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When the young Northern Irish actor David Ireland steps onto the stage in the Glasgow Repertory Company's open-air production of Macbeth on Thursday, he will be the first of three professional actors to play Shakespeare's famous thane in Scotland this year. Hot on the heels of this production in Glasgow's Botanical Gardens, award- winning actor John Kazek will appear as Macbeth, for the second time, in Theatre Babel's Edinburgh Fringe presentation. Finally, in September, Paul Blair, fresh from his success in Dundee Rep's acclaimed Scenes From An Execution, will take the lead in the Rep's own version.

The play has always been popular with theatre companies. It's short, it's powerful and it always pulls in an audience. But three in one season is almost freakish.

"Perhaps sub-consciously, people are picking up on things that are going on round about us, politically and socially," suggests Blair. The 34-year-old thinks the fallout from the invasion of Iraq finds resonances in the play.

"It's a play about power, aspiration, violence and politics, and how they fit together, and I think those themes chime at the moment. Macbeth is a disgruntled warrior who becomes a politician. I think he feels that, as a soldier, he's done the dirty work and now believes he can do better a better job than the politicians."

Kazek first played Macbeth, also for Babel, seven years ago (at the age of 34). He agrees with Blair's belief that recent world events have given the play a contemporary edge. "It could happen anywhere," he says. "The fact that the names and places are Scottish doesn't matter one jot. We, as Scots, don't have a monopoly on greed and vaulting ambition. It happens all over the world, as we're seeing at the moment with Bush - which is nothing but greed and vaulting ambition, if you ask me."

Kazek is quick to add that he is not drawing a direct parallel between Shakespeare's regicide and the current resident of the White House. That, he says, would be to go easy on the President. "Underneath it all, I think Macbeth is a decent man, whereas, underneath it all, I don't think Bush is an honourable man."

For 27-year-old Ireland Iraq also looms as he attempts to grapple with the character. "I suppose you could argue that the play is about evil. I was thinking about this in particular with regard to George Bush, who sees the world in very black and white terms."

Ireland, who trained at the RSAMD in Glasgow, is no stranger to the darkness in Shakespeare's theatre. "I played Richard III at college, but Macbeth seems to me to be much more evil."

When actors talk of Macbeth's psychology, and of his relationship with Lady Macbeth, the question of theatrical emphasis comes to the fore. Is the play primarily about the big political themes of power, or is its focus the human condition and human frailty? Perhaps unsurprisingly, all three actors agree that it is both, but many productions opt to emphasise one element over the other.

Dundee Rep's production will focus on the relationship between Macbeth and his wife. "They're a complicated mix, and that's where you've got to start from," says Blair. "The bigger picture comes down as the backdrop to that."

This interpretation may be partly informed by the casting. Rep stalwart Irene MacDougall - an actress who seems made for the role but, incredibly, has never played it - will be Blair's Lady M. "One of the most exciting things about doing this is working with Irene," he says. "She's a brilliant actress, and perfect for this part."

Kazek is "trying not to remember" his 1997 Macbeth, in order to make his latest performance "as fresh as possible". But he believes that the psychological aspects of the play, and of the central character in particular, make it "almost too complex to explain". As he observes: "Macbeth has got it all - prowess, prestige, respect, wealth, love, intelligence, a strong will, a conscience, an awareness of the natural world and the society that he lives in. Why would he jeopardise all that?"

The thane's acceptance of the "dodgy intelligence report" that is the witches' prophecy is "like a drug addiction, a craving for something you know is going to bring ultimate ecstasy, but ultimate despair as well". The play also overflows, he says, with questions of masculinity and childlessness.

The beauty of having three Macbeths in such quick succession is that we have an opportunity to debate three distinct interpretations of one of Shakespeare's greatest plays. Glasgow Rep's pared back, two- hour presentation has two advantages. Not only is it first up; it also plays outdoors at night. "I did have my doubts," admits Ireland. " thought outdoor Shakespeare meant shouting an awful lot, but it's really very atmospheric."

Macbeth is at the Botanical Gardens, Glasgow from Thursday. Theatre Babel's production is at the Gateway Theatre, Edinburgh, August 7-29. Dundee Rep's version plays September 4-25 Top, from left, Paul Blair and John Kazek are to star as Macbeth this summer, as is David Ireland, above Main Photograph: Stewart Attwood

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