The Bard

For our assignment this week we have been hired by the Royal Shakespeare Company to develop a program cover for one of Shakespeare's plays, I chose Macbeth. The program cover was designed by my pseudonym, Gladys Hoachin.

Gladys did not want to use obvious symbolism from the play such as witches, crowns or daggers. She chose to create a rough, stylized forest which relates to the prophecy given to Macbeth by the three witches that he will remain safe until "Birnam wood comes to Dunsinane Castle." However, this prophecy depicts Macbeth's demise when the English army advances on Dunsinane shielded with boughs cut from Birnam wood. The hand drawn text of Macbeth is supposed to represent the roots of trees. Gladys chose red for the background color for a number of reasons: it represents anger, revenge and the blood stained battle field where Macbeth is beheaded by Macduff.