Staging choices

Who's this? Dominic Cooke is the director.

Context: The action of Macbeth has a relentless inevitability leading towards the final conflict with Macduff. Macbeth feels life closing in on him as Scotland turns against him and this is represented by the shutting down of the stage space.

Think about: The angle of a wall; the size of a door; everything on stage can be used to send messages to the audience.

Did you know? Much of the action in Macbeth happens off-stage. This production used projected shadows on the wall so you could see great events in silhouette upstage while intimate moments were downstage, creating a sense of eavesdropping on a character's thoughts. This technique showed both Duncan feasting while Macbeth and Lady Macbeth plan his murder and also the coronation, with Scottish lords swearing loyalty to Macbeth, while Banquo speaks his suspicions at the beginning of Act 3.