MACBETH - The Rude Mechanicals

I have really been taking the time to look at props and costume design, recently, and I really enjoyed what they did for this play. The visual theme of this play had to do a lot with color and clothing. All of the living characters wore black. Witches wore red and white, and dead people (ghosts) wore red. This is some pretty obvious symbolism (signifiers and signifieds), but I like the use of it. I would like to incorporate these types of things into my work, in the future. I generally don't think about costume color as a means to communicate ideas.

The end of the play was actually different than the original play. When Malcolm, played by Anna Brammeier, was crowned, everyone converged on her and raised their swords to swing. Then, the lights went out. It's actually an addition to the original, which ends with the crowning of Malcolm.

Our interpretation effects the way that we tell and present stories, and adding something like this onto the end of a story really shows how much creative power people other than a writer have on a writer's work. Through history, things like plays and other works of fiction are used to communicate ideas. Taking creative liberties to create differences between our interpretation and an original CAN BE an essential part of making things relevant to an audience. This may not be the best example of this, but it is certainly an example of a small creative change to serve as a meaning or commentary about something.

The play was well done, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. (Good job Ryan Smith!)