wait long: they’re always amongst the best on ground at Fringe World.

WA Comedy Week ran August 18-23, 2025.