A Rubber City twist Theatergoers still have four chances to see Rubber City Shakespeare’s bloody, bewitching production of *Macbeth *at Summit Artspace, 140 E. Market St., Akron*. *(Cost is $14, senior citizens and students $12, student rush tickets $5. Times are 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. Seewww.rubbercityshakes.com.) <http://www.rubbercityshakes.com.%29/> The production, directed by Dane Leasure, features Michael Laymon in the title role and Cait McNeal as his “fiendish queen,” Lady Macbeth. It’s often difficult to understand Laymon’s quick speech and he doesn’t have the Shakespearean rhythm that most of the rest of the cast does. But the role of Lady Macbeth is perfect for the highly dramatic McNeal, who’s demonic as she’s egging her husband on to slaughter the King Duncan and is scarily unhinged in her infamous “Out, damned spot!” scene, in which the sleepwalking queen, clad in a pristine white nightgown, reveals her deep guilt as she maniacally tries to rub unseen blood off her hands. Also of note are Elizabeth Allard, Kate Klika and Michele McNeal as the three witches, who create a spooky chorus of “weird sisters.” Matthew Wheeler also makes a memorably ghastly appearance at Macbeth’s dinner table as the ghost of Banquo, with a slit throat. Leasure has set the tragedy in a rubber factory, RCS Rubber Company, to be exact, in the time period between the end of World War I and the Great Depression. But if you hadn’t read that information beforehand, you wouldn’t recognize the conceit running throughout the story, other than in costume pieces that include suspenders and knickers, groups of stacked tires in the staging area, and the use of wrenches and pipes as weapons. The tires are used ingeniously as legs for a board to be placed upon for a table, and especially when they create a cauldron into which the witches add glowing ingredients. The theater has taken its raw space on the second floor at Summit Artspace and flipped the playing space around for this show. The actors use more cool yet simple props as Prince Malcolm and Macduff’s forces strike sticks together to represent Birnam wood (forest) coming to Dunsinane, a happening signifying Macbeth’s undoing. Arts writer Kerry Clawson may be reached at 330-996-3527 or kclawson@thebeaconjournal.com. Like her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/kclawsonabj or follow her on Twitter @KerryClawsonABJ.