‘Double, double toil and trouble’ is one of Shakespeare’s most famous lines, uttered by the three witches at the start of Macbeth. But after they reveal their destructive prophecy they all but disappear. Until now.

The trio have been made the stars of the play and reimagined as a three fortune-telling hoarders who live in a rat-infested junkyard by theatre company 6FootStories.

Its all-male production of the play will take over The Hope Theatre next month with the space transformed into an immersive set created entirely from recycled materials.

Company founders 6ft 4in Jake Hassam, from Rochester, and 6ft 3in Nigel Munson, from Guildford and 6ft 2in actor Will Bridges will star as the witches and also play all the other major characters, swapping roles like a gory game of pass the parcel.

Enfield Independent:

Nigel says they first had the idea for the show two years ago but put it on the backburner following the success of previous show Soften the Grey, which came to Islington last January.

They finally started developing Macbeth on New Year’s Eve.

Nigel says: “We started thinking about the witches and how that is what we really relate to creatively, black magic and weirdness and the idea of destiny and fate. We decided to make them the stars of the show.”

They have reworked the script, cutting characters, appropriating lines for the witches and flipping the plot on its head so the first scene becomes the last.

The 27-year-old says: “We have made the play about them predicting what is going to happen. At no point in our show have they actually met Macbeth.

"At the end of the play after following through everything they come back to their charm and we end with the first scene.

“The whole thing is testing out the prophecy, seeing what kind of destruction it will create and then going to find Macbeth.”

The characters and themes draw strongly on their music festival show The Gypsy Lodge, where you can swap a secret or song for a fortune telling.

“We thought this would be a great basis for the witches, “explains Nigel, “as they have this storytelling vibe about them. They are not part of normal society and are very much on the outskirts of your everyday people.

“It feels like they have this insatiable anger against the world of men and high society and they want vengeance.”

The Hope Theatre, Upper Street, Islington, N1 1RL, February 2 to 20. Details: 0333 666 3366, thehopetheatre.co.uk, 6footstories.co.uk