Macbeth - Polanski’s version and Bogdanov’s version
Macbeth Polanski's version and Bogdanov's version In Act our Scene 1 we are confronted with many of the themes of the play, which have already been introduced. The themes of the play are the supernatural, blood, good & evil, light & dark ambition, loyalty, love, kingship, corruption, justice and deception. The themes I am concentrating on are the supernatural element of the play and the portrayal of Macbeth himself. The theme of the supernatural occurs very prominently in Polanski's version but isn't as prominent in Bogdanov's version, and the element of Macbeth himself is presented in both versions of Macbeth, but they are presented differently as you will see. The theme of the supernatural in Polanski's interpretation gives more depth to the interpretation of Shakespeare's Macbeth. The setting of this scene is a major factor in giving the interpretation, which Shakespeare himself wanted to portray, because of the older props and the witches who look the way witches were expected to look like in the days of Shakespeare. In Polanski's version, the scene is set in a dark cave, positioned on a hillside. Darkness is a major theme in the whole of Macbeth, and it is again shown here in the jet-black skies of the night with the only light coming from the cave the witches inhabit. The musical soundtrack of the film sends an eerie feeling through the scene. The music is
Having watched the "Long Overdue" production of Macbeth, compare the performance to Shakespeare's original script; was it successful? What do you think stood out as the most successful elements?
Having watched the "Long Overdue" production of Macbeth, compare the performance to Shakespeare's original script; was it successful? What do you think stood out as the most successful elements? On the 21st of October I went to see "Long Overdue's" production of the legendary Shakespeare play, "Macbeth" which was performed in the "Burnavon Theatre", in Cookstown. In this review I am going to discuss whether this production was successful or not and which elements I thought stood out the most. Character is the most important element in any play and in this production of Macbeth, this was especially so. I found the portrayal of Macbeth to be strong and the actor fitted into his role well. He was well cast and I could easily see his transfer from a good, loyal soldier of the Scottish King, to the man who we saw at the end (quite mad and almost insane with power.) In my opinion, Lady Macbeth was not as well cast. She was certainly portrayed as a very passionate woman but I think that this was overplayed. Her true evil and strength were not put forward strongly enough. When she asked to be de-feminised her lines lacked emotion, she did not convince me that she wanted this to happen. Her ambition to succeed was not portrayed. I believe that this lack of emotion was down to bad acting and not down to bad directing. Also, with Lady Macbeth being taller than Macbeth it made us
write a review of the woman in black as a member of the audience
Each weekend, well not literally EVERY weekend, but some weekends, I sit down in front of the telly and if there isn't any decent comedies on, I'll simply watch a horror movie instead, ok, ok, so maybe sometimes I'll pull a pillow over my head and then other times I'll jump and maybe even scream but they are fun to watch aren't they!? So on the 27th march 2007 I was delighted when my year 10 drama class and I went to 'The Fortune Theatre' in London's west end to see the production of the woman in black. The play was originally written as a story by Susan Hill and was adaptedas a play by a Mr Stephen Mallatratt the play has now been running in london's fortune theatre for about eighteen years. The theatre itself didn't look that great, so things didn't get off to a good start, with all the surrounding theatres looking smart and pleasant, the 'Fortune theartre' looked a little out of place. The production itslelf though, thankfully was of great quality, although the whole thing only consisted of two main actors and a woman 'the woman in black', the story was amazing and put across very well. I won't give away the whole plot but basically, 'The Woman In Black' is a play about the production title, the woman in black appears as a ghostly figure most of the time, she slowly unfolds a twisted and complicated, horrific mystery.It is also a play within a play. The first scene is
What is Shakespeare's purpose for the witches in Macbeth?
What is Shakespeare's purpose for the witches in Macbeth? In 1606 Shakespeare had the difficulty of trying to catch the attention of the audience in the play Macbeth. In the play there are three witches, who are the main characters in the play. Shakespeare's purpose for the witches is to set the scene from the beginning with a menacing atmosphere. Witches were despised by the audience and they brought a sense of fear into the play. The witches were played by men because women weren't allowed to act in those days and by using men they would already have the witches characteristics. The witches were made to be ugly. They had "choppy fingers" , "skinny lips" and "beards", all abnormal for women. The convenience of the witches having 'beards' was that they did not need a razor which could be fatal and lead to death .They were "withered" and they had "wild clothing" which would make the audience even more tense. The Globe Theatre was round, which meant that the stage was in the centre of the theatre and the actors had people all around them. This meant that the actors had to keep on turning around so the crowd would not get bored or angry. If the actors didn't turn around then the crowd would throw things at them. In the Globe Theatre the performances started at 2pm. The pub, opposite the Globe Theatre opened at 9am. So, by the time the play started a lot of the people were
Compare the presentation of the opening scene of Macbeth by the Royal Shakespeare Company with that of Polanskis production. Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each version stating which you prefer and explaining the reasons for your choice.
Compare the presentation of the opening scene of Macbeth by the Royal Shakespeare Company with that of Polanskis production. Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each version stating which you prefer and explaining the reasons for your choice. Macbeth is a tragic play about a man who lusted after power. He stole the throne of Scotland from Prince Malcolm and threw the country into chaos through his evil reign. In the end his own greed and guilt are his downfall. At the beginning of the play Macbeth has everything going for him being just awarded the Thane of Cawdor. Shortly after the battle he meets three witches who sow seeds of greed in Macbeth's mind by telling him he will become king of Scotland. Shakespeare's Macbeth was written for James the First, king of Scotland and England in 1603. Shakespeare knew that the play would appeal to James because he had an interest in witchcraft. In the Jacobean period when the Macbeth was written and performed most of Britain believed that witchcraft existed and there were even laws to prevent the practice. Nowadays we would not think much about the witches in 'Macbeth' but a Jacobean audience would have been very frightened when being confronted by such 'supernatural' beings in a performance of Macbeth. The opening scene of any play or production is very important. The first scene sets the mood for the whole play. If the audience
Write about the transposition of Shakespeare's play, Macbeth, from live theatre to the medium of television.
Media Studies Write about the transposition of Shakespeare's play, Macbeth, from live theatre to the medium of television. There exist many forms of media, such as TV, newspapers, and radio. In my own personal opinion television is the most important form of media, as radio has the ability to make sounds, newspapers have the ability to show pictures but television has the ability to show moving pictures and sounds. In our modern society millions of people throughout the world could all watch the same film, in their living rooms, by themselves, whilst in Shakespeare's time in order to watch Macbeth, for example, you would have to go to the theatre, where the audience would be smaller but together. In the theatre the audience choose what they want to see, they are quite far from the actors and cannot see their faces very clearly, so the actors would have to show their emotions and expressions that would normally be conveyed through body language and facial expressions, using their language. They would also have to shout as in Shakespeare's time microphones were not yet invented. Seeing vas the language was so important in the theatre (as emotions could not be conveyed through facial expressions), Shakespeare was very careful with his choice of words. On television, however, the director decides what you see and how closely and clearly you see the actors. The actor's
Process Journal
Process Journal When we were first told we were studying Macbeth for our set text I was rather relieved as i had previously studied Macbeth for GCSE. We chose Act 4 Scene 1 to perform because it included parts for all 5 people within our group and had a wide range of characters involved in this scene. Act 4 Scene 1 is the scene where the witches are creating a potion as they chant around a cauldron,This has a great eery feeling about it so our group has chosen to exploit and exaggerate this certain piece of the play. Our devised piece is about 4 jail birds who are each telling there painful account of why they were put in prison,most of which are innocent but commited these crimes in protection of themselves and their family,however some out of pure spite. We chose to do this because we all agreed we wanted to make our devised piece very dramtic and where we could all have strong personalitys which we could develop and express in out own way. We have based our devised piece on the theme's of betrayal and murder these themes are apparent in Macbeth (our set text piece). Another connection that can be made between the two scenes is the way women have alot of power over men, for example the way the Witches intimidate Macbeth and the audience with their rhythmic chant,the jail birds also confront and intimidate the audience when walking towards them while speaking their
Macbeth - Various Productions
As a class, we have studied Shakespeare's text of "Macbeth" twice, learning how to interpret the language and also how to relate the certain incidents to the times of Shakespeare. As part of our GCSE coursework, we have been asked to study various productions and write an essay showing how different effects create different atmospheres and responses and we have to decide whether these productions have been successful or otherwise. I have chosen to analyse initial scene, Act (I), scene (I). The decision has been taken as I have thought how witchcraft featured strongly in the time of Shakespeare. Many witches were burned at the stake for their practice. I have been interested in how these witches have continuously changed throughout "Macbeth". They use their witchcraft in the first scene to discuss how to capture Macbeth and it is interesting to see how different directors have interpreted Shakespeare's original text. The first production I studied was a BBC video version made in 1983. In the opening sequence, the sky is enveloped in a red sunset- type atmosphere, and then there is a dramatic change of colour to a grey dull sky and unpredictable forks of lightening strike. This immediately creates an un- natural atmosphere. To add to this, loud intensely spooky music plays, giving the impression that something out of the ordinary is taking place at this time. We wallow in
The Witches are an integral part of Macbeth. Discuss how two (or more) directors have presented these characters in Ii and Iiii.
The Witches are an integral part of Macbeth. Discuss how two (or more) directors have presented these characters in Ii and Iiii. I have recently viewed a variety of productions of Shakespeare's play Macbeth. They differed greatly when compared to each other, as each director had their own individual approach to the play. I was sceptical of how some directors would comprehensively do justice to this classic play in an audio-visual version aimed at a modern audience. Each production had its own unique introduction, to set the theme for the remainder of Macbeth. In Polanski's film version, he opened the play with a scene containing the "three weird sisters" who are witches, chanting and conjuring spells on a beach, while they buried various objects. The beach is a vast area and there is no sign of life. This creates an eerie atmosphere as they entered into the scene. Prior to burying these objects they engraved a circle in the sand; a symbol of no weakness as a circle has no beginning and no end. Amongst these objects were a noose and a half an arm, clutching a dagger. From reading the text we see here that these objects are symbolic to the prophecies, and as they are associated with death and evil, raising the audience's suspicion about murder and death, and also set the theme for the rest of the production. The red sky may be used to represent blood and death. It also
Section 2: Staging
Section 2: Staging In Shakespeare's time the theatre was very different than it is today. A 'cheap' ticket that would not include a seat would often cost people a day's wages whereas better seats could cost up to 4 times that amount. The theatre was lit by the sun and there was often no protection from rain for many of the audience, but theatres like 'The Globe' often held 2,500 people. One of the most noticed differences between modern theatres and theatres in Shakespeare's day is that there was far less props and no scenery, but the props that were used were often very realistic - a real canon was once used! To add to the reality of the play actors that were to be wounded often wore sheep bladders full of animal blood so it would look as if the were bleeding when it was punctured. This could have been used in Act 3:4 of Macbeth to cover the ghost in a running supply of blood. The props that were used, for example the seats at Macbeth's Banquet, were seen by the audience when they were taken on and off the stage as there were no curtains or walls to cover them. A common technique to cover this happening was to play different types of music between the scenes. One thing the theatre did have, was great sound. There would have been musicians playing almost constantly from all around the theatre, playing all sorts of different genres of music. There would have been