Brilliant young general Macbeth pulls off a glorious victory in battle before returning to an indolent court where honours are dispensed by whim. Spurred on by prophesying drifters and an ambitious wife, Macbeth sets his sights on the throne. In Kit Monkman's adventurous new adaptation, this compelling tale of unchecked ambition, soured friendship, lost intimacy and the descent into nihilism is encountered in a strange and claustrophobic territory partly conjured by the mind.

Billy is already experiencing the ugly side of people's fear and prejudice. He resolves, for the sake of his family, to leave his home town and go somewhere where he is unknown; where he can re-invent himself. Billy decides to take a job on a large farm far away; the most prestigious in its district. He hopes it will be a fresh start. In a twist of irony and as fate would have it, he immediately encounters the very thing he has tried to leave behind; he meets Tom the farmers son. Tom is beautiful and fearless, with the arrogance of privilege and youth. The tension is further under-pinned by the social repression and isolation of rural New Zealand in 1960. A tinder-box of deceit and malice emerges as Billy discovers that he is not the only one fighting his desires and hiding his demons.