Madcap company still raising smiles by the thousand

Popular theatre company Oddsocks may be unable to tour at the moment, but that’s not stopping it bringing joy to thousands of families.

The family-run company’s performance of Macbeth, filmed live from their home, attracted an online audience of more than 3,000 when it aired last month.

In response to requests from viewers, Oddsocks has posted the performance on its website and is already planning its next live edited Shakespeare play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, ready for live performance on Friday June 19 at 7pm.

“Macbeth really seemed to hit the mark,” said creative producer Elli Mackenzie, who played Lady Macbeth.“We didn’t know whether anyone would tune in. But just before we went on air ,our director, who was hosting the performance through his streaming theatre in LA, calmly told us that there were one and a half thousand people across the world tuned in already and that grew as the performance started. By the end we were streaming live to an audience of over 3,000!”

Artistic director Andy Barrow, who played Macbeth, said: “The response since the broadcast has been tremendous. People have been in touch via social media and email in their droves, telling us that it’s made their lockdown and how they needed a laugh and our performance provided just that.”

The Oddsocks family told the story using the original text - albeit a little trimmed - with three mobile phones, a few laptops and a range of household items such as kitchen spatulas for swords, a colander for Macbeth’s helmet and dolls and a unicorn slipper for apparitions in their fast-moving, ambitious domestic retelling of the tragedy.