A Review of Macbeth

Elizabeth Richards Mr. Brown Early British Literature December 21, 2011

Richards As I sat down in my theater seat, I dreaded the thought of sitting through yet another production of Macbeth. But still I searched for the perfect director's interpretation. Suddenly the lights when out and the sound of a deep drum roll (thunder) filled the performance hall. I knew from the start that this would be one of the most dramatic stagings of Macbeth I had ever witnessed. In the back corner of the stage, a low light showed the outlines, like shadows, of three cloaked figures, as the thunder continued and flashes of light indicated lightning. I am not sure of the source, but a blast of wind ripped through the audience. It was as if the audience too was in the stormy night, helped by the fact that every window in the room was covered by a thick black curtain. The sound of whistling wind began as the three figures made their way to the front of the stage, pulling their hoods back to reveal three seemingly old ladies, with long white hair and prominent warts on their facesclassic witches. The scene continued on, the witches wandering around the stage, speaking some lines to each other, some to the audience to pull us in. The end chant was accompanied by growing thunder and lightning until the final flash of lightning before a blackout. The director obviously attempted to play up the role of the witches, making what they had to say stick in the audience's head. This is one way to convey the importance of a character to a whole group of people. The second scene began at the back of the theater, with the actors walking down aisles to make their way to the stage. The scenery shows a forest with dark trees, simple, but well detailed. It adds to but does not take away from the present scene. As soon as the second scene ends, a spotlight focuses on the three witches again, down stage right. This was somewhat a surprise to the audience, making their appearance seem magical and slightly ominous. Now they have bushes surrounding them, adding to the scenery, but the lack of any other details of scenery

Richards 2 or props adds to their mystery. When Macbeth and Banquo enter, the light on the witches opens out only a little, making space for Macbeth and Banquo. A single spotlight follows Banquo and Macbeth as they cross the stage to meet the witches. After the witches convey the prophecy of Macbeth and Banquo's lives, the spotlight on the witches goes dark, so they seemingly vanish. The other spotlight is left on Macbeth and Banquo for the rest of the scene. The vanishing of the witches was done in such a simple manner, however, it did convey the mystery and confusion of the witches and all they had just told the two men. When Ross and Angus make their entrance, the lights across the stage slowly come up, seemingly pulling Macbeth and Banquo out of a possible dream world back to their normal lives. Now, the play so far had been very admirable, but there are certain scenes I wanted to study and discover how this director, whose work I admire thus far, portrayed the more confusing scenes of Macbeth. The first is in the court of Macbeth's castle, when he apparently sees a dagger. My ideal idea of the dagger's appearance is floating out in front of Macbeth, glowing so to inform the audience that it may not exist. I would want the audience to question whether Macbeth is going mad, or if the dagger is actually present. However, I know this cannot actually happen, as inanimate objects do not just float glowing in space. When the lights came up to this scene, I sat poised on the edge of my seat, waiting to see what the director formulated as the best plan of action. When it comes time for the dagger to appear before Macbeth, the dagger actually comes from above the stage, dangling on a string. As it hangs in front of Macbeth, he reaches out questionably as if he does not know himself what is real. Again a spotlight singles out the action on stagejust Macbeth and the daggeras if he is again falling back into an alternate reality like with Banquo and the witches. When a bell ringsLady Macbeth's warningthe lights come up

Richards 3 again, pulling Macbeth away again from his world of fates and spirits, and he drops the dagger out of sight of the audience, as if it disappears. This scene almost staged my ideas. The director made the most of what he could possibly do on stage to make the dagger appear to be a figment of Macbeth's imagination. The next troubling scene in Macbeth is when Banquo's ghost appears in the dining room. The director again had to choose how to portray the ghost: as a figment of Macbeth's imagination, or physically present? This ghost does not have a line in the scene, and therefore the director had more freedom to do what he chose with it's appearance. When the scene opens in the hall of the palace, there is a simple backdrop of a medieval palace hall. The area around the table is lit up, but the sides of the stage remain dark. The director chooses to portray the ghost as a hologram. First the hologram plays in the dark section of the stage, and then again is shown as sitting at the table, surrounded by other people, oblivious to the ghost. However, Macbeth notices it. The rest of the cast does a superb job acting genuinely confused as to why Macbeth is acting so strangely. Again, I believe this scene was done as best it could be given the circumstances of being on stage rather than the screen. One of the most pivotal scenes in Macbeth is when the three witches make a special brew in their large cauldron, and apparitions appear to Macbeth. This scene took place in the middle of the stage, under a large spotlight, with the rest of the stage black. A smoke rises out of the witches' cauldron as they chant around it. Macbeth enters from the dark offstage and takes in what the witches are doing. Macbeth wants to know what his fate is, and the witches certainly tell him. First an apparition (in the form of another hologram) appears over the cauldron, of an armed head. The next two apparitions, also holograms, are of a bloody child, and a child crowned with a tree in his hand. After these apparitions, eight kings appear in holograms, with

Richards 4 Banquo following. During Act 5, Malcolm, Siward, Young Siward, Macduff, Menteith, Caithness, Angus, Lennox, Ross and other soldiers again use the area in the isles to stage their attack of the castle. Malcolm calls out to the others across the theater to cut down a bow of wood, which they all continue to move toward the stage with, as if the forest, around the the audience, is moving. The audience, just like Macbeth, feels uncertain of what is going to happen. The backdrop on stage simply shows an outline of the castle with some lights in the windows. The scene follows when Malcolm takes the castle, and the position of King. One last point to make is when Malcolm makes his final speech at the end of the play, he stands under a single spotlight downstage left, and as he speaks, images of what he is speaking of take place behind him on the stage under other spotlights. When he speaks of his exiled friends abroad, Fleance and Donalbain appear under their own spotlights on the stage behind him, when he speaks of Lady Macbeth's death, the audience sees the manner in which Lady Macbeth took her own life. As he finishes his speech, the lights slowly fade out to majestic trumpets in the background, symbolizing Malcolm's hopefully successful rule. Overall, the play was simple, but the acting filled it out. The way in which the director staged difficult scenes was graceful and interesting, keeping lots of space for the audience to come up with it's own conclusions as to the matters at hand. Overall, darkness symbolized mystery, and the spotlights accentuated important aspects of the acts. The director did an admirable job navigating the most confusing, difficult scenes of Macbeth.