Opera North’s summer season comprises three new productions. That’s a lot compared with the UK’s struggling other regional companies, so audiences in the north of England appear to be getting good value. Whether the Shakespeare theme linking the three really says anything is doubtful – Macbeth, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Roméo et Juliette have nothing else in common – but it enables Opera North to market and design them as a package, inspired by the success of its Eight Little Greats in 2004.

Tim Albery’s modern-dress Macbeth unfolds on Johan Engels’s ramp-like set, intelligently lit by Bruno Poet to mirror changes of atmosphere and location – beyond which the stage is empty bar some carry-on trees, chairs, a screen and a bed. That, of course, is the point: Macbeth is not a study in Scottish history – Brigitte Reiffenstuel’s costumes avoid the tartan – but a psychological exploration of a partnership gripped by ambition and guilt.