A number of ideas were generated for The Lord Chamberlain’s Men 2021 production of Macbeth. This direction took inspiration from the line “Blood will have blood” when Macbeth recalls an old saying that blood shed through violence seeks more blood in revenge, creating a cycle of bloodshed. The sinking crown illustrate both King Duncan’s death at the hands of Macbeth and his own inevitable death.

The crown was borrowed from the Royal Shakespeare Company (Christopher Ecclestone wore the crown in the RSC’s production) and photographed on a table in my garden. When I tried to blend the first image with the blood it simply didn’t look convincing. So, I reshot the crown using with a red fabric suspended overhead so I could control where the red was reflected.