Transcript macbeth ppt

Welcome to
Elizabethan
England.
It’s time to don
your doublet!
Tighten your trussing!
Get on your galligaskins!
Girls, put on your
farthingales!
Smooth your stomachers!
Remember your ruffs!
Slip on your shoes!
And grab your gloves!
Gentlemen?
Ladies?
Is everybody ready?
We’re going to the theater!
William Shakespeare
Lived 1564-1616.
 Born in Stratford-upon-Avon, England
 Married in 1582 to Anne Hathaway (she was eight years
older).
 They had three children, a girl named Susanna (his
favorite; married a doctor), and twins named Hamnet
(died when he was 11) and Judith (married a man who
was in church court for getting another woman
pregnant).
 Joined the Lord Chamberlain’s Men (later the King’s
Men), which became the most important theater
company in London.

William Shakespeare
 Acted
in productions with
LCM and wrote play in the
1590s.
 Mixed reviews –
“contemptuous as an
upstart cow” and the best
tragic and comic
playwright in England.
 Successful – had the
second largest house in
Stratford.
William Shakespeare
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Made money from the
theatre companies profits
and investments.
Seven years after his
death the First Folio, a
collected edition of his
plays, was printed by two
of his colleagues.
What do we know about
Shakespeare?
He has had
an amazing
influence on
our English
language.
Have you heard these phrases?
I couldn’t sleep a wink.
 He was dead as a doornail.
 She’s a tower of strength.
 They hoodwinked us.
 I’m green-eyed with jealousy.
 We’d better lie low for awhile.
 Keep a civil tongue in your head.

They are just some of the
many expressions coined
by that master of
language, William
Shakespeare.
The Globe Theatre
Many of Shakespeare’s plays were
performed in the now famous Globe
Theatre in London, England.
 The Lord Chamberlain’s Men managed the
theatre for years…especially one guy in
particular named Burbage.

The (Globe) Theatre

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First, the civil authorities were NOT the biggest fans of
the theatre. Back in the day, depending on who was in
charge, theatre was sometimes outlawed (those
mischievous thespians!)
Originally, the Theatre (that was the actual
name…clever, eh?) was built just outside the just outside
the northern London city limits.
One actor, Burbage, managed the place and rented it
from Giles Allen. Aside from paying rent, then made
profits from their performances.
Here’s the funny part…
The (Globe) Theatre

So, in December of
1598, Burbage gets into
it with Allen. Burbage
has been bringing in
the money for years
and feels like he has
bought his portion of
The Theatre. Allen
says his lease is
up…too bad…get out.
The (Globe) Theatre
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Okay, here’s the best part. Burbage, some other
actors, and some friends wait until Allen is busy and
distracted with Christmas stuff on December 28th.
The sneak over to the Theatre and dismantle the
place beam by beam.
They put the pieces in storage, waited for nice
spring weather (1599), shipped the pieces across
the Thames river, and built the Globe.
Take that, Giles Allen!
Granted, they had to build it in a rough part of
town, but they got their theatre back.
The (Globe) Theatre

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Destroyed by fire in
1613.
Rebuilt in 1614.
Closed in 1642 by the
Puritans.
Torn down around
1644.
The one you can see
today was built in
1997.
Now, let the show
begin!
This Is NOT "Family
Entertainment."
HERE’S A PREVIEW…
Shakespeare’s Bloodiest Play
When we first hear of
Macbeth, he has just cut an
enemy open ("unseamed") from
belly button ("nave") to throat
("chops"). The king shouts "Oh
valiant cousin! Worthy
gentleman!"
Shakespeare’s Bloodiest Play
At a party, a witch shows her friends the
chopped-off thumb of a ship's pilot
wrecked on his way home.
 Lady Macbeth prays aloud to devils to
possess her mind, turn the milk in her
breasts into bile (!), and give her a man's
ability to do evil.

Shakespeare’s Bloodiest Play

Lady Macbeth gripes at her husband and
ridicules his masculinity in order to make
him commit murder. She talks about a
smiling baby she once nursed and what it
would have been like to beat it to death -she would prefer this to having a husband
who is unwilling to kill in cold blood. Think
about exactly what Lady Macbeth is
saying.
Shakespeare’s Bloodiest Play
The Macbeths murder a sleeping man in cold
blood, then launder his bloody clothes, smear
blood on someone else, then slaughter them to
complete the frame-up.
 Horses go insane and devour each others' meat
while they are still alive.
 Among the ingredients of a witches' brew are
cut-off human lips and a baby's finger. It's not
just any baby -- it was a child delivered by a
prostitute in a ditch, which she strangled right
afterwards.

Shakespeare’s Bloodiest Play
To show Macbeth his future, the witches add to
the brew "grease that's sweated from the
murderer's gibbet." Curious what that is?
 The bodies of murderers were left hanging on
the gallows (gibbet) until they were
skeletonized, which takes weeks. At about ten
days in suitable weather, there are enough weak
points in the skin that the body fat, which has
liquified, can start dripping through. There will
be a puddle of oil underneath the body. This is
for real.

Double Bubble, Toil and Trouble…
Superstitions of Actors
NEVER:
Whistle backstage
 Say “Good luck!" to one another (hence
“Break a leg!”
 Speak the last line of the play (the "tag")
in rehearsal
 Peek through the curtain to see the
audience
 Leave hats on dressing room beds or
shoes on the floor.

A Cursed Play?
People refer to the play as "that play,”
“the unmentionable," or "the Scottish
play." It is supposed to be bad luck to
quote from the play or to use any sets,
costumes, or props from a production.
The evil reputation traces back to a long
line of disasters back to its premier on
August 7, 1606.
The superstition follows that any company performing the
play will be beset with horrible luck, ranging anywhere from
uncanny accidents on the set to actual deaths within the
company!
In fact, in many parts, it is not only the production of the play
that will strike fear, but quoting from the play or even the
mere mention of the name MacBeth inside a theatre, be it
the stage, the house, the lobby, or especially the dressing
rooms will lose a person aquainted with the stage nearly all
his or her theatrical friends.
The Origin:
There are many origins for this superstition. Old actors
believe the witches' song in MacBeth to possess the
uncanny power of casting evil spells.
The Curse of Macbeth
An actor playing Macbeth in 1672 was said to
have murdered the actor playing Duncan
offstage, using his stage dagger.
 One of the worst disasters occurred in America
in 1849, when a long-standing feud between the
actors William Charles Macready and Edwin
Forrest resulted in a riot outside the Astor
Theater, where fans of Forrest protested an
appearance of Macready in the role of Macbeth.
The crowd swelled to 20,000, forcing the militia
to fire, killing 23 people.

The Curse of Macbeth
The boy actor playing Lady Macbeth died
back stage on opening night.
 In 1934, four actors played Macbeth in a
single week.
 In 1937, Macbeth had to be postponed for
three days after a change in directors and
because of the death of Lilian Baylis.
 In 1954, the portrait of Lilian Baylis
crashed down on the bar on opening
night.

The Curse of Macbeth
In 1937, when Laurence Olivier took on the role
of Macbeth, a 25 pound stage weight crashed
within an inch of him, and his sword which
broke onstage flew into the audience and hit a
man who suffered a heart attack.
 In the 1942 Macbeth production headed by John
Gielgud, three actors -- Duncan and two witches
-- died, and the costume and set designer
committed suicide amidst his devilish Macbeth
creations.

The Curse of Macbeth

In one production of Macbeth, nothing went
wrong until the fight scene between Macbeth
and Macduff. Both actors had round "Celticstyle" shields strapped to their forearms of their
left arms. The fight was very physical. The actor
playing Macbeth made a violent move with his
left arm and the shield left his arm and flew like
a Frisbee for twenty feet across the stage.
The actor playing Macduff ducked instinctively
and the shield hit the ground about sixteen
inches from the front of the stage.
The Curse of Macbeth
The superstition is not so much about
doing the play as about naming it. You are
not supposed to mention the title in a
theatre.
 The most interesting theory is that the
play contains the devil in the form of the
porter.

What can I do about the Curse?
The most common remedy to get rid of
the curse is that the offender must step
outside, turn around three times, spit, and
say the foulest word he/she can think of,
and then ask for permission to re-enter
the theatre.
The Supernatural
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Many Elizabethans
believed in the
supernatural and
superstitions.
Most people believed that
ghosts were real and that
spirits were unable to rest
in their graves until they
had returned to earth to
complete acts that they
had not finished.
The Supernatural

Do we still believe in the
supernatural today? How
about superstitions?
Ghosts? Psychics?
Healers?

Do you have any
experiences with
something you believe to
be supernatural?
What do you think? Are curses real?