Costume/ Set /Staging

 On Tuesday the 29th January, we as a group were deciding how we will map out the stage. The first scene includes the witches so we'll need a cauldron or a bucket that at least represents a cauldron, etc...

We thought that the lights will fill with a darker red as the show goes on to show the bloodshed, anger and madness, yet when Macbeth is killed at the end, the lights will neutralise to show evil has been stopped.


obviously, the theatre will be in the round but it doesn't have to make a circle. the audience just have to surround the actors, so we thought of  benches that the audience will sit on with gaps at either end so the actors can enter and exit the space.

We also decided as a sinister effect, the Witches will sit in the audience and rise on each of their line and make their entrance into the space.

Notes on various different costumes decided as a collective

Below, for my costume of a hitman when I'm playing the role of the murderer ( essentially a hitman) I have taken inspiration of my costume to be a polo shirt/ chino trousers and boat shoes to add that casual/ smart look; this adds effect to how casually they will murder Macduff's family.

Rehearsals

We've jumped head first into rehearsal now and I feel that over the last couple of weeks the play is starting to take shape. Lines are coming a lot more with ease, especially playing the witch for me. 

We've got on with rehearsal really well, and now we've started working properly in our little groups (Pink, Black and Blue) we have got a lot more done. 

Although ben is shown directing; Daniella is my groups (Blue) official director. I feel that she is doing a really great job, and now I feel that she is directing as a whole, our groups piece is taking shape, and she allows us to have input too which I feel is great so it makes our group and piece wholesome and universal.

Ben in action directing the group

This is the scene where I am playing the porter. There is a strange knocking and I'm practically comparing it as though the knocking is the devils work condemning someone to hell. I am also very drunk, I'm supposed to keep guard on who enters the castle. He then starts to joke around pretending to be the porter of hell and condemning three examples of men. But still hearing the knocking kind of shakes him and he realises that this isn't hell, and in fact will stop mucking about, because he was going to let almost every Tom, Dick and Harry into hell. 

As he is about to find the keys to find the source of the knocking, almost caught in the act of being drunk, Macduff takes him by surprise. 

He explains all the side affects that drink can provoke. He also explains that it causes the urge to want to have sex, but takes away the performance.

I've had fun in rehearsals playing him, he's very different to any character I've ever played. He plays the comic relief; Duncan has been killed so rather than have audience being depressed all the way through, they have a character make the audience laugh as a sort of break from misery. 

The ease with playing this character is that you can almost get away with adlibbing or adding certain extra quirks; to make his drunkenness appear true.

William shakespeare - Context

William Shakespeare (26th April 1564 - 23rd April 1604)

Facts about Shakespeare 

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford upon Avon on 26th April 1546.He is considered the worlds most famous dramatists; writing over 38 plays and 154 sonnets. He most likely to have received a classical Latin education at the kings new school. Shakespeare worked as an actor, writer and co-owner of a drama company called, " The Lords chamberlain men" later known as the kings men. He was acquainted with Queen Elizabeth the first. His greatest plays consist of , Hamlet, King Lear , Othello, Macbeth and Romeo + Juliet. Shakespeare's popularity blossomed after the romantic period and Victorian period - receiving praise of the poets such as , Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Victor Hugo and Voltaire. In the introduction to the first Folio, Playwright Ben Johnson wrote a preface for him writing, (Shakespeare) is not of an age, but of all time. "Bardolatry", was a term created by George Barnard Shaw to describe anything Shakespearian during the Victorian period. 

By 1592, He received acclaim for a "jack of all trades"; he received the first literary criticism with playwright Robert Greene. Shakespeare acted in many of his plays. He was well acquainted with Queen Elizabeth. 

His plays are mainly categorised into three separate divisions;

Comedies: "much ado about nothing", " All's well ends well" 

Histories: "Henry V" , "Cleopatra"

Tragedies: "Macbeth" "Romeo and Juliet", "Othello"

Shakespeare's words

Iambic pentameter is a style of poetry that refers to the number of syllables in a line and the emphasis placed on the syllables. Shakespeare never invented this style, but he used it many times in his plays and sonnets. in poetry, two syllables together are called a foot, for example, ; The Dog in the line of poetry would be considered a foot. If in the line, "the" was unstressed but "Dog" was stressed its represented as "Da Dum", sort of flows like a heartbeat. The unstressed/stressed foot is considered to be an Iamb , which is where the term iambic Pentameter derives from. 

In poetry "meter" is referred to the pattern of syllables in a line; "Penta" means five, so five feet of iambs. in a line. For example, of Shakespeare; 

for SOFT | what LIGHT | through YON | der WIN | dow Breaks |

 da Dum  |       da Dum   |      da Dum      |    da Dum  |   da Dum  |  

I feel that now I have read the translation of my part as captain it has aided me in showing the truest performance I can do. I have gotten the gist that he is injured from the bloody broil that Macbeth succeeded in. He is giving an overview of the battle, how they couldn't tell who would win and who'd lose, as it was almost in plain sight that MacDonwald would win because of the size of his army and lady luck had been with him. but Macbeth had the upper hand, chopped his way through the army and eventually beheaded Macdonwald. 

I feel that the grittiest form of language should be most emphasised because you want to show the extent and give images to the audience that what they'd been through was a bloody battle. 

for this scene I am on the floor entirely, I should be gripping at my side to show that I'd been stabbed and attacked by the enemies. I should take my time with the delivery of the speech, to add emphasis on the fact that I'm wounded.