Macbeth †Directing Act 2 Scenes 1 and 2 Essay

From the director’s point of view, this scene is very dramatic because of the impact on Macbeth’s decision in Act 1 scene seven. In this scene Macbeth almost decides that he has talked himself out of killing the king, but his wife Lady Macbeth has other plans and forces him into a decision that will lead to the death of the king. This affects the two scenes I will be directing because in these two scenes the decision is put into practice when Macbeth kills the king. So I have to direct the two crucial scenes that see the king murdered by Macbeth. The setting for act two scene one is in Macbeths castle. It is dark and Banquo and Fleance are in the courtyard discussing what time of day it is, and as to whether it is past midnight or not. They work out what time it is by seeing if the moon is down, and then the candles are blown out. Now it is at this point large gusts of wind are heard howling throughout the castle with thunder and lightning clashing down around the audience. Owls are heard calling and all manner of nightlife is heard. This effect is used so that the audience are made intense and unaware as to what is happening next and to create tension. The sounds would be achieved through sound effects being played over the speakers and sharp, crisp lighting would be used to symbolise the lightning. A background tune will be played very lightly to create a mood so scary it will keep the audiences fixed to the stage from the edges of their seats. When Macbeth meets Banquo, Macbeth tells him that he is sorry for not being as good a host as usual and Banqou reassures Macbeth that he has been an excellent host to the king. Then he brings up the subject of the witches. He says that he dreamed of the weird sisters the night before, and tells Macbeth â€Å"To you they have showed some truth.† Macbeth replies, â€Å"I think not of them†, which is a deliberate lie. It is true that we haven’t heard him mention the witches, but he has been thinking of nothing except how to make the prophecies come true. If I was the director I would introduce Macbeth by letting him enter from right and to walk on quietly, sneakily in fact with only soft dull lighting to imitate the moon light. He would be wearing a long black smock to represent the fact he was upset or in regret that he was about to commit a terrible deed. The black would be used because it is traditionally the colour of the night and Macbeth had to blend into the background and move like the night in order not to be spotted or noticed. Banquo would be wearing red pants and a silver lightweight vest created out of steel with the imprinted cross of Scotland on the vest. He would be wearing a polished steel helmet with a sword placed neatly in its pouch, left hanging on the brown leather belt fastened around his waist. He would also have a spear in his hand with a long shaft that would also be used as a walking stick. He would be dressed like this because as a general protecting Duncan king of Scotland he would be expected to wear the kings finest military uniform. As a director I would expect Macbeth to deliver his lines to Banquo in a nervous manner. I would have him stutter and muddle up his words he would also jolt and pause in mid-sentence to give the impression to the audience he is unsure and nervous as to the crime he is about to commit. The lighting in this part of the play as I have already touched on would be dull yet crisp to create a sense of atmosphere and to create a mood, which would help Macbeth, deliver his lines. The torchlight the servant would be carrying at this point would be quite sharp and a glowing effect would be used to create the fire effect. Macbeths facial expressions would be few and far between because I would want him to be pale and blank faced so that it looked like he had other things on his mind, more important and life threatening things. At the opening of Act 2 scene two, Lady Macbeth is stood near to Duncan’s room waiting for Macbeth to return. At this point, I would want to emphasise the crime that is about to be committed and to create strong tension between the audience and the stage. Ideally the audience would be sitting focused, eyes fixed on the events and I would want them to feel a sense of danger and betrayal the moment Macbeth kills the King. The effects used to create this feeling would be sudden cold gusts of wind lashing through the audience. A strong gust of smoke would slide swiftly along the surface of the stage creating a dark musty atmosphere. Sharp lightning would be seen jolting over the stage with deep blasts of thunder to follow. Lady Macbeth would be dressed in a long silk red dress to represent betrayal and guilt even though she does not show any. When Macbeth returns with the daggers, I think it would be a dramatic moment, so I would chose to have a powerful spotlight focusing on Macbeth as he staggers across the smoke filled stage to his wife. My decision for this is that I would like the whole audience to be fixed to Macbeth’s every movement. I would want this because I would want the audience just to think about him and the crime that he was just committed. Makeup would be used on Macbeth to make him look like a ghost he would be completely white except for the small dashes of red on his face that would represent the kings blood. His hands and the area around his waist would be completely covered in blood to give the impression that he had hacked the king to pieces. At the opening of act two scene one, Macbeth is confident that he is ready to kill the king. When he tells the lie to Banquo that he has given no more thought to the witches predictions, he should deliver these lines with a certain stutter including repeating and missing out some words. He would also stop and jolt in mid sentence. I think he should speak like this because it makes the audience think he is not sure about what he is about to do and he isn’t sure as to whether he can or not. When Macbeth hallucinates he thinks that there is a dagger before him and he reaches out for it and of course can’t grasp it. Macbeth is not sure, and wonders whether it is ‘A dagger of the mind, a false creation’. If I was the director, I would make Macbeth say these words with confidence then I would make him sound confused as to what he was saying. To give the impression his mind was thinking one thing but common sense was thinking about something else. As Macbeth speaks of the ‘bloody business’ and how ‘ wicked dreams abuse/the curtained sleep,’ he appears much more confident. To indicate this, I would make him start of whispering the lines then slowly increasing the sound so by the time he had delivered the lines he was screaming them from the rooftops. I would expect his face to be blank, a dark spotlight would be shining on him, as he started shouting his lines he would smile and the spotlight would be turned up, eventually when he had finished Macbeth would be smiling, and the spotlight would be shining brightly. After Macbeth has murdered the king and he returns with the bloody daggers, he seems to be nervous and edgy. His repeated question ‘who’s there? What ho?’ indicates this. I would show this by making Macbeth speak his lines in a slow, shallow majestic voice with the words flowing slowly but surely one after the other with a short silent pause between each precious word. Macbeth considers the enormity of the crime that has been committed, and is terrified, as he knows that he can never be forgiven. He stresses how he could not say ‘Amen’ after the murder, and how he thought that they heard a voice cry ‘ List’ning their fear, I would not say ‘Amen’, when they did say ‘God bless us.’ To make this point more dramatic, I would chose to make Macbeths voice cry lightly and sharp frequent drops of water would be seen running across his chin and dripping onto the stage. It would sound like he was in pain with sudden shrieks lashing through the audience as though he wants everyone to experience the heart breaking pain that he is going through. After the murder, Macbeth says ‘I am afraid to think what I have done /look on’t again I dare not.’ Perhaps Macbeth does feel genuine remorse for his crime, or maybe he is more afraid about what will happen to his soul when he dies. I think that he does show some genuine remorse because I think deep down he didn’t want to kill Duncan but was in fact talked into by his wife and has now noticed the error of his ways. I could show this by making him drop to his knees and holding his head in his hands crying out for mercy from God. In act two scene one, I would choose to have Banquo to speak in a stern but tired way, as he is Macbeth’s friend. I would indicate to the audience that he is honest by making sure that he is looking loyal and worthy along with proud and upstanding when he is speaking to another character. Throughout the scenes, Lady Macbeth is revealed to be calm and calculated. When Macbeth returns from the scene of the murder, he says ‘ I heard the owl scream and the crickets cry. Did not you speak?’. I would reflect her unemotional state by having her speak nicely; soft and quiet. Her eyes would wonder as if she were thinking of something completely different. Lady Macbeth seems ill concerned with her husband when he talks of his inability to sleep. She warns him ‘You do unbend your noble strength to think/ so brain of things.’ ‘ Why did you bring these daggers from the place? They must lie there: go carry them, and smear the sleepy grooms with blood.’ If I were the director, I would show her irritation by speaking to her with an abrupt sarcastic voice with a tone that suggests that she’s speaking to an idiot. She will snap and snarl at Macbeth and look down on him. To conclude I have tried to answer each section as best I can. I have tried to incorporate the mood set by each characters lines by using lightning and sound effects as well as the way the actors portray their lines. My aim was to try to get the audience involved in the play without them actually acting, so that they could experience one to one the characters moods, so that they could really understand and get into the play. I would chose Ozzy Osborne to play Macbeth because he is older than some, dresses in black and has a certain element of disguise in him which I feel Macbeth’s actor needs to portray well. I would choose Halle Berry to play Lady Macbeth because her latest film ‘Gothika’ was a perfect example of a spooky story of which she played her part extremely well.