A Comparison of Roman Polanski's film version of Macbeth and the BBC Shakespeare production by Shaun Sutton
Macbeth Macbeth is a tragedy set in Scotland. There are themes of supernatural powers, betrayal, murder and self-destruction in this play. It shows how Macbeth kills to become king and how Lady Macbeth's passion and thrust for power drives him. In this assignment I intend to compare and contrast Roman Polanski's film version and the BBC Shakespeare production by Shaun Sutton. The Sutton production opens with a prominent red sky and then this quickly turns into a dull grey darkness. Roll of thunder overhead is raging. The witches are wearing old rages. It is overlooking what appears to be an ancient burial ground where tombstones are visible only as silhouettes. This is symbolic of the bloodshed that is about to come later in the play. The witches are sitting around a large stone, which looks like they are about to make a sacrifice. The witches are chanting in a menacing language and they are speaking in riddles. There is a constant drone of eerie music that adds the feeling of uneasiness, which is also reflected in their words and actions as they speak in time unison. The witches say, "Come graymalkin" as they look to the sky and this seems to represent the calling of some evil spirit. Sorcery is displayed when the three witches start joining hands that creates a very powerful image in the opening scene. The film version completely turns the story upside down.
In your opinion how well has Polanski inturpertion Shakesphear's intentions for Macbeth
In your opinion how well has Polanski inturpertion Shakesphear's intentions for Macbeth MacBeth is set in medieval Scotland during a rebellion on the Scottish kingship. The actual time and events are semi-fictional as the real events have been altered and unsaturated, to make the story more exciting for the audience and more importantly to win the favour of the king. At the start of this play MacBeth is portrayed as an up and coming young servant of the king, prepared to lay his own life down to defend his kings honour, fortunately for him he was good at this. Both the original play and Polanski film show this, but after this they begin to follow different paths the original play shows MacBeth being inspired by the witches to evil, were as the Polanski film leads you to the idea that the witches have forced him using supernatural tricks. Polanski has used certain effects to introduce a much more supernatural fell to his production, making Macbeth seem slightly more innocent of his crimes, by giving the impression that he was pushed by the will of the witches, this is shown by the importance given to the witches in certain scenes. In the play the witches are highly influential, and very important characters. They make a number of prophecies about Macbeth, which would totally change his life. The Polanski version is very successful in creating an atmosphere of the eerie
Study and compare two different film interpretations of Act 4 Scene 1 of Shakespeare's 'Macbeth'. Discuss how you would replace some of the techniques the directors have chosen to use.
MEDIA COURSEWORK- 'MACBETH' Study and compare two different film interpretations of Act 4 Scene 1 of Shakespeare's 'Macbeth'. Discuss how you would replace some of the techniques the directors have chosen to use. In this essay, I am going to compare two different interpretations of Act 4 Scene 1 of Shakespeare's 'Macbeth', to see how different directors interpret a text and use different techniques to support their ideas. The two film versions of 'Macbeth' that this essay will focus upon are 'Macbeth on the Estate' directed by Penny Woolcock and the Polanski version. Both adaptations were produced in different decades- Woolcock's being in 1997, whereas Polanski's was some twenty years beforehand. In Act 4 Scene 1, Macbeth returns to the witches and as they await his arrival, they prepare the ingredients for the spell and start chanting. Perhaps one of the most obvious differences between both films is the setting. The Polanski version is quite traditional and true to the actual play, as it is set deep in the wild moors- in a cave, unlike Woolcock's version which is very contemporary, set in a Birmingham council estate, where gang rivalry replaces monarchy. I think Polanski is quite traditional with his ideas as it agrees with the text. If I would direct this scene, I would be more original with my idea and set it in a deserted fairground, in the Hall of Mirrors. I would
Comparing MacBeth and living with lady Macbeth
In Drama I have been studying two plays. The first one is Macbeth, by far the shortest of Shakespeare's tragedies, which explores the nature of evil, witchcraft and ambition. Shakespeare examines jealousy, ambition, self doubt and passion- the feelings that we all have to some degree. The second piece is Living With Lady Macbeth by Rob John which we are performing as one of our assessments. In our play there are nine of us - eight girls and one boy. Everyone appears throughout the play. I play the part of one of the girls. Macbeth has several settings in this play. These include the battlefield, an open place upon a heath, inside Macbeth's castle and the English court. Living With Lady Macbeth also has several settings. These include Lily's house and the school. This modern play deals sympathetically and realistically with teenage bullying and examines the characteristics invested in the character of Lady Macbeth and to some extent, in the character of Lily. It is a 'play about a play' and traces Lily's efforts to be cast as her heroine in her school's performance of Macbeth. To succeed, she has to better Suzanne Porter, one of her peer group who has bullied her throughout her school days. Living With Lady Macbeth only has one act whereas Macbeth has five acts. These two plays were written in different times. Macbeth was written in 1606 and is set in
Screen Macbeths
Screen Macbeths In this piece of work I hope to compare three different screen versions of the witches scene on video. The first was the Royal Shakespeare Company's production directed by Trevor Nunn (1978), it was filmed from a stage production. The second was the film directed by Roman Polanski (1971) and was made for cinema. Last and by most means least was the Thames video collection version, directed by Charles Warren (1988) and was made for television. Macbeth: The Royal Shakespeare Company. The scene opens with a zoom in to the stage floor from directly above it. There is atmospheric music, played on a church organ with some flat sounding notes that, to me, indicates presence. Once the camera has stopped zooming, the characters appear from the outside of the stage casting strange shadows across the stage. The camera then pans across all the characters, after this lengthy process is over, the king comes out from the ring of actors and kneels on the floor and prays, then from the circle appear the 3 witches. One of the witches seems to be having some kind of fit and the other witches seem to be encouraging it, near the end of the fit the witch begins to give out information to the other two witches as though the fit gives her information, after each segment of spasmic knowledge the other two witches seem to be surprised. On the last line "Fair is foul and foul is
The Globe Theatre is probably the most important structure in Shakespeare's dramatic career.
The Globe Theatre is probably the most important structure in Shakespeare's dramatic career. The Chamberlain's Company built it in 1599, and it stood on the Southern shore of the Thames River in London. At this time Shakespeare was a member of the Chamberlain's Company, and therefore he became a shareholder in the theatre. The profits actors made off of their shares were their main means of support, as it was for Shakespeare. The Globe was just one of many theatres built in London around this time. The residents of London were in mood for entertainment, and in response many theatres for acting, bear baiting, and bull baiting were built throughout the countryside. Wealthy individuals were often patrons of the performances, and would therefore purchase a theatre of their own, or in some cases an acting company would purchase a theatre and play only for selected groups. Some of these theatres located in London were The Black friars I and II, St. Paul's, The White friars, Salisbury Court, The Cockpit, and Drury Lane. The Chamberlain's Company, who built the Globe, formed in 1594. At the time, it was one of only two licensed acting companies in London. Among the eight actors in the group were Shakespeare and Richard Burgage, (who was another notable English actor). Of the eight, only six donated the funds used to build the theatre. The Chamberlain's Company later changed its
Review of Macbeth Production
Review of Macbeth Production On the 28th October 2002, I went to see a production of William Shakespeare's Macbeth, starring Sean Bean as Macbeth, and directed by Edward Hall. I was looking forward to seeing this particular production, as I am a huge fan of Lord Of the Rings, and was excited about seeing one of the cast on stage, and because of Sean Bean's performance in the film, I had high expectations of the play. The play opened with a massive thunder crack that had a large part of the audience (or, at the least our school party) accidentally throwing their sweets over the row in front of them in pure shock. The lights suddenly going out in the auditorium, instead of being gently dimmed, accompanied this thunder. The stage lighting in this play was used very effectively to show different locations on quite a limiting set. The stage was a sort of semi circle shape, and in the centre, there was a circle of metal grills where different coloured light was shone through the floor to create different effects, and the shadows cast by this floor lighting were more sinister and strange than the normal overheads. Green light was shone through for any scenes that were set outdoors, which looked eerie and natural at the same time, which was very effective. As the set had to be adapted to so many different rooms, the use of light was successful, as it was easy to tell apart the
After reading Macbeth Act two scene two we watched two productions of Macbeth.
After reading Macbeth Act two scene two we watched two productions of Macbeth. One of them was Roman Polanskis. I didn't think it was a very good version of Macbeth. I think this because it cuts out some of the original lines, it also showed you the murder which is not what Shakespeare had intended, I think the other the Royal Shakespeare's version was much better and they kept to the script. Polanski focused not so much on the guilt and how it could destroy a man, but more on sensationalism the gore, horror and suspense. This film was aimed at modern audiences; it showed you a murder that was nothing special, something that is common place in most modern films. They did use some representation e.g. when Macbeth commits regicide It shows the crown falling to the ground i.e. the king has been killed, overthrown. When Macbeth says " Will all great Neptune's Ocean wash this blood clean from my hand? ... Making the green one, red" You see the blood on his hands turning a bucket of water red and when he empties it, it fills the screen and resembles the sea (which is red). After Macbeth washes his hands you see the rope for the bucket which lookes like a noose for hanging a man, showing that Macbeth will eventually pay dearly for his evil deed. Lady Macbeth comes across weak in general her frail figure and feeble voice, I think she should have come across a lot stronger. I
Macbeth Act 3, Scene 4.
Macbeth Act 3, Scene 4 Macbeth is one of Shakespeare's most dramatic plays as it is filled with emotion. Some of the themes in Macbeth include love, lust, deceit, betrayal, anxiety and murder. I will study two productions of Macbeth. One is by Roman Polanski which was made in 1971 and the other is a BBC version made by Shaun Sutton which was made in 1981. I will be analysing act 3, scene 4. It is also known as the banqueting scene. I will consider how Roman Polanski and Shaun Sutton present the play. I will analyse the two plays under a number of different headings. These headings include set, costume, actions, lighting, sound, camera angles, extra scene which is only in Polanski's version and other actors. Polanski's version opens with the bear-baiting scene. This then sets the tone of the scene as the lords cheer on. The blood of the bear is symbolic of Macbeth's murder of Duncan. In Polanski's version the set is sparsely decorated and the table is the main piece of furniture on screen. The table is in a central spot; it therefore plays a central role with regard to the scene. I think the director has chosen to set the play in medieval times, as the costumes would suggest. Macbeth wears similar clothes to the actors but has a lighter tunic. Lady Macbeth wears a cream/white robe that enhances her character. All the other costumes are dull black/grey/brown colours.
Compare & contrast the opening scene of Shakespeare's Macbeth as portrayed by Roman Polanski and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Which do you think is more successful?
Compare & contrast the opening scene of Shakespeare's Macbeth as portrayed by Roman Polanski and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Which do you think is more successful? Before watching any of the above versions I read the brief script for the first scene. From this piece of the script I would expect each of our extracts to fulfill the wishes of Shakespeare: set in 'an open place' and with 'thunder and lightning.' Yet these are the only stage directions so the production and direction of this scene is left widely to the director. The first scene is a very important part of the play, and yet it is only thirteen lines long it is in it this scene that we are introduced to the three witches who provide the undercurrent of evil and demonic tendencies which run throughout the play. The first version we watched was the Royal Shakespeare Company's. At the beginning the colour of the screen was predominantly red - symbolic of the suffering, dangers and bloodshed to come in the play. The tones of red fade to black, white and shades of grey. Set on a heath, there are thunderclouds overhead which create a sense of foreboding the darkness of the clouds symbolises evil. The thunder and lightning give a sense of evil happening, lightning is clearly seen in the background and the flashes of light let us catch glimpses of three shapes on top of the dolmen which takes up most of the stage