JULIUS CAESAR: Act I

Full disclosure: I used to HATE this play. especially just after i first read it as a sophomore in high school. and it is still not one of my favorites but it is stunning how much it has grown on me.I think the main reason I hated it is because it is so poorly taught in high schools when its part of the curriculum. And we certainly didnt read much of it allowed although I do remember an assignment of memorizing ten lines and me picking portia and pretending to jam a pen in my leg... anyway i thought it was SO BORING and frustrating and i didnt care when anyone died. I still dont have an intense emotional connection to any of the characters, but working with some of my grad school clasmates who love this play has created an opportunity to see it in a new light. and I think what truly made me reconsider was seeing the ASCTC version with some very talented young people (including a truly captivating girl playing Cassius) made me listen to this story again...

1.1

The opening to this play is cool because it starts with commoners. Not royalty or witches or an ominous epilogue but everyday people. and some upper class powerful people chiding them of course. I think its interesting that the workmen are the witty ones and the powerful ones seem to have no sense of humor. marullus and Flavius drive the workmen out of the streets and insist on taking down any decoration or ceremony that might make Caesar get too big for his britches/feel better than them. they bring up the feast of Lupercal- a holiday time (so the workers have every right to party it up. jeez.) full of feasting and fertility and remembering the Roman beginnings of Romulus and Remus. a quick opening scene and we're on to

 

1.2

we begin with Caesar, the man of the hour, the titular character, and he starts the scene by calling for his wife. and why is he calling for her? because he wants her to make sure that Antony touches her during his race to cure her barrenness. Yes, he ANNOUNCES her barrenness to the entire crowd of people. that's the first impression we get of Caesar. what a dick. Next, a soothsayer comes up and tells Caesar to beware the ides of March, probably the most famous line of the play aside from friends, romans, countrymen... does caesar listen? No. He responds with: He is a dreamer; let us leave him: pass. You know what Caesar? I like dreamers. and its your own fault when you get stabbed. see? i think maybe my problem was that i thought i had tot ry and like caesar when i first read it and i just can't. but then caesar leaves and we get this wonderful strange scene between Brutus and Cassius. Their relationship has become endlessly fascinating to me. This play is obviously a rhetorical gold mine since characters are obsessed with feeling each other out and playing the political game. an example, Brutus' response to Cassius:

Of late with passions of some difference,
Conceptions only proper to myself,
Which give some soil perhaps to my behaviors;
But let not therefore my good friends be grieved--
Among which number, Cassius, be you one--
Nor construe any further my neglect,
Than that poor Brutus, with himself at war,
Forgets the shows of love to other men.

Even just taking the line among which number, Cassius, be you one is convoluted enough to make people think Shakespeare is hard and that they hate it as opposed to realizing this CHARACTER talks in a way that is intentionally less straightforward- more art less matter so to speak. and another thing i've realized i love about this play is the crazy philosophical themes just dropped into conversation:

CASSIUS

Tell me, good Brutus, can you see your face?
BRUTUS

No, Cassius; for the eye sees not itself,
But by reflection, by some other things.

awesome. I actually think about reflections vs. reality a lot. It also makes me think of an acting teacher who once said "isn't it funny how almost everything we use to judge beauty- hair, nails, skin- its all dead." think on that.

So Cassius starts telling Brutus he will be his mirror and tell him the great things he doesn't see in himself when there's a commotion and Brutus says he's worried the people have chosen Caesar to rule.

Cassius seizes this opportunity to work some rhetorical magic:

Well, honour is the subject of my story.
I cannot tell what you and other men
Think of this life; but, for my single self,
I had as lief not be as live to be
In awe of such a thing as I myself.
or to put it like the Muppets Take Manhattan: peoples is peoples ok? No need to treat Caesar like a god because he's just a dude (and not a cool dude at that.. but that's just me...) to emphasize Caesar's mortality, Cassius talked about how he once saved Caesar from drowning after he'd gone in the water on a dare from Caesar.

I, as Aeneas, our great ancestor,
Did from the flames of Troy upon his shoulder
The old Anchises bear, so from the waves of Tiber
Did I the tired Caesar. And this man
Is now become a god, and Cassius is
A wretched creature and must bend his body,
If Caesar carelessly but nod on him.
I picked that passage because the image of Aeneas and Anchises is so beautiful and shows up again in the Henry VI plays we'll get to eventually. so beautiful, the language in this play is truly amazing.

Men at some time are masters of their fates:
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.
another theme that comes up over and over again and that I think about all the time. It reminds me of one of my mottos for the year, Helena's "Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie..." it relates to one of my favorite concepts from my AP psych class: locus of control and whether you have an internal locus of control or an external locus of control and in which situations that belief changes. (Hint: the healthiest life is probably a reasonable balance of the two.... now if only I could find that!)

Brutus had rather be a villager
Than to repute himself a son of Rome
Under these hard conditions as this time
Is like to lay upon us.
There's a lot of i'd rather be sentiments in this play. very grass is always greener huh?

Caesar comes back in and continues to win everyone over with the statement:

Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look;
He thinks too much: such men are dangerous.
HE THINKS TOO MUCH! ahahah all i can think of is this: http://jpegy.com/fandom/its-not-right-for-a-woman-to-read-soon-she-starts-getting-ideas-and-thinking-618

the rest of caesar's points are hit and miss. he doesnt like that Cassius reads so much (see above), he poitns out that cassius doesnt like theatre or music (though clearly he's big on philosophy and rhetoric. extremely left brained perhaps?) He finishes his speech with

I rather tell thee what is to be fear'd
Than what I fear; for always I am Caesar.
so not only is Caesar a dick, but also a liar. let's stab this sucker. (it really is amazing what i can get behind in storytelling that would horrify me in life. something to muse upon. I'm sure we'llt alka bout this more when we get to one of my favorite characters ever- Jack Cade. GOD THE HISTORY CYCLES ARE JUST SO GOOD!!!!)

Once caesar leaves brutus asks Casca what happened with all the hubbub and Casca explains that the crowd, led by Antony, offered caesar a crown three times and he declined. Casca's response interestingly jumps into prose. (the verse/prose choices throughout this play are wildly interesting) Casca seems to think Caesar wanted the crown the whole time, and perhaps the only reason he didnt take it the last time is:

He fell down in the market-place, and foamed at mouth, and was speechless.

I never realized how much SPUNK Casca has. He's kind of goofy and yet raw and harsh in his joking. he also gets the famous line it was Greek to me.

Cassius describes Casca in this way:

This rudeness is a sauce to his good wit,
Which gives men stomach to digest his words
With better appetite.
I think Casca might be my favorite so far.

After Brutus and Cassius agree to meet later, Cassius pulls a Richard III and tells the audience how he's going to turn brutus against caesar by pretending to write notes form citizens of rome who look up to him/ adore him etc.etc. etc.

1.3

OK, I read this scene and think shakespare has to be messing with us right? Why else would the characters in this scene be Casca, Cassius, Cinna, and Cicero?! NOT ALL ROMAN NAMES BEGIN WITH C! It's storming in this scene which is always fun to create, especially when its said to be a fire storm. also lions roaming the streets?

Why old men fool and children calculate,
Why all these things change from their ordinance
I find this more chilling than the rest of the crazy times reported because its the most real and sad to me.

and then we get to start on the woman bashing:

But, woe the while! our fathers' minds are dead,
And we are govern'd with our mothers' spirits;
Our yoke and sufferance show us womanish.
then there's talk about how suicide delivers us from slavery. now i'm remembering why this story disturbs me so much... but it does it with such great language

I think its interesting that Cassius knows Casca by his voice and Cinna by his walk...

All these men agree to help snare Brutus into their plans to overthrow Caesar. They all seem very disdainful of the common Romans. That's about it for Act I.

(Those of you in or lucky enough to see the ASCs ren season performance of Caesar, I'd love to hear about some of the performance choices!!)

Macbeth Act 5: THE FINALE!!!

I'd like to start today by saying hello to whoever in Sint Maarten has been viewing this blog... that's cool y'all.

 

5.1

we start act 5 with the doctor (presumably the one that made the cameo appearance last act?) attending to sleep walking crazed Lady M. It's interesting that a gentlewoman has to describe what's been going on before Lady M comes out. I dont knwo if this is just to shed some light on this being a regular occurence or if it helps the audience accept what they see in a moment...

This scene is really where all the disturbing talk about sleep and lack thereof comes to a head. the doctor says:

A great perturbation in nature, to receive at once
the benefit of sleep, and do the effects of
watching! In this slumbery agitation

It is interesting to me that the gentlewoman refuses to tell the doctor what she's heard Lady M say. She clearly lives in fear (of her position at least if not her life)

Lady M's sleepwalking delusions are intense and of course all have to do with her murders. We get the famous out damn's spot line. but the line that kills me (should be no surprise) is:

The thane of Fife had a wife: where is she now?-- What, will these hands ne'er be clean?--No more o'that, my lord, no more o' that: you mar all with this starting.

And that's why, in my interpretation of Lady M- I think she would not have gone mad until she found out her husband Killed Lady Macduff and little Macduff. It was bad enough when he didnt consort with her about banquo but the Macduff's, instead of finding Lord Macduff- i think that was the breaking point that makes her unable to justify all that she had justified until that point.

all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Oh, oh, oh!

There are those beautiful Os again.

And acting class lesson: REPETITION

To bed, to bed! there's knocking at the gate:
come, come, come, come, give me your hand. What's
done cannot be undone.--To bed, to bed, to bed!

So many choices with those repeated phrases and the different reasons Lady M might say them/ what she's going through.

The doctor is absolutely no help. and all he can say is: unnatural deeds Do breed unnatural troubles:

And that's the last time we see Lady M...

5.2

A very short scene describing how everyone is preparing for battle. Macbeth is of course obsessed with Dunsinane thanks to the witches and their prophecy. And here, we have Shakespeare give a magnificent passage to a character who we've never heard of, who comes out of nowhere:

ANGUS

Now does he feel
His secret murders sticking on his hands;
Now minutely revolts upbraid his faith-breach;
Those he commands move only in command,
Nothing in love: now does he feel his title
Hang loose about him, like a giant's robe
Upon a dwarfish thief.

MAN. that language is SO GOOD. The images, the sounds, the conviction! Never feel disappointed if you're cast as Angus, even if you don't get a double. (and odds are you'll get some kickass fight choreography later to go along with your kickass speech.)

and then all the men in this scene go to join up with Malcolm and Macduff at Birnam wood. OH! the audience knows something is going to happen since this was also mentioned by the witches. (Seriously... how do you cut the witches out of this play but still build the tension?? I ask b/c i know productions where that was the concept.)

5.3

Macbeth repeats these witchy locations in the opening of this scene:

Bring me no more reports; let them fly all:
Till Birnam wood remove to Dunsinane,
I cannot taint with fear.

Of course, a soldier then comes in with another report and Macbeth replies with

Take thy face hence.

thank god for comic relief! not quite as good as knave in thy face but i'll take it.

These scne is also a great reminder that Macbeth is truly a soldier and a very hardcore fighter

I'll fight till from my bones my flesh be hack'd

we've seen a lot of Macbeth being scared or unsure and now we're reminded of the soldier he was in the first act.

In the midst of this the doctor comes in and updates Macbeth on his wife. He makes it clear that he expects the doctor to fix his wife. The doctor tells the audience he'd like to peace out of Dunsinane and NEVER COME BACK.

5.4

Another short scene where Malcolm announces they have arrived at Birnam wood and what his plan will be: everyone is going to cut down pieces of the wood to hide how many soldiers they have. Not only is this a sound tactical strategy but ta-da! birnam wood will march to dunsinane. Prepare to die macbeth. Onward to war.

5.5

The way this scene starts is. awesome. as macbeth prepares for the oncoming battle the following happens:

(A cry of women within)

What is that noise?
SEYTON

It is the cry of women, my good lord.

(Exit)

MACBETH

I have almost forgot the taste of fears;

The cries of women. Terrifying to this soldier. and the place of women in this play is really strange. We have a woman who incites murder, a mother who dies with her child, and its all going to come to a head with how we define "one of woman born" and this is followed by a brutal, simple short line: The queen, my lord, is dead. and then Macbeth's great monologue tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow (mar and mar and mar... ask me about this if you don't know the reference) but I'll let slings and arrows do the work of showing how great this speech is:

and then, the world continues to crumble. a messenger enters:

Messenger

As I did stand my watch upon the hill,
I look'd toward Birnam, and anon, methought,
The wood began to move.

MACBETH

Liar and slave!

Always good to resort to name calling when things aren't going your way. But name calling or not what does it matter? Deep down Macbeth knows he's screwed. but damn it he's going to go down fighting...

5.6

a ten line scene to show that Siward is talking with Malcolm and Macduff and they are all ready to fight to the death. (seriously... is this here to cover a costume change? give macbeth prep time for the fights? what is the point?!)

5.7

Chance to build the tension, give one last piece of comedy, and again show that Macbeth is a badass in the soldier department. He kills young siward and once he does his reply is: Thou wast born of woman

SUCH a good casual jab. Macduff arrives on the scene just after Macbeth leaves. He invokes his wife and children and swears to combat Macbeth. it's interesting that Siward doesnt' seem to notice yound siward's lying there dead... but moving on to the final scene:

5.8

Macduff makes a grand entrance into this final scene with the amazing exclamation:

Turn, hell-hound, turn!

perfect. Macduff really just verbally dominates this scene. Shortly thereafter he says: My voice is in my sword

He and Maccers fight it out a bit until Macbeth brags of his inability to be killed by one of woman born, to which Macduff replies:

Despair thy charm;
And let the angel whom thou still hast served
Tell thee, Macduff was from his mother's womb
Untimely ripp'd.
SERIOUSLY?! We're letting Macbeth die because we aren't counting a C-section as being born of a woman? You're stretching it, Wyrd sisters/Shakespeare. SERIOUSLY STRETCHING IT. and i think more people would be annoyed if the fighting surrounding this revelation weren't always so badass and also we really just want to watch Macbeth die at this point, right? so we'll take any excuse. AND it looks for a moment that macbeth is going to run away, but macduff calls him out for being a coward, they take their fight offstage, and theres a bit of dialogue wondering who is going to win/ be ok. Siward is told his son he didn't notice in the last scene is dead and Siward is glad he died a brave soldier. Macduff re-enters with Macbeth's head. always fun to use a bloody head prop. Macduff hails Malcolm as king (specifically says Hail.. a la the wyrd sisters and their greeting to Macbeth... just an echo i really love). Malcolm re-caps the play and invites the soldiers to his immediate coronation. the end. except if I were directing this play I think I'd have the wyrd sisters emerge and follow to Malcolm's coronation... just to see if they can sow some more chaos. plus.. you guys.. WITCHES!

On to a Shakespeare play I hated when I first read and has steadily grown on me... until then!

Macbeth Act 4: Shakespeare knew how to write some devestation..

4.1

MORE WITCHES! This is the money scene for the witches.

First Witch

Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd.

Second Witch

Thrice and once the hedge-pig whined.

Third Witch

Harpier cries 'Tis time, 'tis time.

How awesome are those sounds and images?! This is also the famoud double double toil and trouble scene with all kinds of nasty things the witches are putting in their spell. OSF once cut this scene (or perhaps it was just that specific double double toil and trouble refrain... I didnt get to see the actual show) and people were up in arms about it. This is clearly a rad scene to use for classes. and for teaching imagery.

Finger of birth-strangled babe
Ditch-deliver'd by a drab

hardcore.

Hecate comes back again and unlike last time Hecate is not pissed but very pleased with the wyrd sisters.

Then my favorite line of the scene:

By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes.
Open, locks,
Whoever knocks!

Just say those lines over and over again. the SOUNDS are SO AMAZING. I think Open locks whoever knocks is my new vocal warm up. who's with me?!
Enter Macbeth. of course. When he asks them what they are doing they reply: a deed without a name. Fits kind of perfectly into the whole nothing is but what is not theme... I also want to file this scene away into the activities with choral speaking file. the choices with unison speech are so interesting to me.

The apparitions and how to execute them is also a great performance text vs. written text exercize. how do you show these terrifying images? armored head, bloody child, a crowned child with a tree in his hand... I could spend hours on this scene.

another basis for a vocal warm up:

Be bloody, bold, and resolute; laugh to scorn
The power of man, for none of woman born
Shall harm Macbeth.
THE Bs are just so perfect!

Then after the three spirits, there's the procession of kings including the ghost of banquo. Another staging conundrum especially if you are using a smaller cast to do this show. but again, so many choices and cool ideas to execute here.

oh, let's add this line to our B warm up:

For the blood-bolter'd Banquo smiles upon me

As Macbeth stands in horror, the witches start singing and dancing with Hecate- thanks Middleton for the borrowed music!

then the witches vanish leaving Macbeth alone.. but not for long as Lennox comes onstage and warns Macbeth that Macduff has fled to England. Macbeth's response, even though he knows he has nothing to fear until a freaking forest comes to him?
To crown my thoughts with acts, be it thought and done:
The castle of Macduff I will surprise;
Seize upon Fife; give to the edge o' the sword
His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls
That trace him in his line. No boasting like a fool;
This deed I'll do before this purpose cool.
Which leads us to what I think is one of the darkest scenes in Shakespeare (though there are some STRONG contenders for absolute darkest... I will at least stand strong that for me this is the darkest scene in the play...)

4.2

Lady Macduff is a one scene gold mine.

The scene opens with her telling Ross of her frustration with Macduff's flight. She refuses to be told to maintain patience and she says when our actions do not/ Our fears do make us traitors a theme which we'll get back to when we get to Measure for Measure. speaking of the word traitors, Ross responds with this glorious phrase:

But cruel are the times, when we are traitors
And do not know ourselves,when we hold rumourFrom what we fear, yet know not what we fear

yes. just... yes. as someone who has known a great deal of anxiety at various times, those lines just hit home.

What kills me is that Ross, knowing everything is clearly really bad here, just peaces out. Leaving Lady Macduff and her son.

Little Macduff is SMART y'all. As most shakespearean children seem to be... cheeky and apt. The traitor talk continues with this exchange:

Son

Was my father a traitor, mother?

LADY MACDUFF

Ay, that he was.

Son

What is a traitor?

LADY MACDUFF

Why, one that swears and lies.

Son

And be all traitors that do so?

LADY MACDUFF

Every one that does so is a traitor, and must be hanged.

Son

And must they all be hanged that swear and lie?

LADY MACDUFF

Every one.

Son

Who must hang them?

LADY MACDUFF

Why, the honest men.

Son

Then the liars and swearers are fools,
for there are liars and swearers enow to beat
the honest men and hang up them.

LADY MACDUFF

Now, God help thee, poor monkey!

POOR MONKEY! remind me to use this nickname because I LOVE IT. Also, there is a lot of this kind of reasoning over the majority vs the minority that are in power and the good vs. the bad. it never ceases to simultaneously amuse and depress me.

A messenger enters this mother son time and warns them to escape the danger coming towards them, and Lady macduff's answer is heartbreaking: Whither should I fly? no. escape. Whither should I fly... shattering. And then the murderers enter and kill little Macduff in front of his mother. and the scene ends with them chasing after Lady macduff (in some stagings you certainly see them kill her too... again, this show must be a fight choreographer's dream...)

4.3

Curioser and curioser thought alice... ok, this scene boggles my mind every time. Shakespeare seems obsessed with very strange tricks and tests of loyalty... Basically Macduff tries to get Malcolm to rally with him to save their poor bleeding Scotland. Malcolm wants to know if Macduff will want him as king when he sees how lustful he is... Macduff seems fine with that and assumes that plenty of ladies will want to sex it up with the king. Malcolm then says he has avarice as a constant sin... Macduff tries to stretch this to be a possible good quality but you can see him faltering... Malcolm lists a bunch of other vices, macduff goes on a tare about how his one hope is gone and he'll live in exile and how he doesnt understand how malcolm could be the son of his parents who were so good... Malcolm then more or less says: just kidding. I was testing you. good golly, I'm still a virgin... good to know you care about morals though... then there's this genius comedic moment to end this discussion:

MALCOLM: Why are you silent?MACDUFF

Such welcome and unwelcome things at once
'Tis hard to reconcile.

Then a doctor enters, says one line, then exits- i feel like this and the description of his healing works is cut in most productiong i've seen. Then Ross comes in and has the speech that convinces me that Ross is the much better part than Malcolm or Macduff

Alas, poor country!
Almost afraid to know itself. It cannot
Be call'd our mother, but our grave; where nothing,
But who knows nothing, is once seen to smile;
Where sighs and groans and shrieks that rend the air
Are made, not mark'd; where violent sorrow seems
A modern ecstasy; the dead man's knell
Is there scarce ask'd for who; and good men's lives
Expire before the flowers in their caps,
Dying or ere they sicken.

THAT TEXT IS AMAZEBALLS. I'm sorry I can't put it more elegantly but seriously. It recaps so many sounds and themes we've encountered in this play and it is so visceral and sad and frustrated and immediate. BEAUTIFUL.

and what comes next is even more amazing and painful for an actor- things that are hard to say are so often the most amazing things to watch on stage. and this exchange is a prime example:

MACDUFF

How does my wife?

ROSS

Why, well.

MACDUFF

And all my children?

ROSS

Well too.

MACDUFF

The tyrant has not batter'd at their peace?

ROSS

No; they were well at peace when I did leave 'em.

MACDUFF

But not a niggard of your speech: how goes't?

ROSS

When I came hither to transport the tidings,
Which I have heavily borne, there ran a rumour
Of many worthy fellows that were out;
Which was to my belief witness'd the rather,
For that I saw the tyrant's power a-foot:
Now is the time of help; your eye in Scotland
Would create soldiers, make our women fight,
To doff their dire distresses.

MALCOLM

Be't their comfort
We are coming thither: gracious England hath
Lent us good Siward and ten thousand men;
An older and a better soldier none
That Christendom gives out.

ROSS

Would I could answer
This comfort with the like! But I have words
That would be howl'd out in the desert air,
Where hearing should not latch them.

MACDUFF

What concern they?
The general cause? or is it a fee-grief
Due to some single breast?

ROSS

No mind that's honest
But in it shares some woe; though the main part
Pertains to you alone.

MACDUFF

If it be mine,
Keep it not from me, quickly let me have it.

ROSS

Let not your ears despise my tongue for ever,
Which shall possess them with the heaviest sound
That ever yet they heard.

MACDUFF

Hum! I guess at it.

ROSS

Your castle is surprised; your wife and babes
Savagely slaughter'd:

So. Painful. The way he tries to avoid the subject by equivocating how his wife is (R&J flashback right? then she is well and nothing can be ill...)  then changing the subject to the need for Macduff to rally the people, and finally coming back to what he must say... and, even once Macduff can guess what it is- having to put it plainly and he seems to want to get those words out as directly as possible to finally be done with it. Just thinking about this scene makes me cry. But it doesn't end there! oh god...

MALCOLM

Merciful heaven!
What, man! ne'er pull your hat upon your brows;
Give sorrow words: the grief that does not speak
Whispers the o'er-fraught heart and bids it break.

MACDUFF

My children too?

ROSS

Wife, children, servants, all
That could be found.

MACDUFF

And I must be from thence!
My wife kill'd too?

ROSS

I have said.

I love moments onstage where silence is called for in the script. and Macduff's silence followed by his confirming that what he heard is true gives me chills. Also, I am with the characters who over and over again tell us that if you remain silent about your agony/sorrow/heartbreak you will be destroyed. that you must speak. man.. this scene just gets me. Maybe I'm even more emotional about it now that I understand a big more the devestation I would feel at losing my spouse. and I feel so bad for Ross and his finally responding with "I have said". And macduff still can't register that. Malcolm tries to move him along the stages fo grief into anger and tries to rally for revenge and Macduff's answer is:

MACDUFF

He has no children. All my pretty ones?
Did you say all? O hell-kite! All?
What, all my pretty chickens and their dam
At one fell swoop?

I have a peer who thinks that this is a moment in Shakespeare's plays where he shows a "good guy" who is pro-child killing. Who wishes he could kill Macbeth's kids to even the revenge field. But I think It just means that Macbeth could never possibly grieve the way he is now. Not that Macduff would automatically be rallied up by the prospect of becoming a child killer. There's a lot of interesting discussion next about what the "manly" way to deal with such news is.

MALCOLM

Dispute it like a man.

MACDUFF

I shall do so;
But I must also feel it as a man:
I cannot but remember such things were,
That were most precious to me. Did heaven look on,
And would not take their part? Sinful Macduff,
They were all struck for thee! naught that I am,
Not for their own demerits, but for mine,
Fell slaughter on their souls. Heaven rest them now!

MALCOLM

Be this the whetstone of your sword: let grief
Convert to anger; blunt not the heart, enrage it.

MACDUFF

O, I could play the woman with mine eyes
And braggart with my tongue! But, gentle heavens,Cut short all intermission;

Thoughts on whether this is a healthy model? Men can feel sorrow/cry but only if they are also going to kick some ass? Good that it at least shows some emotion other than rage? Horrible to encourage the conversion of grief to anger?

And that's the end of Act 4. brace yourself. act 5 has a lot of scenes. until then...
PS: I have no idea why some of my text became hyperlinked falsely or why it turned a different color... let's blame the Wyrd sisters..

Macbeth Act III

Had this all written out yesterday but forgot to post... maybe i'll do a double post today...

3.1

This act starts with Banquo revealing to the audience that Macbeth, indeed, is now King. "thou hast it now King" there's something so wonderful and achingly sweet about having Banquo do this. and that in his next breath he reveals suspicions that he did not come to the title of king honorably, and that the wyrd sisters may have foretold misery and yet he still trusts in the second half of their prophecy. Macbeth invites Banquo to dinner and hears that Banquo will be out riding with his son. once banquo leaves the stage he calls in two murderers to send after his friend. This starts on another beautiful soliloquey which begins

To be thus is nothing;
But to be safely thus.--

there's something SO HUMAN in that. fear of happiness or achievements slipping away is so much harder to deal wtih than not having had them yet and longing for them/striving for them. speaking of... macbeth then turns his attention to his barrenness. No babies for him. And we see quite clearly that the crown was not worth it if it ends with him. He doesnt just want to be king, he wants his line to continue the royal family. sorry about your luck Macbeth.

and mine eternal jewelGiven to the common enemy of man,
To make them kings, the seed of Banquo kings!

There's someting so creepy and sad about macbeth declaring that he's already given his soul to the devil. It disturbs me in a way that Richard III doesnt because he doesnt seem to acknowledge that piece until the very end of the play and its too late. we're only in Act III and Macbeth is there. SO. DARK.

I love that Shakespeare is a fan of multiple murderers in these big scenes instead of a single assassin. Furthermore that his murderers are stunningly complex. Here they tell us what kind of men would be used for this:

Second Murderer

I am one, my liege,
Whom the vile blows and buffets of the world
Have so incensed that I am reckless what
I do to spite the world.

First Murderer

And I another
So weary with disasters, tugg'd with fortune,
That I would set my lie on any chance,
To mend it, or be rid on't.

So these are men beaten up and brought down already. so different from Macbeth when he murdered. The only thing they all seem to have in common is a sense of desperation and wrecklessness. I just think those lines are SO BEAUTIFUL. Worth it to be in this play JUST to say those lines. So they all agree banquo is going to die. end of scene.

3.2

This scene shattered me as I re-read. I feel like this is when the Macbeth marriage starts to just completely fall apart because with Duncan they were in it together and while they were dysfunctional they were communicating and seemed to be doing it for the two of them against the world kind of times. now this scene Lady M says

Nought's had, all's spent,
Where our desire is got without content:
'Tis safer to be that which we destroy
Than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy.

Again, give me those four lines to say on a stage each night and I'd be happy. Let alone all the other great scenes.

Things without all remedyShould be without regard: what's done is done.

Her whole place in this scene is trying to care for her husband. But he goes on about how his place is not secure and we revisit the pain of his curse of sleeplessness...

And while Lady M KNOWS something is wrong/ Macbeth is plotting something he won't tell her.

Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck,
Till thou applaud the deed.

THAT is a game changer. they aren't in this together. she has to stand aside and wait.

3.3

Another murder scene. This play must be a fight choreographer's dream.

A quick and dirty scene. we now have 3 murderers instead of the 2 who originally spoke with Macbeth, an intentional red flag for the audience based on the first lines

First Murderer

But who did bid thee join with us?

Third Murderer

Macbeth.

Yeah.. nothing good can come from Macbeth at this point. Banquo and Fleance enters and they kill him almost instantly. NOt much of a fight since there are three against 2. I always find dying lines to be interesting and Banquos is:

BANQUO

O, treachery! Fly, good Fleance, fly, fly, fly!
Thou mayst revenge. O slave!

Lots of choices for an actor there, especially with the repetition of "fly" and the beautiful gift of those Os.

Of course Fleance gets away and the murderers are clearly concerned about what Macbeth's reaction will be.

3.4

Ah the banquet scene. I love that instead of bringing Macbeth away from the party like he does when thinking about killing the King, now the murderer with a bloody face comes into the banquet hall and Macbeth ahs to try and awkwardly cover going to talk to the man. You think maybe that's the worst of it but then, once Lady M has prompted Macbeth to be more like a proper host and he responds by calling her "Sweet remembrancer!" which is really wonderful as a phrase. I think I'll bring it up to dan as an alternative for when I'm nagging him over one thing or another we've forgotten... anyway, then the ghost of banquo comes on stage. I'll once again turn to slings and arrows for what I think is a brilliant performance choice for this section:
brilliant words in this section
never shake your gory locks at me
andImpostors to true fear, would well become
A woman's story at a winter's fire,
Authorized by her grandam. Shame itself!
and my favorite:If charnel-houses and our graves must send
Those that we bury back, our monuments
Shall be the maws of kites.
Macbeth finally recovers himself and tries to explain away that his fits are some sort of medical condition he's had forever. he proposes a toast: I drink to the general joy o' the whole table and seems to be back on track when Banquo's ghost enters again. Side note- I LOVE that this is one of the quotes on a series of shakespeare coasters I used to own. there were actually several quotes about drinking that seem like someone just did a glossary search for drink or wine and are actually in AWFUL dark parts of plays that you would not necessarily want to think about in a party setting... or maybe the people who made those did it on purpose and share my slightly dark sense of humor...

Another favorite exchange:MACBETH
What is the night?
LADY MACBETH
Almost at odds with morning, which is which.
and of course it all comes back to my favorite theme:You lack the season of all natures, sleep.

Here's your daily dose of slings and arrows (to get to the Macbeth bit I'm going for skip in about 1:55):

3.5
this is SUCH A STRANGE scene. Hecate comes and yells at the witches. does someone have a legit bigger reason aside from it covering time others actors may need to double or the fact that every audience loves more creepy magic times. anyone have thoughts?

3.6
another very short scene about how distressing and slightly confusing the last events have been. We get the hint that war is coming. so a short little kickstart to the rest of the play... onward to Act 4!

Macbeth Act 2: playing darkness, knock knock jokes, and more!!

2.1

The great scene of Macbeth and Banquo meeting in the night before the King's murder... I believe this was the scene that Professor Cohen taught us his thoughts on playing darkness. I think I'd always skipped over it before that lesson, but it  has some beautiful language: "there's husbandry in heaven. Their candles are all out" or if you fancy some alliteration: A heavy summons lies like lead upon me"

It KILLS ME (ugh... no pun originally intended but now I can't bring myself to delete it) that when Banquo says who's there the answer from Macbeth is "a friend"

This scene also has the "Is this a dagger" soliloquy. I think this speech must be magical. because any time I see it on its own, even with ridiculously talented actors, I think its kind of lame. But when its in the play... it hooks me every time. Anyone else experience that? Or is it just my own experience and bias? The bell is awesome in this speech and gives us the whole for whom the bell tolls moment. also: we are continuing with the kingly couplet endings. they are huge in this play, huh?

2.2

SUCH A GREAT SCENE. and truly where the concept of "playing darkness" works best because when actors are preoccupied with trying to hide the daggers or not see them until well into the scene it always shows and makes the scene creek a bit. Lady M starts the scene and this is a FABULOUS lesson in the potential of shared lines & choices to make. Not to mention this gem of a line referring to why she sent Macbeth to kill the king instead of doing it herself: "Had he not resembled/ My father as he slept, I had done't" Daddy. Issues.

The textual culture scholar in me is still obsessed with this "stairstep shared line"

This scene also gets us the title of the adaptation I WISH I COULD SEE - "sleep no more" All the talk about sleep in this play was my mantra during my worst times of insomnia. Half the pity I feel for this murderer comes from the lines about sleep. "Sleep that knits up the ravell'd sleave of care/ the death of each day's life, sore labor's bath/ balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course/ chief nourisher in life's feast" sleep no more. ugh. (its like every parent and grad student's anthem right? painful. terrifying.)

 Then there's a lot of talk of color and juxtaposing color with the blood. and finally the scene ends with a knocking. knocking knocking knocking. "Wake Duncan with thy knocking! I would thou couldst!" Knocking knocking knocking... until that scene ends and we get

2.3

Knock knock.... who's there?

I'd like to take a pause from the text here to applaud one of the brilliant pieces i saw presented at the 2011 Blackfriars conference. You can find the full summary here:

http://americanshakespearecentereducation.blogspot.com/2011/10/blackfriars-conference-2011-plenary_26.html

but basically Chris Barrett argues that the entire Porter's scene is a perfect example of what all knock knock jokes really are: "a tiny Aristotelian bomb" (you wont find that quote in the summary. it came from my own notes. yeah, that phrase was so perfect I wrote it down and, truth be told, I memorized it.) Now taking from the blog summary:

"A knock-knock joke has a formula that suggests not only fear, but a disruption of the rules of hospitality: the guest is an uncouth interrupter and the joke is always on the host. Implied is a laughing forgiveness for the transgression -- thus pity and fear are integral to the knock-knock joke and also, as it happens, to tragedy."

Awesome, right?

The porter scene also gives you some much needed comic relief after the last scene and a good bit of bawdy humor. I PRAY YOU REMEMBER THE PORTER!

The porter of course answers the door to Macduff and Lennox who want to see the King. macbeth enters and shortly after comes what I think is one of the most brilliant bits of dark comedy ever written:

 LENNOX

The night has been unruly: where we lay,
Our chimneys were blown down; and, as they say,
Lamentings heard i' the air; strange screams of death,
And prophesying with accents terrible
Of dire combustion and confused events
New hatch'd to the woeful time: the obscure bird
Clamour'd the livelong night: some say, the earth
Was feverous and did shake.

MACBETH

'Twas a rough night.

EVERYTHING about that is perfect! the long speech vs. short response. the dry humor.  etc. sooo good.

Then Macduff comes in to report the King's murder and Macbeth says something that can either be played as outward show of mourning for Macduff and lenox's sake, or a true sorrow at what he has done/fear for his soul:

Had I but died an hour before this chance,
I had lived a blessed time; for, from this instant,
There 's nothing serious in mortality:
All is but toys: renown and grace is dead;
The wine of life is drawn, and the mere lees
Is left this vault to brag of.

Then we have the strange strange plot twist of Macbeth confessing he murdered the attendants though claiming it was out of rage they didnt protect the king... and Lady M asking for help/seeming to faint- likely to cover up Macbeth's big awkward screw up.(This is a moment I would teach at the college level. its so strange and the staging influences so much and I just love it more and more each time i read it)

The scene ends with the King's sons- Malcolm and Donalbain alone on stage deciding to flee to Ireland and England to escape whatever strange treason is going on here in Scotland.

2.4

The scene begins with Ross and an Old Man talking about weird wacktastic going ons. It seems that Nature is rebelling in a way that is not even a little subtle over the King's death my favorite being reports that horses are EATING EACH OTHER. WHAT?!?!?!

Since the King's sons ran away everyone thinks they have something to do with the murder and surprise surprise that leaves Macbeth to be King. Macduff and Ross decide to flee to new locations as well. I can't blame them. if horses were eating each other and day looked like night i'd want to jump that ship too!!

Act 3 tomorrow! I leave you with a video clip from one of the greatest shows of all time- expect more of these:

I'm BACK!!!! Macbeth Act I.

So When I said I wasnt touching shrew in the New Year, i wasn't messing around. I actually had the 4th act written and was going to finish the final one New Year's Eve when I was hit with the flu so I was out of commision for almost two weeks straight. Totally gross. I hope you all had a healthier start to the new year. After the flu episode, we moved into a new place and were a bit slow setting up the wireless internet so now, finally, i'm ready to blog again and be more diligent with it! (Side note, i've also been busy rehearsing a show. If you're in the Phoenix area you can come see me in Picasso at the Lapin Agile. see www.brelby.com OR www.brelby.tix.com )

So....

We're going to move on to the next play I was exposed to: Macbeth. I figure I'm ok typing it regardless of any of you superstitious folks out there. If you're nervous about that just don't say it outloud right? I can't remember exactly when I read this play for the first time but I'm fairly sure it was at some point in highschool and I know I'd already read it and done some scene work from it by the time we covered it my senior year so I'm going to take a guess this is the next play, even though I could be mixing up the order of this one and Julius Ceasar (yup, that's what's coming up next... just quadurples my wish that I was watching the REN season in Staunton!)

So... this play is dark and awesome. Since first encountering it I have done scene work with it and a full length production that cut all the characters but the Macbeths and the 3 witches, with the three witches appearing as the other characters that spur the Macbeths on as well (this adaptation was called voices of Evil and was written by Prof. Rathburn ofNotre Dame University. It was very movement heavy and I absolutely loved it)

1.1

Y'all... this play starts with witches! How do you beat that?! "When shall we three meet again?" So not only do we start with witches, but witches who we know are coming back. rad. The first scene is super short and seems to just be an introduction to the supernatural. The scene eneds with the couplet

"Fair is foul, and foul is fair,

HOver through the fog and filthy air"

Fair is foul and foul is fair- this little riddle like phrase ties into what I think the theme of the play is, as well as one of the greatest lines- "Nothing is but what is not". SO. GOOD. I have that engraved on a keychain. It screws with your head in a really wonderful way.

1.2

Battle times: this scene starts with King Duncan asking "what bloody man is that?" oh duncan... you have no idea how bloody this play is going to get! When talking about the battle, its worth noting that fortune is compared to a rebel's whore. so that's fun. Basically this scene begins with a lot of praise for Macbeth and what a kickass solidier he is. One of my favorite parts of the sargeants's description/lines is after going on and on about macbeth he says "But I am faint, my gashes cry for help" so only after these long descriptions does he give into how much he's bleeding instead of getting a doctor right away! Hardcore. Lots of playable things there right? The scene finishes with the information that the Thane of Cawdor is as good as dead sicne he was a traitor, (hmmm... Cawdor and Gloucester dont seem like great places to rule...) and Macbeth is going to inherit his title. Dear god I hope any production hammers this home because it makes the witches scene that comes next so much better.

1.3

Remember when we talked about the idea that maybe Puck is a little more demon like than we usually see him portrayed? I'm a little more convinced after thinking how similar the witches' pranks are to the sprightly hobgoblin's. Only these bitches be way scarier than Puck. Teaching moment: I think I would LOVe to do a whole class on how you choose to portray witches for any given production. Macbeth describes them as "so withered and so wild in their attire" and later says "you should be women, and yet your beards forbid me to interpret" Is Macbeth seeing things? is that what the audience sees? There seem to be an awful lot of productions ive seen with "sexy" witches- what's up with that? So the witches reference that Macbeth will be Thane of Cawdor and then King hereafter. Banquo wants to know whats up with the Macbeth's reactions to this news- this is a GREAT play to teach internal stage directions. SO SO SO WONDERFUL.Another wonderful thing to teach/ practice/discuss with this play is stage magic. Do the witches disappear? how? do they stay but become invisible? lots of really fun choices!!!

Banquo is not scared of these witches and says "speak then to me, who neither beg nor fear/ your favors nor your hate"

Then Ross comes onstage to announce the outcomes of battles and that macbeth is indeed now Thane of Cawdor and even though we knew he was before he talked with the Witches, Macbeth didn't so it can seem to him that perhaps they have played a part in it and that they have something on which to build infallible prophecies... then, what I absolutely LOVE about this scene is that what really should be a soliloquy- Macbeth is struggling with a decision, clearly talking to the audeince/himself depending on how you view such monologues- is NOT a soliloquy but done while banquo and ross are still onstage.

This supernatural soliciting

Cannot be ill; cannot be good. If ill,

Why hath it given me earnest of success,

Commencing in a truth? I am Thane of Cawdor.

If good, why do I yield to that suggestion

Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair

And make my seated heart knock at my ribs,

Against the use of nature? Present fears

Are less than horrible imaginings:

My thought, whose murder yet is butfantastical,

Shakes so my single state of man thatfunction

Is smother’d in surmise, and nothing is

But what is not.

and after all this, Banquo and Ross comment on how weird he is that Macbeth's off by himself and call for his attention. That makes the situation so much better than if Macbeth was onstage alone! as well as giving us some much needed humor amongst all the talk of murder.

I have to share my favorite Maccers cartoon here:

1.4

I always think of this play as being so short (and it really is!) that I forget/am always surprised by how many little scenes make up this little bloody drama...

Duncan and Macbeth and Banquo meet up and talk about how awesome each other tends to be... I love the images of planting and growing and harvest. If you think about it those tend to be quite feminine images, right? images for bearing children? And what do you know shortly thereafter Macbeth mentions his wife and how he needs to bring the news of what happened to her. This scene also wins a shout out from Mumford and Sons "Stars, hide your fires..." Again, Macbeth does this ruminating over his dark desires WHILE THE KING AND HIS BUDDY BANQUO ARE ON STAGE! so. good.

1.5

This scene begins with Lady Macbeth reading a letter. this is our first introduction to her. I feel like this is rough for an actor. your first moments onstage reading someone else's words but we all know odds are yoru director wont let you read them because what if there's a prop malfunction, etc. and we're all a little uncomfortable if it looks like the person onstage is truly reading (or are we? textual culture discussion, GO!) But then to make up for it, the next thing Lady M gets is this:

Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be What thou art promis’d. Yet do I fear thy nature,

It is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness

To catch the nearest way. Thou wouldst be great,

Art not without ambition, but without

The illness should attend it. What thou wouldst highly,

That wouldst thou holily; wouldst not playfalse,

And yet wouldst wrongly win. Thou’ldst have, great Glamis,

That which cries, “Thus thou must do,” if thou have it;

And that which rather thou dost fear to do

Than wishest should be undone. Hie thee hither,

That I may pour my spirits in thine ear,

And chastise with the valor of my tongue

All that impedes thee from the goldenround,

Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem

To have thee crown’d withal.

And thats a good amount of speech all together/time onstage for a female part. (rejoice b/c there are some nice chunks or be depressed that there are so many long male speeches?!) This is definitely a piece I would want to work on and/or teach in a class. I feel like it is full/beautiful/interesting like the Unsex me here speech but doesnt get any love or attention. The gender stuff in this play is SO GOOD. She says her husband is too full of milk. WHY DON'T MORE PEOPLE TALK ABOUT THIS SPEECH?! This scene is basically a giant lady macbeth awesome fest.

Like this:

Your face, my thane, is as a book, where men

May read strange matters. To beguile the time,

Look like the time; bear welcome in your eye,

Your hand, your tongue; look like th’ innocent flower,

But be the serpent under’t. He that’s coming

Must be provided for; and you shall put

This night’s great business into my dispatch,

Which shall to all our nights and days to come

Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom.   THIS SPEECH IS SO SEXY!!!! OK... moving on... 1.6

A baby scene- Duncan arrives and talks about how pleasant and great and sweet the air and the castle seems. AHAHAH dramatic irony. everyone loves dramatic irony.

There's a lot of emphasis on Lady M being their great hostess. Breaking the rule of hospitality comign up over and over again

I love that Lady M's response is "All our service in every point twice done, and then done double"

I'd be interested to do a word count on host/hostess/guest/etc. in this play because serioudly this whole scene is to emphasize this kind of relationship.

1.7

OH MY GOODNESS i forgot this scene came in Act 1. Unlike how endless the scenes in R&J felt... THIS PLAY IS NONSTOP ACTION!!!!

This starts with one of Macbeth's famous soliloqueys. If it were done, when tis done...

The thing I love about this play is that I genuinely can't decide which part I'd rather play more- Macbeth or Lady Macbeth, and that kind of conundrum doesnt happen often!

Anyway... so this is the part where Macbeth shows some beautiful doubt in what he and lady M have decided to do, what with the whole murder plot and everything. there's a lot of beautiful language and imagery here. ADD THIS speech to the list of things I should teach a class about...

we continue with the weird baby images for one. "pity like a new-born babe"- such an interesting image choice.

So it sounds like Macbeth is going to cave when in comes his wife wondering why he's been gone so long. Macbeth tells her he's shutting this plan down and then all hell breaks loose. Lady M is PISSED. She wants to be QUEEEN DAMN IT! but what is even more compelling is that she attacks not with that desire, but with the fact that her husband, her sworn partner in life, is breaking his promise to her. Some of you may think this is just a tactic, but I think there's a true sense of betrayal and that things would have been different if Macbeth had said no from the start, even after her unsex me prayer and her determination to get him to say yes. I think it would be interesting to play Lady M with the intention that it is worse to commit treason against your wife than against your king. and some interesting religious perspectives to explore in that choice as well.

The baby images really come to a forefront in Lady M's speech about dashing her nursing infant's head. Lots of interesting actor work/clues in this speech as well.

AGAIN this scene is SO SEXY. and in my opinion, nothing kills this story faster than having a couple without this sexual tension/power. I've seen productions that focus on the emasculation of Macbeth to the point that Lady M is just a steamroller and I think that is SUCH A BORING CHOICE. and not supported by the text. this man is a strong soldier and having a strong wife does not make him less strong. The bring forth male children only is such a sad, strange, and awesome line. Children Children Children are the driving force of this play. and no matter how sexy and strong and loving the macbeths are amidst their crazy regicidal plans... nothing will give them those children they continually speak about.

Act 2 coming soon. It feels good to blog again :)