Happy Canada Day! We’re off today and then will be returning for our final week of shows, with only 4 more performances of Macbeth (Wed, Thurs, Fri, Sun) and 2 of The Merry Wives of Windsor (Sat, Mon) remaining. We’ve had capacity audiences for recent performances of both shows, so get your tickets now to make sure you don’t miss out! www.bardinthebarracks.com

If you’ve seen the plays, you know the brilliant work of our costume designer, Rebecca Wiegers, is integral to both. We asked her how she approached the costume designs for the shows:

“Working on The Merry Wives of Windsor and Macbeth at the same time was a very interesting challenge. With every show I always begin with the colour palette.

Since we decided to portray The Merry Wives of Windsor in the 1960s it was crucial that the costumes incorporate as many vibrant colours and patterns as possible to clearly distinguish the time period from the decades directly before and after. At the same time, I researched how famous mafia members of the time dressed and how they utilized more formal styles to create the assumption of a higher social status then they were born into. I also really enjoyed the process of costuming Falstaff because designing a costume to make a character look and feel unlikeable requires a very different approach than you typically would take for a leading character.

When designing Macbeth I knew I wanted to use deep gem tones to convey the dark nature of the story as well as portray the status of the characters. Because the Scottish setting is so important to the legacy of the play we also wanted to pay homage to the tartans associated with characters’ families. To accomplish this I utilized the traditional Macbeth tartan as the colour scheme for both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. I also really enjoyed planning how the costumes would progress as the central couple came into power. For the battle scenes I used black and brown leather in the form of tunics and bracers to give the characters an armoured but still highly mobile appearance to compliment the rapid pace of the action unfolding.”