'For a charm of powerful trouble, like a hell-broth boil and bubble, boil and bubble, boil and bubble," the witches howl as they move in a frenzy across the stage, their green rags alternating as dervish skirts and forest cover. They throw runes as they call upon darkness and conjure up a brew of murder, sex, witchcraft and regicide -- Shakespeare's tragedy, "Macbeth."

The witches of TNT Theatre Britain's production of "Macbeth"

While some directors in the past have even cut the Bard's exponents of the black arts, the "Macbeth" that has just finished a three-week tour of Japan has been determinedly "witch-driven."

This production, staged by the award-winning TNT Theatre Britain, is undoubtedly a success. But when its director/TNT founder, Paul Stebbings, set out to interpret this classic, he was daunted by the task, worrying how audiences would react to any deviation from the standard, or even, "whether a younger audience would find it comprehensible."

From the moment the curtains open, though, the audience is gripped by the witches' animal noises, breathy panting and feral twitching. The "soundtrack" to the production is full of dogs howling and bird calls, as if the animals are being summoned to witness events. Tonal chanting, hissing and sucking sounds all create a rich texture that slowly builds into a crescendo of terror.

Gail Sixsmith as Lady Macbeth (above) and with Christain Flint (below)

"I think the witches are much more like forest shamans than they are witches in the sort of caricatured sense," Stebbing explains, adding that Japanese audiences have responded well to his version because "in some ways the Japanese audience knows more about shamanism and forest spirits as a starting point than a European audience does."

When he embarked on the project, it was because he thought the witches had never been done properly. "It seemed to me that previously directors and even audiences were uncomfortable with the supernatural, or they didn't know what to make of it. They knew it was a great play about the psychology of murder and power, but the supernatural just seemed to get in the way."

As a director, Stebbings says the important thing is to do works that people recognize and to do them in an interesting and new way. "This allows you to experiment with style, but the audience is already familiar with the content. You have a lot of freedom that way."

The ultimate aim of the production is to convey "the inner energy of the piece," says Stebbings. To keep the play's momentum moving forward, the TNT production has jettisoned minor scenes and characters.

" 'Macbeth' has one of the clearest narratives of any Shakespearean play, except for the stuff he put in it to flatter King James," says Stebbings. "We've just tidied it up a bit, and the basis of the play -- two people wanting power so badly and then being unable to live with what they've done -- is strong enough without four-page diversions."

While the director has taken liberties, he has steered clear of the modern interpretations of his British contemporaries, which have included a Wild West version and another with the cast in dinner jackets. "It often seems that in our effort to make Shakespeare relevant we are in danger of making him irrelevant. Trying to force his work into a modern straitjacket is a shame because it's more exciting than that."

As a former student of the Polish director Jerzy Grotowski, an exponent of the Physical Theatre style, Stebbings says one of the things he learned is that you should always confront classical texts. "In that confrontation you will often reveal the story's true nature, and if it's a good, solid story, then it can take the interpretation."

According to Stebbings, his interpretation, in collaboration with TNT cofounder and dramaturge Phil Smith, helps the performers by revealing a layer that isn't simply psychological. "It's a mistake to go into Shakespeare as if it's Chekov. The characters must be rooted in their actions and in a framework of belief -- not in a framework of psychology."

Stebbings feels that many productions have ignored the "physical side" of Macbeth and portrayed him as far too cerebral. "He was supposed to look like someone who could slice a man from the 'nave to the chops,' from the stomach to the throat. It's important that we can believe he was capable of killing, not prone to posing with his head in his hands."

The accomplished cast of six performers, some of whom work with the Royal Shakespeare Company, do a marvelous job doubling up on their very challenging roles. Actor Christain Flint, for example, plays both King Duncan, the blind, benevolent ruler, and one of the three witches. Gail Sixsmith doubles as Lady Macbeth and a witch.

Appearing in more scenes than usual, the witches chorus the main characters' dialogue and seem to gain power from the belief that humans have put in them. Stebbings says that they are intended to act "not so much as evil forces but as bridges between the human and natural worlds."

Likewise, the characterization of Lady Macbeth has her more deeply connected to her witchcraft beliefs as she summons the spirits. Sixsmith's Lady Macbeth is tiny but fierce, the perfect foil for Geoff Gibbons' Macbeth, an enormous beastly warrior, tortured and under the influence of dark forces. ("It was important to us that he was not Hamlet in a kilt!" says Stebbings.) In the scenes between Macbeth and his Lady, there is a palpable combination of ambitious passion and brute strength.

Anthony Pedley does the ghost of Banquo well, and Mike Rogers is a vengeful Macduff when he hears of the murder of his family. These solid performances help carry the momentum of the play, as does the integral use of music (often live in TNT productions) and dance.

"One of the ideas we have is to try to integrate choreography and music into theater, not as additions or decorations on the cake," Stebbings says. "To use it during the scenes, not in between."

The set is simple, and a clever lighting change allows the pillars of the castle to become tree trunks. "We still get some sense that the forest and the castle are interchangeable, which I think is true of the original," says Stebbings.

The costume style evokes a sense of the time, 11th-century Scotland, but again it is the witches who grab your attention, their half-tree, half-human dresses and feathered headdresses making them look like deranged witch doctors.

With its strong visual and aural images, this "Macbeth" is a haunting reminder of how accessible Shakespeare can still be to modern audiences anywhere.

On this tour of Japan TNT performed in universities and for the public, from Sendai to Nagasaki, continuing their tradition of bringing well-known yet innovatively produced plays to Japan.

The international reputation of TNT, which was founded in the U.K. in 1980, keeps the company busy. "The heart of our work now is in Germany, where we play the big theaters," Stebbings explains. TNT is also known in Japan as the International Theatre Company London because of its collaboration with The American Drama Group of Europe in bringing productions here. Their Japan tours are produced by One World Inc., Tokyo, and they are supported by the British Council. TNT has been coming to Japan since 1992, usually with two productions a year.

"We started off with 'Wizard of Jazz' [based on the life story of Al Jolson], which won a prize at the Munich Biennale and got us an invite to the Tokyo International Festival. Since then we've done shows here such as 'A Streetcar Named Desire,' 'Brave New World,' 'The Picture of Dorian Gray,' 'The Murder of Sherlock Holmes,' 'Oliver Twist' and 'Gulliver's Travels,' " he says.

Stebbings, an actor himself, now spends more time directing and developing scripts. "Directing is a bit like being a football manager -- you sit on the sideline, chewing your gum, hoping not to have a heart attack! Sometimes I am jealous of the actors because they feel great after a performance."

TNT and One World Inc. will bring George Orwell's "1984" to Japan in November and Ken Kesey's "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" next year.

In a nutshell

Shakespeare's tragedy "Macbeth," set in medieval Scotland, is a torrid tale of murder and power. A nobleman and warrior, Macbeth begins his destructive, bloody descent when he is told by three witches that he will become the King of Scotland. He tells his wife of the prophecy, and she, ruthlessly ambitious, encourages him to make it come true. They kill King Duncan, and Macbeth is crowned king. But the witches' prophecy makes him paranoid and in his greedy lust to maintain power, he embarks on a killing spree. The victims include his best friend Banquo and the family of fellow nobleman Macduff. Lady Macbeth goes insane, believing that her hands are constantly blood stained. Driven by fear and tortured by his actions, Macbeth loses control. When Macduff and his supporters march on him for revenge, the loss of the crown he gained through treachery is not far away . . .