I, Banquo: Designer's notes
The costume
"With I, Banquo, the set was all in the script" sighs Graeme. "As an actor/writer, Tim has a very clear, strong vision."
"The major original area I had to work with was the costume. I'm Scottish myself, but I've no problems with foreigners wearing a kilt - in fact I was rather tickled at the idea of an Englishman in a a plaid skirt.
This is not Tim
"Well, it had to be a kilt, didn't it? Macbeth is referred to in superstitious theatre circles as "the Scottish play" - it's bad luck to say the name in a theatre. (Don't try this at the Unicorn!)
"The kilt itself is made from 6.5 yards of tartan. Traditionally there is no sewing - you would fold the pleats in each time you put it on and you fasten it with a belt. But Tim couldn't get the hang of it and he needed to be able to put it on in a hurry without worrying about it unravelling mid act! So I sewed in the pleats to make it quicker. It's still fairly complicated but he's got the hang of it now.
"I wanted him to be bare chested underneath the kilt, as a Scottish warrior would have been. But it was decided that this would have been inappropriate as he was going into schools, the show is quite physical, and a slip of the costume might have left him blushing. So he wears a white shirt, which looks very masculine as well as showing up the blood rather beautifully.
"Fleance just wears jeans and an AC/DC teeshirt - we wanted to get the idea of him as a real, living, breathing boy across, rather than some distant historical figure. The heavy metal electric guitar playing helps with that somewhat, too!"
More information on how to make a kilt is available on the Scottish Dance website.