Theatre MACBETH Lyceum Theatre, Crewe

Surely one of the most positive stories to be told about the national stage at present is that of English Touring Theatre. Some might see Crewe as unfashionable, but the location is still close enough to the junction of England to be an entirely fitting base for a touring company. Its Lyceum has, moreover, been handsomely transformed by a fine new foyer and restaurant area which now prefaces the beautifully restored Edwardian auditorium. From here the company will take its new revival of Macbeth to 11 other venues across England, following up its inaugural Hamlet of 1993 and subsequent productions of Moliere, Ibsen and Wilde. In a very promising development, Jonathan Harvey's new play, Rupert Street Lonely Hearts Club (co-produced with Contact Theatre) will be making its own progress round the country following its premiere in Manchester later this month.

But beyond the admirable intentions, the foyer and the auditorium, what is ETT putting on the stage? Two years ago I found their Hamlet distracted by some finicky and modishly anachronistic staging details. Here the same director, Stephen Unwin, has eschewed all that for a straightforward show in Jacobean dress on a mostly bare stage (set design by Franziska Wilcken, costumes by Heather Leat). The void, relieved only in some scenes by a row of candles far upstage, emphasises the "rawness" that Scotland has fallen into and the ultimate loneliness of the Macbeths. In the sleepwalking scene, Lady Macbeth (Hilary Lyon) beats desperately back and forth across this emptiness and yet is as imprisoned as a moth in a bottle.

This spare presentation trusts the language and leaves it all for the voice to do. Almost uniformly, this production is clearly and forcefully spoken in a way that makes the action readily intelligible, and the sheer body of phrase after phrase - "And make my seated heart knock at my ribs", "thy bones are marrowless" - strikes the attention. Even so, most of the time there could be a greater level of invention and expression, which would add to other lines the surprise and freshness that Karen Bryson's Lady Macduff finds in hers.

This is also evident in the late phase of Paul Higgins's performance as Macbeth. Not wholly convincing as a warrior, Higgins's strength lies in the way he conveys Macbeth's wondering and terrified sense of his own double nature - how his eye can wink at his hand. When he comes eventually to count the cost of this, he is riven by the knowledge of his own mind's disease. Thus, when he implores the doctor to cure "the written troubles" of Lady Macbeth's brain, he is also clearly describing himself. Now so self-aware, for the "poor player" lines Higgins rushes to the footlights to step out of character. It is a theatrical trick, but it works, collapsing the space between him and us. Momentarily, we peep into the abyss of nothingness together.

n Touring until February. Details: 01270 501800