Macbeth
2020- Marymount Manhattan College- Design Collaboration Seminar
Scenic Designer- Alex Adams
Costume Designer- Doni Rotunno
Lighting Designer- Max Stroeher
Macbeth is an exploration of power. As an early example of a political drama, the text portrays the ambitions and machinations of a
power hungry lord and his wife as they navigate the political landscape of the world they live within. Their ambition is what provides for
their own undoing as Lady Macbeth cannot live with her own misdeeds and the world will not let Macbeth live with his.
The work deals with the rejection of Christianity and its ethical system as a foundationally important thematic element. By listening
to the witches and killing a monarch that was, according to contemporary wisdom, anointed by god Macbeth is performing an act against
god. This act and its anti-Christian incitement jointly cause the retributional killing of Macbeth. Portraying the witches and their actions as
not only dark but external to the society of 11th century Scotland is critical to getting this message across.
The visual approach utilized in this production will be contextualizing the show through the world of 1920’s New Orleans. By
casting the royalty of this Scotland through the lens of the early 1920s New Orleans organized crime, and the witches through the voodoo
of the era the message and ideas of the text can be communicated in a new way.
Organized crime in New Orleans in the 1920’s was notable because of a brutally divided series of gangs that fought over control
over industries from grocery to the shipyards. The 1920’s marked the transition of power from the Matranga family to the more stable and
long lasting Carolla family. The inciting event for this transition of power away from the Matranga’s was a series of lynchings that targeted
members of the crime family some 20 years earlier in response to the assassination of a police officer. Portraying the story of Macbeth
through this violent history should sufficiently express the brutality of the text.
The portrayal of witchcraft as Voodoo in this production contextualizes said witchcraft into a contemporary setting. This will be
expressed through the use of saturated jewel toned colors throughout the witches scenes to convey a harsh departure from normalcy in
the world of the show. These color shifts will be reinforced using a series of string lights run throughout the space that will pulse in the
intense jewel toned colors. During the nonmagical scenes of the show the strings will be visible in a soft amber glow.
