« witches ... Neatly trimmed mustaches and goatees – the beards are a must ...
« witches ... Wild bushy mustaches and beards
« Since witches have beards , men are the natural choice
Beards
See the original play, act I, scene III :MACBETH. So foul and fair a day I have not seen.
BANQUO. How far is't call'd to Forres? What are these So wither'd and so wild in their attire, That look not like the inhabitants o' the earth, And yet are on't? Live you? or are you aught That man may question? You seem to understand me, By each at once her choppy finger laying Upon her skinny lips. You should be women, And yet your beards forbid me to interpret That you are so.
MACBETH. Speak, if you can. What are you?
Costumes
Macbeth
From: Costume: chorus
From:
Costume: doctor
From: Costume: gentlemen
From:
From:
Costume: Hecate
From:
From:
From: Costume: princes Malcolm and Donalbain
From: Costume: soldiers
From:
From:
This is the triple Hecate, three women back to back, with hellhounds, keys and torches.
Female voices. Turn between prophecies, still back to back.
One holds a torch in one hand and a key in the other, the second a torch and a dog on leash, the third a key and a dog on leash. They appear on
a turning postament, pulled from the wings onto the scene. If the whole contraption squeaks, that may be a feature, not a bug.
The dogs should look ferocious and shaggy, but be well behaved enough and trained to follow the turning singers.
Or they may be just plaster levrets; the keys and torches should also have the plaster/white marble look.
Turning, on the other hand, makes for singing with the back to the public. If this is objectionable, they may dismount and just stay side by side.
Banquo ghost's scene will need a real table with seats, but the murtherer may appear through a backdoor slit.
I wonder if a professional orchestra can reproduce this sound – and then continue playing in tune.
Maybe the basses, cellos, and trombones playing "wrong" C4 and C3 (one and two octaves below middle C) plus tympany playing the right C.
alto: a chorus voice G4 F6 : 55 77
bass E3 E5 : 40 64, tessitura G3 A4 : 43 57
contralto F4 F6 : 53 77
countertenor A4 E6 : 57 76
mezzosoprano A4 A6 : 57 81
soprano C5 C7 : 60 84 ;
Queen of the night: F7, 89 (see)
tenor C4 C6 : 48 72
« Plain folk, murtherer, chorus...
Shirts, tunics and trews of natural wool color, brogues.
« DOCTORBlack gown, mortarboard.
« Lords, Gentlemen
Brigth white linen shirts, tunics and trews, boots. Mantles with a colored or decorated stripe.
Enamel decorations on breastplates and helmets.
« GENTLEWOMENBrigth white linen gowns, white skin shoes. Colored silk tuniques or mantles.
Elaborate headdresses.
«
Hecate
The Greek Goddess look: chlamis, tall caps like fezzes, all shiny white.
«
Lady MacbethSame as gentlewomen costume. In act III, purple mantle and coronet. In act V, white silk nightgown.
«
MacbethAs thane, same as gentlemen costume. When king, purple mantle and crown; golden ring over helmet.
« MALCOLM and DONALBAIN
Same as gentlemen costume, silver head rings. Short silk white mantles.
« Soldiers
Same as chorus costume, with flags, weapons, helmets and breastplates.
«
The three witches
weird.txt is the current libretto .
« with flags, weapons, helmets and breastplatesHeraldic flags:
England: silver, a cross gules.
Scotland, Macbeth's troops: azure, a saltire silver.
Scotland, Malcolm's troops: azure, a saltire silver, overall an old king's head and a young king's head natural.
Hecate
Scenery
The scenery would be mostly a curtain backdrop, showing the locale, more or less stylized. The backdrop may contain overlapping
slits: the witches and Hecate disappear simply by passing through the slits behind the scenery.
Thunder
The witch scenes specify thunder. That may be the standard "thunder machine", a shaken metal sheet. I have some weirder proposals:
Mistune thunder
When beloved daughter played the violin – for about three weeks –
there was a concert with about 100 kids from the whole school district, beginners with not quite tuned string instruments.
As they played the first note, the effect was out of this world, but not unlike distant thunder.
Steel drum thunder, for the "Apparitions" section
The three witches beat on the cauldron, which is a Trinidad and Tobago steelpan.
Could be specially constructed in quarter tones or fifths of tones, then chords will give the same effect as mistuned strings,
a beat sound perceived as very low and rumbling.
Besides, if the cauldron looks like an old rusty oil-can, this is a nice scenery touch.
Voices
n.b. This is MIDI notation: C5 is middle C, numerically 60.
C above middle C is C6 = 72, etc...
Voices for roles
