Scotland Ireland England

Scotland in the time of Macbeth

Important themes to look for: female empowerment, danger of ambition, guilt, trust, betrayal, leadership, appearances vs. actuality, fate vs. free will, male vs. female, social duty vs. private ambition, child vs. adult, mental illness vs. physical illness, pointless life vs. purposeful life

Notes on the Production Macbeth is technically set in Scotland around 1100, but this production updates the time period to the 1940s and makes Scotland and Macbeth similar to Russia and Joseph Stalin – perhaps the only man to kill more people than Adolph Hitler. Like Macbeth Stalin rules with an iron fist.

In this production, the Weird Sisters are depicted as nurses rather than stereotypical “witches.” It is likely that the sisters were included in the play to please the king of the time who was interested in witchcraft, but they are actually rooted in the idea of the Norns – The Norse (Norwegian) goddesses of destiny.

The Sisters don’t actually do anything – they make predictions, but don’t take action to make them come true – that part is up to others who choose to believe their predictions or not.

Double, Double, toil and Trouble! Fire, burn and caldron bubble!