Alan Cumming takes on a multiple-personality 'Macbeth' Alan Cumming performs in a production of Shakespeare's "Macbeth," from the National Theatre of Scotland and presented by the Lincoln Center Festival in New York. Manuel Harlan / Associated Press / July 9, 2012 July 9, 2012, 11:16 a.m. It's easy to forget that Alan Cumming is Scottish, given his facility with accents and extensive work in the U.S., including his supporting role in CBS' "The Good Wife." This summer, Cumming is starring in the mother of all Scottish plays -- Shakespeare's "Macbeth," in a production by the National Theatre of Scotland that is currently running at New York's Lincoln Center Festival. Cumming has participated in his fair share of off-beat theater projects over the years and this "Macbeth" is strange even by his standards. The actor plays a mental patient who is shuttered in an asylum where he enacts many of the roles in the drama, including that of Lady Macbeth, who has become part of a wildly schizophrenic personality. "Macbeth" is co-directed by John Tiffany, who recently staged the Tony-winning musical "Once" (and won a Tony for it himself) and Andrew Goldberg. For his performance, Cumming has received some positive reviews. Charles Isherwood of the New York Times wrote that he "delivers the verse with lucidity and intelligence, and it is undeniably pleasing to hear the Scottish play performed with an authentic Scottish accent." But the actor "never establishes the gravity and ferocity that Macbeth, Shakespeare's heroic villain, ultimately achieves." David Rooney in the Hollywood Reporter wrote that "the mercurial, mischievously humorous qualities of Cumming's best work are on display as he bounces from one role to another, nimbly switching vocal intonations or physical behavior as required." Cumming isn't the first actor to take on the Scottish play as a solo vehicle. In 2004, Stephen Dillane appeared at REDCAT in "Macbeth (A Modern Ecstasy)," in which he played multiple characters from the drama. Theater review: Alan Cumming in 'I Bought a Blue Car Today' Alan Cumming discusses cabaret act 'I Bought a Blue Car Today' Julie Taymor claims Broadway 'Spider-Man' producers engaged in fraud