Local theatre director George Banders will present his interpretation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth at the Shoalhaven Entertainment Centre on 13 June - a play he has been involved with in various ways for nearly a decade.

Banders, whose wife owns Kiama Sweet Co on the main street, first encountered Macbeth in 2007 while studying acting at drama school.

“Since then, I’ve performed as Macbeth, Macduff, Ross, and other characters. I’ve taught the play around the world, seeing it through the eyes of private school students, and through the eyes of young people living in rural, outback Australia,” Banders said.

“I’m so close to this play - I guess that’s what I bring to it. I try to pour everything I’ve learned from it into the production, especially the perspectives I’ve gained from working with young people. I want to put that richness and insight on stage.”

Banders says that, like most people, he first read the play in school, but he never quite connected with it until he saw it performed.

“It wasn’t until I saw a live production that it really clicked. People forget Shakespeare wrote plays - not essays or novels. They weren’t meant to be quietly read around a room. They were meant to be staged, costumed, performed - full of character, energy, and imagination.”

Photos from George Banders' Macbeth Production. Production Photos: Kate Williams

He describes Macbeth as “terrifying, electric theatre” - a dark and fast-paced thriller, horror, and action piece in one.

“It’s very short and sharp, with one clear plot line that drives the whole story - unlike some of Shakespeare’s more complex works. At its heart, it’s about humanity, our flaws, and the consequences of our choices.”

Despite being over 400 years old, Macbeth, Banders argues, remains urgently relevant which is a testament to the quality of the writing and a case for why it is a text that needs to be continually retold and reinterpreted.

“Take the Ben Roberts-Smith case, for example. He’s a modern Macbeth - a celebrated soldier turned disgraced figure. We honoured him, put him in the Australian War Museum, and then we learned more about what he’d done. He became something else - something darker.”

“We see this kind of fall from grace all the time. People ask me, ‘Why study Shakespeare? Why is it still relevant?’ Just look at leaders around the world - people who began with hope and good intentions but turned into megalomaniacs or worse. That’s Macbeth.”

Banders' production of Macbeth will play for one night only at the Shoalhaven Entertainment Centre on Thursday, 13 June. He encourages the community to experience the power of live theatre.

“In 2025, we often numb ourselves with screens, doom-scrolling, and staying stuck in our own little bubbles. But coming to the theatre - seeing something raw, live, dangerous, and exciting - can be genuinely life-changing.”

Tickets are available here: Shoalhaven Entertainment Centre.