• A co-production between the DTA, the British Council, local producer Neilya Yarmukamodava from SCENE, and Hydrocracker.
• Directed by a Brit, designed by a Czech (Krystina Taubelova) and with performers from Kazakhstan, Kyrgistan and Urkutz.
• Performed primarily in Russian the production includes moments in both German and Kazakh languages.

The production was set in a world that is both mythic and contemporary, it incorporates elements of traditional Kazakh dress as well as purely contemporary elements (radioactive symbols, petrol cans, and an industrial set).

At the centre of the production are the Witches - an amazing troupe of women played by Natasha Dubs (also the production's choreographer and assistant director) and the amazing Gabassava twins, dancers of renown in Kazakhstan.

The witches have many faces; orchestrating the action, interacting with the audience, playing a multitude of parts, weaving fateful spell around the play's central characters.

Using the whole of DTA's intimate studio theatre, the production is truly an event - action takes place outside, in the foyer and through all of the theatres many entrances. It truly captures the plays bleakest qualities, while being an entertaining and visceral shot in the arm.

For Geoff, one of the great breakthroughs of the 2003 Almaty workshop was to discover the excitement and power, in playing Shakespeare, of a fusion between European physical theatre styles, the vocal rigour of classical English theatre and the toughness of the Stanislavsky’s psychological truth.

Working with actors who come from a very different tradition in Kazakhstan was a revelation for Geoff, who witnessed performances of great power in relatively short periods of rehearsal.