I watched the Globe Theatre’s 2013 rendition of Macbeth.
As the play opened, I was very intrigued with the three witches.
They don’t show their faces while chatting, and the lighting doesn’t make it under
the hood of their cloaks, making their faces look like black, empty pits. Not
only is this slightly terrifying, but it also makes it a surprise when they
take off their hoods to talk to Macbeth. Suddenly, the three witches have faces
to accompany their voices. The witches continued to be extremely strange as
they are very physically interactive
with Macbeth and each other. As they prophesy to him, they cling to his arms,
legs, and torso in a somewhat frightful way. However, they are not so with
Banquo, and do not come close to her. Once the witches leave Macbeth, they are
also physically close with each other and cling together in a group as they
exit the stage. I found this extremely interesting because I have never seen this
behavior in a rendition of Macbeth, and it made the witches seem like one large
creature, rather than three separate entities.
As mentioned above, Banquo is a female in this version of
the play. Although she is played by a strong actress, I prefer a male actor because
of the parallels between Macbeth and Banquo. With Banquo as a female, I was
more prone to draw conclusions based on traits that are seen as more feminine
or masculine. I was also intrigued by Banquo’s relationship with her daughter,
because the mother-daughter relationship is very, very different from a
father-son relationship. These gender differences also came into play with the
role of Duncan, which was played by a female. Queen Duncan did not seem as strong
of a character as I generally imagine, because the actress playing her looked
sickly and petite compared to the other actors. Queen Duncan’s children, a male
Donalbain and a female version of Malcolm, represent both mother-daughter
relationships and mother-son relationships.
Another somewhat distracting addition to this play is the painting
on many characters’ faces. The interesting
designs are slightly strange and look almost like ornamental makeup. Some were
different colors, and maybe I don’t know the play well enough, but I couldn’t
figure out if certain colors were grouped together for certain reasons, or if it
was randomized.
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