Macbeth is shown in a different light in The Curtain’s minimal ‘Macbeth by Candelight’

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Jamie Ballard and Christianna Nelson co-star in The Curtain’s “Macbeth by Candlelight” at Nimbus Arts Center in Jersey City.

The program for the current production by The Curtain, Jersey City’s classical theater troupe, reads “Macbeth by Candlelight,” referring to the minimal set design at the proscenium-less stage of the Nimbus Arts Center. The empty black stage features only an oval ring of electric candles of various heights — candles that change colors and intensity to match the mood of what theater people refer to as “the Scottish play.”

It is left to audience members’ imaginations to conjure the parapets of Dunsinane, the wooded enclave of the three witches, or the Highland battleground where an army comes to wrest Macbeth’s ill-gotten throne away from him. That’s very much in keeping with the style of The Curtain’s director, Sean Hagerty, who utilized a similarly sparse stage for last year’s “Romeo & Juliet.”

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Aria Shahghasemi, left, and Jamie Ballard in “Macbeth by Candlelight.”

Hagerty set his “Romeo & Juliet” in America’s Jazz Age. His “Macbeth” still takes place in Scotland, although the costumes anachronistically resemble “Mad” King George’s Revolutionary War Era redcoats and waistcoats. And as in that previous production, Hagerty has excised a few scenes from the original text, although this “Macbeth” still runs nearly three hours.

We’re used to seeing Macbeth played as a burly soldier who is at first driven by ambition and hubris and then haunted by the atrocities he has committed; in that regard, he is not unlike James Gandolfini’s Tony Soprano. But in this production, as played by veteran British Shakespearean actor Jamie Ballard, Macbeth seems like more like Kieran Culkin’s Roman Roy in “Succession” — not so much a warrior as a weasel, a conniving and mendacious schemer whose comeuppance seems not only preordained but richly deserved.

Ballard is not a big man, physically. His voice neither booms nor bellows. He makes an unconvincing war hero and seems an unlikely predator. That’s not to denigrate his performance; he brings nuance to Macbeth’s expressions of lust, anger, fear and panic. The character often lapses into introspective soliloquies, which Ballard frequently delivers facing the audience, almost but not quite breaking the fourth wall. He becomes a man we feel we know, even though we don’t like him very much, and even though he’s unlike most of the other Macbeths we’ve seen.

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Christianna Nelson in “Macbeth by Candlelight.”

Ballard’s performance is ably matched if not surpassed by the imposing Christianna Nelson as Lady Macbeth. Following on the heels of her excellent performance as the Nurse in “Romeo & Juliet,” Nelson commands the stage in all of her scenes. She is icy and pragmatic and, when Macbeth starts seeing ghosts, more than his equal.

Aria Shahghasemi, a commanding Romeo in last year’s production, plays Macduff with panache and charisma. While the character is primarily remembered as the man who orchestrates Macbeth’s downfall and ultimately kills him, Shahghasemi stops the show in the emotional scene when he learns that Macbeth has murdered his wife and children.

The play delivers a bit of blood and gore and a few moments of well-choregraphed violence (a rousing fight scene, a climactic sword fight), although the most gruesome murders (and Lady Macbeth’s suicide) take place offstage. (Without a curtain, it was awkward moving dead bodies off the stage in the 1600s, so this was often the case then.) But be warned, the play has a young character who is stabbed to death, and the Macbeths wave bloody hands about after murdering the king. So, like most Shakespeare, consider this rated R.

The Curtain has cast the Three Witches not as warty hags in black but as adolescent wood nymphs in lacy peach dresses, which detracts a bit from the traditional spookiness of the “double, double toil and trouble” scene but — like the costumes and set design — adds one more unexpected wrinkle that helps to make this more than just more by-the-book Shakespeare.

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From left, Emma Kantor, Jamie Ballard, Priyanka Kedia (top), Gilda Mercado (bottom) and William Dixon in “Macbeth by Candlelight.”

Kudos to the Nimbus Arts Center’s first-rate acoustics; it’s nice to watch live theater without amplification and still be able to hear the dialogue when actors speak in conversational tones.

Those flickering candles and a few stage lights enhance the mood and add atmosphere admirably, and the costumes are handsomely tailored, colorful and eye-catching.

Each generation imagines a Macbeth for its time. Michael Fassbender’s 2015 film adaptation featured violent battle scenes reminiscent of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and portrayed Macbeth as a victim of PTSD. Today we’re facing an election in which many think American democracy itself may be at stake, and we’re given a scheming, conspiratorial, wannabe tyrant as our Macbeth.

“Present fears are less than horrible imaginings,” says Macbeth. Let’s hope that he, unlike the Weird Sisters, isn’t able to see into the future.

The Curtain will present “Macbeth by Candlelight” at The Nimbus Arts Center in Jersey City through Nov. 3. Visit thecurtain.org.