PRODUCTION JOURNEY

Episode 7

The plan was for Macbeth to grow more distant as the show moves into its final stages. The Great Chamber provided an excellent open space, the three display panels we couldn’t move we draped with black curtains – they became eerie shadows – perhaps they were witches?! Although the battle developed over the two years as our principals developed their training, the final moments remained as first set to allow space for imagination rather than an inevitably contrived possibly embarrassing special effects gore fest! Both actors disappeared off stage over ‘another’ hill, down a slope. Actually this was the first slope, from the other direction, the circle was being completed – though the audience had yet to know it.

In keeping with Shakespearean tradition, a fast drum beat accompanies the final action… we saw, then briefly only heard the clash of steel and the cries of fury. Then Nothing! A silence. Then the sound of sword being dragged on the ground and a figure reappears… a fellow audience member punches the air as we realise it is MacDuff. He carries the crown and Malcolm steps forward. The circle is drawn, order is restored. A few final words from our Porterwitch guide, then she follows the others in departing, their cloaks catching their breeze in chivalric style.