“I’ll drain him dry as hay,”
Here the witches are casting a spell and the audience would pick up on this and realise that it would be to cast upon a ‘him’.
“All hail to Macbeth to thee, Thane of Glamis. All hail to thee Macbeth, hail to thee Thane of Cawdor. All hail Macbeth that shalt be King hereafter.”
The prophecies that the witches tell Macbeth give a clear insight into the plot and the future scenes of the play. This would scare the audience of Shakespeare’s time, as they would know that these witches have powers to foretell the future and are able to possibly turn a once loyal warrior to a disgrace to the country.
When Ross enters and confirms that the second prophecy of the witches is indeed true the audience’s thoughts would be confirmed of the witches.
The witches in Macbeth are supposed to be seen as evil and are there to frighten the audience, however in modern day audiences I believe that the effect, whilst still being there, would be more of interest and confusion rather than anger and fear.
The first scene is very short, but I would want it to have lots of impact. Thunder and Lighting would need to open the scene, as this would immediately represent evil. The dramatic sound effects from the thunder would make an eerie and supernatural atmosphere that would accompany the witch’s entrance. The Witches would enter looking dark and very weird. This would introduce the play as dark, dangerous and evil from the start.
Although the action doesn’t start until the next scene, I would want to create the presence of supernatural to provide for much of the play’s tension and suspense.
‘When the battle’s lost and won.’
The speech at the beginning needs to be said as to give the audience a clue to the play’s story but not reveal too much at the present time. Macbeth will win the battle, but will lose the battle for his soul and the audience need to understand this. At this time their should be smoke being pumped onto the stage to represent the fog and filthy air.
The witches need to emphasise the important bits of the opening such as when the witches talk about meeting Macbeth in the eighth line, when they explain that they will meet Macbeth upon the heath. This shows the audience that the witches must know of Macbeth and leaves them assuming that Macbeth will be greatly influenced and affected by these three witches throughout the play.
‘ Fair is foul, and foul is fair’,
This was written to be quite chilling and to confuse the audience to a certain extent. The audience will realise that this means that all is not as it seems and will mystify the play even more.
The witch’s lines are generally short, this adds and indicates tension and excitement. They rhyme at times and would have to be chanted as if the witches were casting a spell around a caldron. This would create suspicion in the audience as to why they are using their magical powers.
‘When the hurly-burly’s done’,
This needs to be said firmly and terrifyingly as to make clear to the audience that the witches are not only in the play for one scene and they will be back to cause more mysterious and frightening deeds.
