Macbeth, part 32

HERE COMES BIRNAM WOOD

Famously, J.R.R. Tolkien was bitterly disappointed when he went to see Macbeth and, after everyone harping on and on about a forest moving towards a castle, it turned out to only be a bunch of guys holding twigs. Tolkien then went on to create the Ents of The Lord of the Rings who, to be fair, were a much more impressive bunch of moving trees. 

Macbeth's "tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow" speech (sadly truncated here) is one of the BIG SPEECHES, not just of this play but in all of Shakespeare. It's quite a corker when you take a look at it. Here are four top-notch Macbeths delivering it:

For added measure, here is Ian McKellen explaining the thought process behind his own interpretation of the speech, taking from his excellent (if somewhat self-consciously dramatic)  "Acting Shakespeare" show:

Macbeth
Dramatis Personae | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32

Macbeth, part 31

THE STORY SO FAR: Macbeth has murdered lots of people. Lady Macbeth has gone mad because of all the murdering. The relatives of some of the murdered people have come back to Scotland at the head of an English army in order to murder Macbeth. Murder. 

Today's scene features a cameo appearance by everyone's favorite spear-carrier, the cream-faced loon. 

Macbeth
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Macbeth, part 30

I promise you I'm doing my best to charge to the finish here, but there are just all these little tiny scenes to get through...

In case you're wondering, the other three members of The Expository Thanes are Menteith, Angus, and Caithness. It doesn't really matter which is which. 

The Expository Thanes travel from place to place and tell people what's been happening, usually to the accompaniment of one particularly dour-sounding bagpipe. They're not very good. 

Macbeth
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Macbeth, part 29

We're into the home stretch here!

THE STORY SO FAR: Lady Macbeth, having successfully persuaded her husband to murder King Duncan in order to become king himself, has become somewhat unhinged as her increasingly distant husband starts murdering more and more people to secure his grip on the crown. 

"Out, damned spot! Out, I say!" is up there with "To be or not to be" and "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears" in the ranking of famous Shakespearean quotes. I think one of the hardest things about playing Lady Macbeth has to be making her descent into the madness of this scene believable. She is so in control and domineering in the early scenes that it can be hard to believe she would suffer such a catastrophic mental collapse. Does she snap? Or does her sanity gradual erode after Duncan's murder and her husband's subsequent distancing slide into tyranny?

Here are two different interpretations of the scene. The first one, featuring Judi Dench, is, unsurprisingly, one of the best versions of the scene that I've seen so far. Her "Oh! Oh! Oh!" is primal and deeply unsettling. 

Judi Dench and Kate Fleetwood as Lady Macbeth

Macbeth
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Shakespearean Christmas Carols, part 2

Tomorrow is Christmas! And you know what that means... MORE SHAKESPEAREAN CHRISTMAS CAROLS!

Seriously, Cordelia... you better watch out...

I love The Holly and the Ivy, but it doesn't seem to be as popular as it used to be. It's so relentlessly up-tempo and goes on and on and on and on and on...

If you're in the mood for more Shakespearean Christmas Carols, check out my first installment and be sure to read the reader-submitted ones in the comments, including two different takes on Carol of the Bells and another jab at King Lear.

Happy holidays to all of you! I will be taking next week off, but will see you back here in 2016. It's been a busy and exciting year for me, and I am so very thankful to all of you for reading and supporting my work. I am looking forward to another year of sharing Shakespearean silliness with you!

Macbeth, part 28

THE STORY SO FAR: Macduff has fled to England to join up with Duncan's son Malcolm, who is planning to take back Scotland from the murderous Macbeth. But first they are going to get a bit of bad news...

This is really quite a powerful scene. I've seen a lot of different responses from Macduff, ranging from shocked stillness to cold fury to just white hot grief. It's always mesmerizing. There's some fantastic writing going on here:

MALCOLM

Be comforted:
Let's make us medicines of our great revenge,
To cure this deadly grief.

MACDUFF

He has no children. All my pretty ones?
Did you say all? O hell-kite! All?
What, all my pretty chickens and their dam
At one fell swoop?

MALCOLM

Dispute it like a man.

MACDUFF

I shall do so;
But I must also feel it as a man:

That's some powerful stuff there. You can't really make this stuff funny. 

Macbeth
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Macbeth, part 27

It's time for the so-called England scene! Paradoxically, the England scene is the longest scene in the Scottish play. 

This interaction between Macduff and Malcolm is pretty weird and it sometimes gets cut entirely from performances. I think that's a mistake, as it gives us a great insight into Malcolm's character. Up until now the apparently rightful heir to the throne of Scotland has been a complete cipher, but now he gets to flex his political muscles in a series of carefully considered lies designed to test and manipulate Macduff. 

He might be a capable and deserving leader, but we kind of get the sense here that Malcolm is not necessarily a savior in shining armor. 

Macbeth
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