A modern audience has much in common with a Jacobean audience. We all want, or wanted, I suppose, to watch an interesting story that can hold our interest for a few hours and maybe inspire a few laughs or a little philosophical thought if we're up for it. For a work to do this, it is important that it is relevant to us as viewers. One might say that belief in the supernatural has gone out of fashion. Although there are many who still argue that there may be “more things in Heaven and Earth” than we can easily observe in our universe – be they literal ghosts or a simple refusal to say the title of a play while at the theater – modern popular belief is following a clear trend towards science over magic. It is true that this trend can be traced back to the Renaissance and beyond, but while the idea that goblins might be responsible for spoiling milk began to fade, the notion of witches and witchcraft remained firmly, darkly entrenched in the minds of all classes ; King James I was also known for his fear of witches, a topic he wrote a book about, and during his reign witch hunts became rampant in the British Isles, throughout Europe and across the sea to America. These contemporary thoughts had a clear influence on Shakespeare's depiction of witches in Macbeth. In earlier versions of the Macbeth story, they were known as "nymphs" or "fairies", two ideas with very different connotations than the witch-like creatures of the play. Fairies may have been good enough for a comedy like A Midsummer Night's Dream, causing trouble and dancing, but to take a story into the depths of Macbeth, Shakespeare needed something dark, gritty and current for maximum dramatic impact . While, for the most part, the idea of ​​witchcraft today… is half a paper… The limp arm and the noose become representations of real events and emotions that serve to draw you into the story. At the opposite end of the spectrum are productions that leave behind any trace of realism. One of my personal favorite witch portrayals comes from a 2008 show directed by Teller, which uses stage magic techniques to create a world of blood, violence, and magic that's more like a dream (or nightmare) than anything you'll find in reality. Inhuman and primal creatures, they deliver their opening lines to the beat of a drum as Macbeth slaughters his enemies before you. One may see one kiss a dying man in a manner that resembles taking the life out of him. These are not quietly creepy hags that make you squirm in your seat, they are powerful, demonic nightmare visions that force you out of reality and into that bloody fantasy world..