Examples of the costumes in "Macbeth"
Even if people don’t like a play, it seems they like to
write about it.
Oregon Shakespeare Festival visitors are still weighing in
on the shows — on their blogs.
Here’s a list of the latest reviews:
At Home With Books: “Henry VIII” and “Macbeth”
Chico Enterprise-Record’s The Buzz: “The Servant of Two
Masters,” “Paradise Lost” and “All’s Well That
Ends Well”
Silicon Valley Mercury News: “Paradise
Lost”
Groundhog Day with Celia Fae: Very brief reviews of
“Paradise Lost,” “The Music Man,” “All’s Well That Ends Well,” Don Quixote,”
“Macbeth” and “Henry VII.”
Fyellin: All of the plays
Fashion Piranha: “Macbeth”
Here’s a sample passage from the Fashion Piranha on the
costumes in “Macbeth” (paragraph breaks added):
“Costumes are always the first thing I notice about a
play. I guess I just can’t help it; I studied fashion design for two years
and my interest in clothes has never lessened. Director Gale Edwards and
costume designer Murell Horton made some interesting choices for 2009’s
“Macbeth” when they dressed their characters in a hodge-podge of military
uniforms.
“At the beginning, Macbeth, Banquo, Duncan and Malcolm are
all wearing crisp, fitted Naziesque jackets and pants. The soldiers look
sharp and in control, and Duncan
looks like a movie-perfect military leader.
“But as the play continues, the military dress shuffles
through various eras and ultimately ends up resembling the loose camouflage
rags favored by guerrilla warriors.
“The jumbled clothes made it impossible to date the
production to a specific time period, and this drove some of the people in my
travel group nuts. But to me it made sense.
“I think
what the director was trying to do was use the soldiers’ uniforms to reflect
the crumbling stability of Scotland. When
Duncan ruled,
the country was at peace (internally, anyway) and prosperous, and the neat,
orderly appearance of the soldiers reflect this. But Macbeth’s seizure of
the throne and the subsequent power struggles tear Scotland to bits.
“The deterioration of the country and the monarchy’s control
over it is revealed in the soldiers’ clothes.”
To read more reviews, check out the Aug. 25 and 17 Writing about
Writing posts.
