Consider the dramatic importance of act 4 scene 1. And how as a director would you overcome some of its problems?

In this assignment I am going to consider the dramatic importance of act 4 scene 1. And how as a director how would I overcome some of its problems. Previous to this scene Macbeth has had an encounter with Banquo’s ghost at the banquet and he then decides to visit the witches. This scene is of high dramatic importance, and there are many problems for a director in staging it.

The witches in this scene I think are of great dramatic importance, probably of the highest, and I think this is the most important scene in the play. The witches in this scene are very important in the plot and develop certain aspects of the play. Even just their presence in this scene is very dramatic and would have been even more so when this play was first written, this is because at the time people believed in witches and the supernatural. The spell that the witches chant is very dramatic as it is an act of black magic. The spell describes transgressional activity and the vivid depiction of the stereotype witch. The spell has a forbidding and compelling rhythm e.g. “Round about the cauldron go; In the poisoned entrails throw. Toad, that under cold stone Days and nights have thirty-one Sweltered venom sleeping got. Boil thou first i’th’ charmed pot”. And “Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble.” This makes the witches appear almost evil and this is very dramatic because this chanting has an almost hypnotic quality to it. And the actions on stage and the iconography would increase the dramatic importance of this scene because they are evocative to a black mass.

The predictions that the witches (apparitions) make are dramatically important because this causes interest and curiosity e.g. “Macbeth, Macbeth, Macbeth, beware Macduff, Beware the thane of Fife”. These predictions are very important because they lead the play on and develop the plot. The witches in this play also build up suspense e.g. “Tis time, “tis time.” Because of this the witches make you curious and they build up tension, this is present throughout the play.

There are many problems as a director in staging this scene, I think that one of the main problems to consider is as a ...

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There are many problems as a director in staging this scene, I think that one of the main problems to consider is as a director to achieve the same effect on the audience as it would intended to have when this was written. The reason for this is that people of the present day unlike the people who would have see the first performances of this do not believe in the supernatural or witches, therefore this scene would not been see as something to fear. This would reduce the effect on the audience and this scene would lose a considerable amount dramatic importance. Many directors have presented the witches as the typical stereotype witch and this has not achieved the same effect that the witches should have on an audience. To achieve the same effect on today’s audience I would change the appearance of the witches into something that today’s audience would fear, and witches that would carry the same amount of dramatic importance as they originally would have done. I would probably change them to look gothic and evil by dressing in dark clothing and wearing dark (black) make up. Also I would change the scene where they use a cauldron because immediately when the audience sees a cauldron they are going to think these are witches, this could have some effect on whether the witches appear more dramatic.

The other main problem with this scene is the visions because these would and are very difficult to stage because you have not got the technological advantages that a film director has. In this scene there are three main visions the first one is a vision of an armed head, the second vision is of a bloody child and the third vision is of a child crowned with tree in his hand. I think the best and most effective and practical way to overcome this problem is just to use actors and some useful stage props. For example, for the first apparition I would get a actor to sit in a box with a hole in the top so he can fit his head through and to hide the box, The use of smoke would achieve a misty effect and the audience will be able to tell that they are visions. For the second vision I would get a child and dress him in white bloody clothes and I would again use the smoke to suggest that it is a vision. For the third vision I would use a child actor wearing a crown and have a small tree in his hand, and use the smoke to create the vision effect.

Another problem that a director would face is whether he should let the audience see the things that the witches place in the cauldron at the beginning of the scene e.g. poison’d entrails, fenny snake, toe of frog, tongue of dog. This would be a gruesome scene and it would be very hard to direct. I would use dummy items using liquids to make these items realistic as they would be throw into the cauldron. By doing this it would make this scene dramatic and fearful, and would make the audience react to the gruesome, graphical scenes created by the dummy items. To highlight these items I would have a light shone onto the cauldron while these were being thrown in.

My conclusion is that the witches create a considerable amount of dramatic importance to act 4 scene 1, This is because they convey fear, build up tension, and set enigmas throughout this scene. Also there are many problems in staging this scene for a present day performance, but there is nothing that a director could not overcome using some creativity and modern day technology.

By Gary Kirk.