Expert: John T. Aney - 11/7/2007

Question
Hi. I'm in Year 10 at Royal Russell School, and as part of our coursework in English we are doing an oral piece. I'm doing a group project about Macbeth. We have to imagine we are either a director, costume and props, or lighting and sound manager in the production, and describe how we would like our scene to be to the rest of the class. The scene we have chosen is Act 1 Scene 3, where the witches tell Macbeth and Banquo about their future. In my group i am doing costume and props and i was wondering if you could tell me what type of clothes the witches would be wearing, so i can improvise on that. The project is due in next Wednesday, so if you could reply as quick as possible please. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thank You.
Lauren.

Answer
Normally I don't do homework questions, but I thought I might give you a hand.

You ask what kind of clothes the witches "would be" wearing.  What do you mean "would be?"  Do you mean would be wearing in Elizabethan England when the play was first produced?  That isn't really known.  I think the important thing is for you to imagine what you think would be interesting for them to wear - do you want the play to be in modern dress?  If so, what would someone who might be a witch look like today?  Probably not a tall pointy hat and black robe riding a broomstick!

The point of the assignment is for you to use your imagination.  Read the play, think about what these witches represent, and then think about what clothes you might put them in.

Good luck!

jta