Choreographer Alice Topp is challenging Perth audiences in their perception of ballet with her reimagining of Shakespeare’s epic tragedy Macbeth.

After initially staging Macbeth with Wellington-based Royal New Zealand Ballet in February, the Australian premiere has seen Topp, a former dancer with The Australian Ballet, return to WA Ballet a year on from creating her first full-length work, Butterfly Effect, with the State company in 2025.

This time her contemporary ballet translation brings Macbeth into the current era, turning kings into politicians and prophecy-bearing witches into social media influencers, or “witchfluencers”.

The latter’s superficial shallowness results in several creepy scene-stealing performances, aided by a Botox-inspired aesthetic.

The production is propelled by film composer Christopher Gordon’s cinematic-like original score featuring a host of music genres from heavy metal, big band and funk to progressive rock and EDM (electronic dance music).

It is performed live by WA Symphony Orchestra’s string octet, under the baton of Joel Bass, layered with a recorded score of 126 musicians from around the world including percussionists, jazz and heavy metal bands.

The screeching, scratching and wailing of the soundscape’s electric guitars — an unorthodox inclusion in an orchestral ballet score — assists in capturing the full psychological realm Macbeth journeys on over the course of the ballet.

Intense and electrifying, the drama follows power-couple Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, skilfully danced by Charles Dashwood and Alexa Tuzil on opening night, in their A-list ambitious thirst for power through a murderous path and subsequent karmic derailment.

Murderers they might be, but that does not mean these Shakespearian villains do not suffer from remorse, guilt, doubt and insecurity, ultimately culminating in their spectacular downfall, and some exceptional pas de deux work during the descent to madness and paranoia.

It is fascinating complexity to explore through contemporary ballet and Topp does so with fervour, along with the undeniable talents in her creative team of Gordon, lighting/set designer Jon Buswell, costume designer Aleisa Jelbart and dramaturg Ruth Little.

Packed with signature motifs, the choreography travels between tenderness and tenacity, manipulation, desire and despair, as dancers adeptly articulate their body through the joy, fury and mental chaos unfolding in the boardroom battleground for party leadership and presidency.

The relevance is palpable in today’s global instability and circus-act of a political landscape.

Buswell’s flexible multi-level set design looms large with rotating aluminium panels pressed with a modern heraldic design, covered in lavish red drapery during the height of Macbeth’s success and tarnished with rust by the end.

It transports the action from parliament and a pool hall to a lavish banquet and Lady Macbeth’s bathroom with seamless transition, while Jelbart’s costumes harness the art of power dressing with suave suits and fashion forward party wear.

Macbeth is an arresting and darkly dynamic delve into Shakespeare’s timeless tale, taking the crown to theatrically bewitch new audiences and longtime ballet lovers alike.

4.5 stars

Macbeth is at His Majesty’s Theatre until September 19.