The Witches
Tartan
As the Director and Producer of this reimagined staging in Lady Macbeth Uncut, I believe some of the references we can bring to the stage are not mere decoration—it is dramaturgy.
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It tells story, builds character, and carries meaning that reverberates far beyond the stage. That is why I decided to introduce the newly released witches’ tartan to the stage. Tartans have always been more than just fabric in history and this newly launched fabric is a living memorial, an act of reclamation, and a visual manifesto of the play’s deepest themes.
Steeped in history
This tartan is based on the Witches of Scotland tartan—an official, newly designed cloth that commemorates the thousands of women and some men persecuted during Scotland’s witch trials. Between 1563 and 1736, under the Scottish Witchcraft Act, over 4,000 people were accused, with many tortured, executed, or burned. The tartan is a tribute to these victims, designed to keep their stories alive and to challenge the legacies of misogyny and fear that fuelled the trials.
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Every colour and thread count in the tartan is rich in symbolism. Black and grey represent the dark times of the witch trials and the literal ashes of those burned. Red and pink symbolise the blood of the victims and the red ink of legal documents that condemned them—paper turned weapon. White stands for the three demands of the Witches of Scotland campaign: pardon, apology, and memorial. Most powerfully, the 173 black threads mark the 173 years the Witchcraft Act remained in force—decades of state-sanctioned persecution.
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And what better way to wind together some of the themes of the play, the witches are no longer marginal figures or comic grotesques. They are powerful, political, and prophetic. They speak not only to Macbeth’s fate, but to a lineage of women demonised for their knowledge, independence, and spiritual power. This tartan can therefore visually connect the women to a real historical trauma—giving voice to the silenced and hopefully introducing audiences to a new historical context.
The tartan is this play is not just a set piece but we hope continues the conversation. It invites questions. It educates. And in doing so, it transforms the witches from narrative devices into symbols of endurance, resistance, and reckoning. This fabric is woven with memory, in recognition of every woman who was accused, interrogated, and punished simply for existing outside the norm.
Moreover, the tartan is a statement of solidarity. It reminds audiences that witch hunts are not ancient history—they echo today in the policing of women’s bodies, in the vilification of female ambition, and in the backlash against women’s voices.
The witches’ tartan is integral to our Lady Macbeth Uncut and that and the play does what theatre at its best must do: unearths forgotten histories, confronts uncomfortable truths, and insists that art is never neutral. With every thread, we honour the victims, tell their stories, and make them part of the world we conjure on stage.
And the work to ensure women’s voices are heard continues.