![\"Principal](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/0122i8.jpg\")
Ross Brown
Above: Principal Ana Gallardo Lobaina and soloist Branden Reiners in the Royal New Zealand Ballet\u2019s Macbeth.
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The Scottish play is now a ballet, as the Royal New Zealand Ballet presents a world premi\u00e8re next month: Alice Topp\u2019s Macbeth.<\/p>\n
The promotions have been appearing since late 2025, and come February 25, the company will open its 2026 season with the new ballet.<\/p>\n
Topp, born in Bendigo and having danced with the Royal New Zealand Ballet in the 2000s, is one of ballet\u2019s acclaimed creators, with the award-winning Aurum one of her best known works. <\/p>\n
She has reimagined the Shakespeare play as a ballet in a contemporary setting, in a \u2018ruthless modern world shaped by political ambition, media manipulation and the fatal seduction of power\u2019 according to the RNZB. It is a co-production with West Australian Ballet and forms part of the Aotearoa New Zealand Festival of the Arts in Wellington and Te Ahurei Toi o T\u0101maki Auckland Arts Festival, before touring to Christchurch and Dunedin.<\/p>\n
\u2018Macbeth is one of Shakespeare\u2019s great tragedies, exploring themes as current today as they were when first written,\u2019 said Topp. \u2018An epic story fuelled by political ambition, passion, desire for power and the burden of guilt, its potency endures. Our Macbeth is set in a hierarchy-hungry, high-society city, where political storms, media frenzy and personal ambition collide.\u2019<\/p>\n
Topp\u2019s version sees Macbeth and his wife as a power couple f\u00eated by the public who, as in the play, find their worlds unravelling through paranoia and violence. She says that she found a rhythm in Shakespeare\u2019s words, with \u2018movement written into the language.<\/p>\n
\u2018The story is a psychological drama, full of behaviours, emotions and atmosphere. All the movement is right there in his words, and my role is to find where those emotions land in the body and let them speak physically,\u2019 added Topp.<\/p>\n
Jon Buswell returns to create and light the set, while the award-winning production designer Aleisa Jelbart has created the costumes. There is an original score by Christopher Gordon, performed by a live string ensemble from the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. Hamish McKeich conducts, and Ruth Little is the ballet\u2019s dramaturge.<\/p>\n
RNZB artistic director Ty King-Wall says audiences should be prepared to be surprised. \u2018Macbeth is the Royal New Zealand Ballet as you\u2019ve never seen us before. Alice is bringing a world of bloodshed, betrayal and intrigue to our stages, in a cutting-edge production which draws upon the versatility of our dancers, the skill of our technical team, and demonstrates our incredible artistic range as a company.\u2019<\/p>\n
The ballet is presented in partnership with Avis. Wellington dates are February 25 to 28 at the St James, then Auckland for March 4\u20137 at the Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre at Aotea Centre, followed by Dunedin at the Regent from March 13 to 14, and Christchurch at the Isaac Theatre Royal from March 18 to 21. Tickets are now on sale.<\/a><\/p>\n You may also like<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ross BrownAbove: Principal Ana Gallardo Lobaina and soloist Branden Reiners in the Royal New Zealand Ballet\u2019s Macbeth.\u00a0The Scottish…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":247390,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2246,144336,144337,442,51,5825,144338,4487,144339,2006,6788,144340,144341,4188,144342,157,111,43,139,69,16083,144343,52,144344,10744],"class_list":["post-247389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-2246","tag-alice-topp","tag-aotearoa-new-zealand-festival-of-the-arts","tag-arts","tag-auckland","tag-ballet","tag-choreography","tag-christchurch","tag-christopher-gordon","tag-dance","tag-dunedin","tag-hamish-mckeich","tag-jon-buswell","tag-living","tag-lucire","tag-music","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-premiere","tag-royal-new-zealand-ballet","tag-wellington","tag-west-australian-ballet","tag-william"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247389\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/247390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}