In ‘Wake Up’, the plot is far simpler than Macbeth. In the beginning, Joe is a ‘nobody’ who lives with his football-crazed flatmate. He is quite depressed with his life. In his dreams, he meets his warped subconscious, Hughbert, and a being who he believes to be his ‘Guardian Angel’. Joe then brightens up, however Hughbert is suspicious of the ‘Angel’. The ‘Angel at this time believes that he has ensnared Joe, so is content but wary of Hughbert. As the play progresses, Joe’s flatmate, Junior, becomes concerned with his dream obsession. Joe obtains sleeping pills, and spends little time awake. Hughbert tries subtly to warn Joe that the ‘Angel’ isn’t all he seems. The ‘Angel’ at this point believes he has Joe so rapt that Hughbert’s hints are futile, but is aware of Hughbert’s growing confidence and desperation. The ‘Angel’ then encourages Joe to overdose on sleeping pills, and indirectly influences him to kill Junior. He is an evil, deceptive character and knows that this will be the effect. As Joe leaves the ‘dream world’, Hughbert, in desperation, directly warns Joe, but he is already between dreams and reality at this point. The ‘Angel’ then kills Hughbert, as he may give away the whole plot. Joe then kills Junior by ‘accident’ in a desperate search for his sleeping pills. When he finds them, in his pocket, he takes an overdose. Back in the ‘dream world’, the ‘Angel’ lures Joe into the ‘final room’, Hell. When Joe is inside, the ‘Angel’ (Devil) locks the door and the duality of his character is finally revealed to Joe. The only character left alive at the end is the Devil, if his immortal existence can be classified as ‘life’.
There are quite a few similarities between the plots and characters of these plays. They are both tragic plays, as the endings are of death in both plays: Macbeth kills Macdonwald and several enemy soldiers; he kills King Duncan in his sleep, due to the witches’ influence; he has Banquo and Fleance killed; Lady Macbeth commits suicide, and Macduff kills Macbeth in battle. In ‘Wake Up’, Joe kills Junior and himself, his actions influenced by the ‘Angel’. The ‘Angel’ himself kills Hughbert. This leads to various similarities between the plays. The character of Macbeth kills Duncan due to the witches, as Joe kills Junior due to the ‘Angel’. The witches can thus be likened to the Angel, luring their prey with promise of greatness, causing death. This deception is common throughout both plays. The death of Banquo is also similar to the death of Junior; both Macbeth and Joe kill their best friends for standing in the way of their foretold elevation. The character of Hughbert bears little likeness to any characters in Macbeth, however. Deception and death are central to both plays.
I am going to be playing the character of the ‘Angel’. Throughout the play, I must ensure that the duality of my character is made clear to the audience; when addressing Joe I must speak calmly, in a relaxed, smooth tone to try and lull him into thinking I am there to help him. This I will do by extending words and syllables within each sentence, usually the last word. My ‘Laban Effort’, system of movement, at this time will be floating: a sustained, slow speed; flexible space usage, not moving in any particular direction, and a light idea of weight, so I am not dragging my feet. When addressing Hughbert in the presence of Joe, I will give often give an idea of suppressed rage; Hughbert makes my plan harder to implement, but I must remain calm and in control in the presence of Joe. To do this I will speak behind gritted teeth. When Joe leaves the room however, the darker side of my character is revealed. I suddenly speak in a much sterner manner, enunciating each syllable much more sharply. I will also raise my voice, and will be far less smooth, speaking in a single pitch, rather than varying the pitch as I do when with Joe. My ‘Laban Efforts’ will become pressing: still at steady pace, but I will be more direct in my movements, more purposeful. I will also move with more apparent weight, to signify power. These are the primary three ways in which I shall act during the play. The only real variation from this on my character’s attitude is at the end. My pitch will be subtly higher, and I will speak quicker. This is because I no longer have to pretend to be nice, as I have Joe where I want him. I will have a greater urgency, and be more taunting, speaking faster than before.
The play Macbeth was intended to be a realistic play. Although when performed, it is intended to include all relevant props and scenery, effects such as the ‘dagger of the mind’ and other such supernatural events can only be represented, not shown as the characters are supposed to see them in the play. There would be few lighting effects in the time when this was originally performed, as electricity was not available and all plays were performed open-air during the daytime. The ‘fourth wall’, the divide between actors and audience would be around at the time, with no audience interaction, and although soliloquies would be to the audience, they are not speaking to the audience within the confines of the play, merely speaking their thoughts aloud. Macbeth’s genre is tragedy, as there are no aspects of comedy at all. It is a very morbid, macabre play in which many people die.
‘Wake Up’ is partially realistic play, as we are using appropriate props such as a pill bottle, fake pills (tic-tacs) and a makeshift sofa using chairs and old curtains. Props are not mimed within the production. On the other hand, due to the confines of the Drama Studio, there will be no scenery. We will instead use differentiation in lighting to help the audience distinguish between dreams and reality. The surreal aspect of the play may mean that it is more stylistic than realistic, as we do not have access to extensive amounts of scenery or props. The ‘real life’ sequences will be predominantly realistic, whereas the ‘dream’ sequences will be stylistic, as befits the idea of a dream. The term ‘realistic’ refers to a focus on the reality of the characters, but not perfectly recreated with every prop as if it were real life; that is what a naturalistic play does, mimics nature. The term stylistic is the opposite of naturalistic; things are mostly symbolic, so that the idea of something is put across but not shown visually. Things such as ‘imaginary doors’ are evident in the dream scenes, as there is supposed to be no concept of normal human reality, making this side of the play very stylistic. We will perform this with the ‘fourth wall’, defined above, in all scenes excluding scene 5, in which the audience is referred to; Joe is asked to pick out the member of the audience (all of whom are beautiful women as far as Joe is concerned) to have sex with behind an imaginary door. ‘Wake Up’ is predominantly a tragedy, but there are a few light-hearted areas as well. The scene where Junior is suggesting potential girlfriends has a faster pace than other scenes, as it has a more comical overtone than most of the rest of the production
In conclusion, these plays are both different, yet still have similarities. They are written around 400 years apart, and set almost 1000 years apart. Despite this, there are still similarities in the underlying ideas. The plots are both tragic, and follow the same general themes of deception and death. The characters have similarities in motive, it is generally only their methods which alter. The style of Macbeth is realistic, whereas ‘Wake Up’ is more stylistic, due to the limitations of the resources at hand and time scale.
