ACTOR Alan Cumming gets ready to hammer out his lifelong obsession with Macbeth in a new solo show to be staged in Glasgow and New York.

The tale of Shakespeare's tragic monarch will be told in the setting of a psychiatric ward, with Cumming to channel multiple voices in the new production by John Tiffany and the National Theatre of Scotland.

The award-winning actor made his stage debut as Malcolm in a production of Macbeth at the Tron Theatre in Glasgow.

Cumming, originally from Aberfeldy, said: "I have been obsessed with Macbeth for as long as I can remember. It was the first Shakespeare I ever read, and the first one I was ever in and it continues to haunt and inspire me.

"The only thing I can think of more exciting, challenging and terrifying than this play is to do a one-man version of it with these great directors and this great company and to perform it in my two favourite cities, Glasgow and New York."

Cumming, 47, has been photographed by Edinburgh-born Albert Watson ahead of the multi-media production, whose rehearsals begin in Glasgow on May 8.

Macbeth will open in Glasgow on June 13 and transfer to the Lincoln Center Festival in New York in July.