Response Phase Paper 1 Unit 1: Macbeth

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1st Set

When we first arrived at the theatre there was no curtain so the audience could see the set. The stage was dimly lit and we could see a black cloth, a screen which projected images, a hanging cross and a mysterious black box. At first I thought the hanging cross was there to represent death or religion but later on in the performance the cross had sand falling from it and I thought that this was to represent Macbeth’s time was running out as it reminded me of an egg timer. The mysterious black box changed into part of the main stage later on in the play. The dim blue lighting and the images of deserted fields and early morning sunshine that were being projected and because of the fact that there were no actors on stage suggested to me that it was early in the morning.

2nd Set

When the mysterious black box was opened we could see a whole new stage which looked to me like the throne for the king. The stage now had 4 purple banners, the throne centre stage, hanging cross and 2 candles. When Duncan was king the banners were purple as purple is the traditional colour of royalty, however when Macbeth became king the banners changed from purple to red to show that he has become king because of the dreadful deeds that he has performed, as he has not earned the proper right to be king.

3rd Set

Near the end of the performance the stage changed into what looked like castle walls, I think they used this set because in this scene it was mainly Macbeth behind the castle walls to symbolize that he was hiding because he was scared of what was going to happen to him and also another reason why they used this set was because there was a lot of fighting in the scene.

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Costume

The first characters that we saw were two monsters with a Thailand style mask on each of them. The characters didn’t really fit in well with the rest of the play as they were a Thalind-style dress whereas the rest of the characters wore clothes that were more suited to the time in history. When the monsters had died Macbeth and Banquo emerged out of their costume with Macbeth wearing a red waistcoat over black clothes and Banquo wearing a Blue waistcoat over black clothes. The people wearing red clothes in the Play for example Macbeth were evil ...

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