Concept statement for Macbeth

Theme
I wish to emphasise the restricting gender expectations in the world of Macbeth which glorifies the
brutality of masculinity such that is the only through the taking of arms and ending the life of
another can one be successful. This is at the expense of female compassion, gentleness, and
nurture which is ultimately shown to be too fragile and weak to have a place in this world. This
uselessness of the feminine is seen not only in Lady Macduff’s savage murder within the domestic sanctity
of her home, but also in Lady Macbeth’s resort to exchanging female tender-heartedness for masculine
bloody-mindedness to achieve the ambition of the royal crown.

Setting and Set

Sadly, the veneration of the masculine over the feminine is seen in the present day as evidenced by Taylor
Swift’s “The Man”. To reflect the continuity of such views, I selected a black abstract, timeless space as my
setting, characterised only by the presence of seven ladders of different heights. These ladders will be
manoeuvred, by the witches, over the course of the play to create different settings for each scene. I
wanted to convey the sense of hierarchy with the men of the play being able to scale the ladders but the
women are grounded, women are disempowered and need manliness to survive. This groundedness
becomes significant in 4.2 when Lady Macduff is unable to flee the murderers as she cannot climb the
ladders. Additionally, the men, being elevated, are able to literally look down on those with less power. This
power to climb the ladders is conferred to Lady Macbeth when she consorts with the evil spirits in 1.5 to
unsex her of her feminine qualities.

Characterisation of the Witches

To escape the confines of hierarchical world, you will need to be outside the world of gender expectations.
Hence the witches are androgynous and dressed in ragged black tunics over leggings which suggest the
mobility that they have. Similarly, the witches, unlike everyone in the play, has the power to make change
and this is signified by their opening actions of knitting, similar to the fates, and also how they will be the
ones who make the set changes by moving the ladders.

Their knitting is playful and they are clearly enjoying their work, their tone light and almost laughing. The
witches, unconstrained by the constraints of gender, are empowered to make change and they relish the
mischief they will wreak on the world.