WEEK 6 – YOUR PRODUCTION

Shakespeare wrote Macbeth referring to many ongoing events that were occurring in the present years of the early 1600’s. At the time, King James l took over the throne after Elizabeth l in 1603. You could say that this play was partially written for the new king as the play centers a big majority in Scottish society and and James had already been the king of Scotland. This was quite interesting as during Queen Elizabeth’s reign many plays were set on the Tudor manner and way of life in which she was the last monarch of.

On August 7th 1606, Macbeth was first put on. It was performed to King James l along with his brother in law, King Christian IV of Denmark in the Great Hall at Hampton Court Palace.

Fun Fact! Just before the performance was put on Hal Berridge who was meant to be playing the role of Lady Macbeth suddenly felt ill and couldn’t go on stage. It is said that Shakespeare himself filled in and played the role of Lady Macebth. Since there have been rumours that the play itself is cursed.

What happens in Macbeth?

• The three witches meet with Macbeth and tell him that he is to become king
• Macbeth then goes to meet Lady Macbeth and tell her the news he was told by the three witches
• Lady Macbeth decides she is going to kill the king and informs Macbeth
• Both Lady Macbeth and Macbeth kill the king
• Macbeth then takes power and becomes king
• Macbeth becomes suspicious of Banquo and has him killed by the murderers
• Macbeth meets with the witches to be told more prophecies
• He then kills all of Macduff’s family
• Macduff the joins with Malcom, (the son of the dead king)
• Lady Macbeth loses her mind and kills herself
• Both Macduff and Malcolm dress up as trees in order to kill Macbeth
• Macduff kills Macbeth

Splendid Productions adaptation of Macbeth

Splendid Productions adaptation of Macbeth

Cast list

Scott Smith

Genevieve Say

Mark Beirne

In terms of style and design, the company themselves hardly use any set and their costumes are very plain. I believe the company have chosen to not let set and costume determine how contemporary their production is so that it is solely based in their performance.

Splendid productions take a focus into using the engagement of music in their production and comedy in order to engage their audience into a modern day version of Macbeth. The company divide all the roles between their cast of 3 meaning they share and switch the roles back and forth throughout the performance. They present the three witches lines with music and comedy. The music approach was also very similar to our own production of Macbeth, since we also use music for the witches lines. However the atmosphere we decided to use was very different. With our own production we used quite dark backing tracks and raps for the three witches to make their presence frightening and mystic to the audience.

Splendid productions use ukuleles to make the presence of the three witches quite light and comedic which is the exact opposite of how Shakespeare portrays the three witches. This was quite an interesting approach as it not only shocks the audience but the mood of the whole play transforms into something very light and funny. Characters that are meant to be the darkest roles in the play are turned on their heads and seen as the comedians.  

Another technique the company use to modernise the production is by keeping their own accent and one of voice. I found this very interesting as in our own production of Macbeth, keeping our own tone of voice and accent was a very important aspect of our performance and presentation. Keeping your own accent and tone of voice not only makes it easier for the audience to understand the Shakespearean language but the tone of voice is also very familiar to them or in other words it makes it more relatable.

This was also very similar to how the performer played Macbeth to how I played Macbeth too. The performer of Macbeth (Scott Smith) used his real voice and accent so much so that when watching his performance I felt as if I was watching someone in today’s day. Through his performance I able to quickly realise problems these characters faced in Shakespeare's plays are not at all different to problems we face today. Scott made his performance understandable to a contemporary audience by tackling the difficult language and telling it to his audience as it was a normal everyday story. He was able to do this by really putting in the work prior to make sure that the language of the play, would not be a barrier as to why the audience wouldn’t understand what was happening in the play.

WEEK 5 - SHAKESPEARE TODAY

Midsummer Night’s Dream - Tiff

In this modern interpretation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the company Tiff have chosen to use lighting, colour and set as a big tool towards modernising Shakespeare’s production.

Watching the video you instantly get a feel that this interpretation is new and fresh simply by the colour palette they have chosen to use for their set. Colours such as white, black and crystal blue are used to present the cold wintery colours. This itself is quite a difference to Shakespeare’s plays as they would’ve used more earthy colours with their set and costumes e.g cream instead of white or brown instead of black. This instantly gives the contemporary audience a refreshing atmosphere as soon as they walk into the theatre.

Something that differs unusually with the modern interpretation, is that they use less set than the Shakespearean play would. Even though the amount of set they would use wasn’t an overly large amount, they would still usually hide props and set behind the stage curtains until they were needed. However in this modern interpretation you see that hardly any set is used at all and this is purely based on the fact that they can depend so much on lighting and projection.

In the video you see that the background projections help to create the scenery and adjust the mood. For example near the beginning of the clip you see that shadows and projections of branches grow around the stage to create a creepy mysterious atmosphere. They keep their use of set extremely minimal as they have the choice of using developed technology to create the illusion of set that isn’t really there.

The Shakespearean production didn’t have this option of course because of the use of advanced technology meaning they would have solely have to depend on physically having to make any set they want the audience to see. Minimalistic things even such as creating shadows would be out of the question seeing as though they didn’t have any access to lighting.

Tiff company are able to take advantage of their use of technology, put less work into creating set but having a bigger impression. Not only does this save hassle and of course quite a lot of money but this also enables the contemporary cast of performers to have more space to play about on the stage and perform. It gives the director’s a chance to completely go wild in their imagination as they are able to project literally anything they feel would help set the tone.

Twelfth Night - National Theatre

The National theatre’s modern interpretation of Twelfth Night was very bold and complex. As the show began, instantly you could tell that a lot of money had gone into creating a modern like setting with a wide range of intricate set along with a stage that was able to rotate 360 as the scene changes occurred.

Unlike the Shakesperean version, this adaptation was performed facing one direction (Thrust).

However Twelth Night when being performed in The Globe Theatre, would've still been in the same layout roughly, however still fitting in more audience members in the side section next to the stage.

In the picture above you can see that members sitting at the very sides next to the stage most likely wouldn't have been able to see much because of the restricted viewing. This wasn't at all a problem at the National Theatre as the audience members were facing the front. One restriction in the modern interpretation however was that because they fit more audience member's in, if you were sitting very far back you wouldn't be able to see much as the theatre was so big. This is a problem the Globe theatre wouldn't have experienced as their theatre isn't as large.

Another interesting adaptation of Twelfth Night that both productions used similarly, was their use of comedy. During the original performance of Twelfth Night, comedy was a lot more melodramatic. Audience members sitting at the back couldn’t see much of what the characters facial expressions were saying. Melodrama was a way of breaking the barriers of this and getting everyone to understand the comedy aspects of the play (even those sitting at the back) by over exaggerating them to a high level.

Similarly when watching the National Theatre adaptation, I felt that a lot of the comedy aspects of the play were also overplayed to a level of melodramatic acting. Physical actions were extended to an un-naturalistic level along with their voices.

WEEK 4 - THEATRES, ACTORS AND ACTING IN SHAKESPEARE’S TIME

QUESTION: What were the theatres or ‘playhouses’ of Shakespeare’s time like and how were plays staged in them?

 source: https://goo.gl/images/xYsKVj

Stages were very open and not at all as intricate as they are in today’s day. Stages like The Globe theatre and Playhouses were open as they needed light for the performers and of course they didn’t have the advanced technology to have light bulbs. This also meant that if the weather started to get bad, even though the seated, wealthy members of the audiences would be fine, the performers and the people standing “Groundlings” would be covered in rain with nothing to cover them.

Stages were simple and didn’t have much set to make them look fancy. Playwrights had to write in a way that would allow the audience members to imagine a lot of the set that wasn’t actually there.  Even though this meant that they couldn’t depend on set to make their play look incredible before they went on to perform, this also meant that their stages were very flexible in the sense that any type of play could be performed. The stage would be usually set for three sides of the audience (roughly 270 degrees). They were able to interpret their stage onto any scenario such as a battlefield, a crowded town, a royal court, the beach, it was open to anything!

If they needed a large object on stage such as a bed as a prop, usually they would use something like a curtain to cover the piece of furniture until it needed to be present in the act. Sometimes they would use the back of the stage to reveal surprises including to the audience members and one or more of the characters. An example of when they did this was in one of Shakespeare’s plays “A Winter’s Tale” in which one of the character’s (Hermione) statue came to life. The actor hid at the back of the stage waiting for the curtain to come down to then reveal him in which he was then able to come to life.

QUESTION: Who were the actors of Shakespeare’s plays and how did the experience of being an actor differ from the experience today?

• Before Queen Elizabeth l came to ruling, actors were not at all popular and were seen as untrustworthy people. When Queen Elizabeth came to ruling, as entertainment became more important so did theatre. Performers were now seen as superstars and very highly respected people but of course these performers were only allowed to be men.

• Out of the Globe’s most popular performers (also form Shakespeare's company) were Henry Condell, William Shakespeare, Richard and John Heminges.

• All the performers in Shakespeare’s company were expected to be able to perform their own stunts. This included fighting and falling from heights whilst making sure it looked completely believable.

• Voice was also a very important aspect as the Globe theatre was such a large space. The actors had to make sure they had a lot of projection to their voices because of this so that the audience members could get everything of what they were saying. This caused a lot of the actor to perform in a very melodramatic manner along with their small gestures becoming large physicality movements.

• Actors salaries depending solely on their position as a performer. Men actors who had to act as women got paid the least out of all the performers. The Admiral’s were the main company of actors that were competing against Shakespeare to get the most audience members in. They paid young actors three shillings a week. Some of the more older and serious actors were paid about 2 shillings per day.  

Fun Fact ! Actors were expected to know their lines very quickly and also a large amount of them as they moved very quickly onto the next play. When learning lines Shakespeare had a method that helped his actors remember them quickly even if they then forgot what they had to say. He would get his performers to all stand on stage and create images for each line and place them in their minds around the globe theatre’s audience seats. This meant that if one of the actor’s did then forget their lines, they would be able to pick them back up by remembering  where they placed the particular image for that line.

WEEK 3 - SHAKESPEARE’S LONDON AND ELIZABETHAN AUDIENCES

QUESTION: What was London like in Elizabethan times and who were the people attending the theatre?

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Above is an Image of Queen Elizabeth l taking her rule in 1558 as she transformed England into what they called the "Golden Age".  At the time Queen Elizabeth l came to power, women were seen as weak and 'pretty objects' so having such a powerful woman come to power was very unusual for the people living in England. Her image of strong power and strength was something that she felt had to be kept and maintained. Elizabeth would commission portrait artists to paint her as a powerful woman to help keep her presence strong and bold. Elizabeth also used her unmarried status to reinforce that she didn't need the help of a man to be just as strong leader as others might have been. Her independence was shocking to England as they hadn't ever met anyone quite like her. Although she started to become less successful during the end of her throne most people believe that Queen Elizabeth leaded a great impact into creating the 'Golden Age'.

LONDON

Population

Although at the time London wasn’t that big, it was rapidly increasing as it’s population started to grow massively. Many people were moving from the countryside and uter europe into london in search of a better life. It is believed that between the years of 1550 and 1600 London grew from a population of 50,000 to over 200,000.  London quickly became packed as a tourist described the area saying that “one simply cannot walk along the streets for the crowds”.

Sickness

The overcrowding of all the people soon leaded to more serious problems as diseases came about that they were not able to cure. The plague wiped out ⅔ f the population and killed people within roughly 4-7 days. People were frightened to even leave their houses as the summer of 1593 came along wiping out about 10,000 residents.

Religion

Many people were living having different religions to each other and so to calm the tension between the people she came up with the idea of 'middle way'. The idea of this was that people who were either Catholics or Puritans were allowed to keep their religious beliefs along with staying private about them as long as they still attended the Church of England.

Poverty

When Elizabeth came to power, poverty was a big issue especially in the countryside as there had been many problems with harvest and crop growth. In order to try and help to resolve this she passed on 'The Poor Law' this was supposed to help to reinforce the help that was needed for people living in the countryside. As a result of the the law wasn't actually that successful and didn't make much of an impact as people in the countryside still continued to struggle.

Attractions

London already had it’s site attractions with places such as The Tower of London, London Bridge and St Paul’s Cathedral helping it gain much popularity especially for the rich and wealthy.

Notes/ People that went to the theatre

• All people living in London were attending the theatre ranging from the poor to the wealthy. At the top where they were able to stay seated, were all the rich people including lawyers and merchants. At the bottom where they would have to stay standing during the entire performance were “Groundlings”, the not so wealthy people who would pay a penny to watch the show. Apprentices,  journeymen, tradesmen and women were among those to stayed standing.

• The Shakespeare shows were of all genres  including romance, tragedy and comedy.

WEEK 2 - SHAKESPEARE’S LIFE AND BIOGRAPHY

source:  https://homesteadtheatre.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/william-shakespeare_5029159247682.jpg

Origins

Shakespeare was living over 4000 years ago and for that reason a lot of the information we have on him is very limited. Things for example like the date of his actual birthdate we don’t know however we can estimate this as we know when he was baptised in Stratford On -Aven. Shakespeare grew up mostly around London and Stratford. As he grew up and started working as an actor and playwright he became very popular and known by others.

Relationships

In 1852 Shakespeare got married to Anne Hathaway who at the time was already pregnant with their child. 3 years later they had twins named Judith and Hammet. Soon the couple separated in which Shakespeare then went on to live in London whilst Hathaway and the children stayed living in Stratford.

As the couple only had two children very soon the family tree died out leaving Shakespeare with no descendants

More about him

- His family was well off and Shakespeare managed to have quite a good education,

in fact he was intelligent enough to become a tutor

- They also believe that Shakespeare could’ve spent some time working as a sailor.

- Shakespeare was not at all in the shadows of “unhidden talent” as he was growing up. There is evidence of his theatre company performing some of his plays to the Queen (Queen Elizabeth l)

- As Elizabeth died in 1603, James VI of Scotland then became James I of England. James himself was a big fan of theatre and so he continued to commission plays from Shakespeare.

- Shakespeare died on the 23 of April (St George’s Day)

SETTING THE SCENE - LIFE IN ELIZABETHAN ENGLAND

In 1558 Queen Elizabeth was crowned and people’s way of living changed. Life in Elizabethan was a lot more raw and less developed. A lot of the simple electricity uses that we have hold of today they did not have and those simple things are what made a difference to their way of living massively.

Living

The Elizabethans were mostly overpowered by the rich and those who held power however there was not a lot of them. Many poor people lived in the countryside which at the time was seen as something very ugly and unpleasant.

Of course lifestyles in the countryside had a very different image to what most people would depict today, the day’s were very dark and cold.

A normal household in the countryside would consist of a small cottage holding on average about 7 to 8 family members. Houses were often very dark as there was no technology for any sort of light bulbs and candles were too expensive for the working class to afford. The houses also had windows to let in light however no glass which meant the windows had to be kept very small in order not to let in too much cold. However small or big they were, they still let in a lot of the cold which made winters extremely bitter.

Average household items of a working class family living in the countryside:

Spoons, Pots, A basket, A bench.

People often slept on the floor as they had no beds however if they were able to, some did manage to sleep on straw mats which would make sleeping less uncomfortable but still very hard.

Jobs

People didn’t really have a choice when it came to how successful they wanted to be as class was divided according to the class in which you were born into. If you wanted to get a job and you lived in the Countryside, often your best hope would be to go out and travel farm to farm asking if anyone would offer you a jobs as a

Labourer - In their farming industry there were 3 different types of jobs you could have.

Yeaman - This is someone who owns their own farm and gets workers to work in it.

Husbandman - Rents out land from the Husbandman so that he can work in it.

Labourer- Someone who works on other people’s farms (This was the job you were most likely to get)

Money

Once you got the job, working hours were extremely long reaching from dawn until sunset and at the end of the day you would receive 1 Groat.

That is roughly about £100 today however it couldn’t get you anywhere near as much as £100 would today. With 1 Groat you would probably only be able to get roughly 1 loaf of bread and cheese or 3 lemons. This of course would make it impossible to live off specially if you had a family in which you would have to pay for food, rent, clothes it would be impossible. For this reason many people living in countrysides didn’t get married simply because they couldn’t afford to do it and raise a family.

Entertainment/Literature/Religion

Books became very successful as they were now able to print which meant that books were now being printed in English. This gave a wider range of people from different classes an opportunity to educate themselves in their own homes. The first Bible that was printed in English gained huge success as for the first time, people were able to continue educating themselves and learning teachings from their religion in their own homes.

Development

It’s reaching 1598 and many things were starting to be invented and developed. Many people started moving into the city as many houses were being rebuilt and the population was growing more than ever. Population went from 3.2 to 4.1 Million which was an increase of 25%!

Chimneys were made for those who could afford it which meant that houses weren’t so suffocating and smokey because of the small windows in the compact spacing.The compass was made and so were windows which meant warmer houses. However of course only the wealthier people could afford them and even then, because glass was so expensive they would only have windows at the front of their houses to “show off”.

Education

Books were now teaching people all sorts of things even how to shoot out canons.

Before the only people that had access to an education were people of high class however Grammar schools were now opening and boys had access to learning how to read and write in Latin.  1 in 10 men could write in English however by the end of the Elizabethan reign 1 in 4 men could. The amount of women that could write also increased by 10%. Both men and women were able to write and publish work which meant that along with a lot more access to jobs, Literature could be the key to a successful life.