David Tennant to play Macbeth on stage for first time this winter

Actor will star in production at the Donmar Warehouse

David Tennant is finally taking on the Scottish play Macbeth , as he prepares to star in a new adaptation this winter.

The West Lothian-born Doctor Who actor will play Shakespeare’s king on stage for the first time in a new production at the Donmar Warehouse.

Directed by the Donmar’s associate director Max Webster, the show will begin previews on 8 December, with the show running until 10 February 2024.

Tickets will go on sale on Tuesday 16 May at 9am on the Donmar Warehouse website, and midday when ordering by phone.

Tennant, who last appeared at the Donmar in Lobby Hero in 2002, last year played Macbeth for the first time in a BBC Radio 4 dramatisation.

The 52-year-old’s most recent stage performance came in CP Taylor’s Good, which ran at the Harold Pinter Theatre from October 2022 until January 2023. You can read The Independent’s review of the production here.

He has appeared in a number of other Shakespeare plays throughout his career, with recent productions including Richard II, Love’s Labours Lost and Romeo and Juliet.

Later this year, Tennant will be returning to the role that made him a household name as he steps back into the Tardis to play the Doctor once more.

Tennant will star in ‘Macbeth’ this winter (PA)

The actor will star in three special episodes of the sci-fi series in November to mark 60 years of Doctor Who.

Tennant, who starred as the Time Lord from 2005 to 2010, will be joined by his former companion Donna Noble (Catherine Tate).

While Ncuti Gatwa will be the next new actor to play the Doctor, in a new series beginning over the 2023 festive period, Tennant will be returning to the part first.

Fans had believed that Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor would regenerate into Gatwa, but she instead turned back into the 10th Doctor (now called the 14th Doctor).