The five embassy staff freed yesterday had gone upcountry in Ethiopia for rest and some sightseeing after the rigours of putting on an amateur performance of Macbeth.

The play had been directed by Rosanna Moore, the Italian-born wife of Michael Moore, the British Council chief, and one of the five kidnapped at gunpoint.

The play ran for three nights at Menelik’s Palace, a historic ruin overlooking the Ethiopian capital, and featured a cast of Britons, Americans, Canadians, Ghanaians, Zimbabweans and Ethiopians.

Andrew Heavens, a freelance journalist who played the Sergeant, said: “It was an amazing setting. How often do you get to strut around a historic monument, covered in stage blood and waving a sword?”

The vibrant expatriate social scene of Addis Ababa owes much to Mrs Moore’s efforts. She founded the amateur group Addis Stage two years ago, launching it with a rendition of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in the grounds of the British Embassy. The 70-strong group has also notched up performances of Gogol’s The Government Inspector and two “dinner theatre” productions of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

Mrs Moore speaks Russian and her husband had previously been awarded an MBE for his service running the British Council in Kazakhstan.

The other woman kidnapped, Laure Beaufils, was also part of Addis Stage.

She was a French aid expert working for Britain’s Department for International Affairs, and had previously worked on a project to help to improve the sexual health of adolescents in Cambodia.

She has a prominent role in helping Ethiopia to achieve the United Nations goal of universal primary education by 2015; fewer than half the country’s children currently go to school.

She is also co-chairwoman of an education working group that is bringing together western donors in Ethiopia.

Malcolm Smart, who also works in the Department of International Affairs, deals with donors’ economics issues. Peter Rudge was first secretary of the Embassy. He previously served as second secretary (political) at Britain’s Rome mission. Jonathan Ireland is an embassy worker listed as having a clerical-type grade.

Times Recommends

• Rio Tinto four held as China prepares case
• Diplomats must keep heads down and trousers up
• When in Rome should one make like Berlusconi?