Macbeth : Act 5 Scene 1 Essay, Research Paper

I am going to direct Act 5 Scene 1 in a theatre. There are 3 characters Lady Macbeth, the doctor and a gentlewoman. It will be a modern performance to encourage school children to come and watch. Lady Macbeth will be in a fairly plain white night-gown so she doesn´t look too affluent. The doctor will be wearing a brown suit which is what he wears to work and the gentlewoman will have a grey dress and an apron. I will have some fairly dull lighting, possibly blue to create a night-time feeling. This will be just above the curtains so that the audience can see the stage and other lights will be introduced during the scene.

The space will have a corridor from the back of the stage leading to the front with pictures of the past kings and queens of Scotland along it´s walls. There will also be some tartan wallhangings to represent Scotland and Scottish culture and candles to get some more light. The candles will be red to symbolise the devil and the blood instead of blue to represent the opposite of the devil, God. The doctor and gentlewoman will be hidden in a room at the front of the stage where they can see LM walking but they can´t distract her. I will keep the witches at the back of the stage throughout the play with a very dim red light behind them so you can just pick out the outline of them boiling something in the cauldron. This is to show the supernatural side of the play because the king was into that sort of thing. I have chosen red lighting to symbolise danger and fear as this is what the witches have brought to Macbeth during the play.

At the start when the doctor says “what have you heard her say” the GW must look extremely worried about what she might tell the doctor. As LM walks out the doctor and GW will talk in a whisper so that they do not disturb her. As they are whispering I will not have any music as this will detract from the speaking and the audience wouldn´t be able to hear them over it. LM will speak quite loudly as though she is announcing what she has done. LM will be walking through dry ice to create a feeling of fog. This will help the audience to see her as lost, not knowing where she is going because of what she and Macbeth have done. The taper that LM has needs to be the central so it may need to be a special kind of light so that it is very bright and draws the audience´s attention. LM will look very pale as she is worried about what she is going to do. She will also have make-up on so she looks tired with “bags” under her eyes. LM will rub her hands together quite vigorously as she tries to remove the blood from the killings of Duncan etc. When the doc says “look how she rubs her hands” he will point at her. During the time that Lm walks he will take notes in his notebook. After LM has said “The Thane of Fife” and the doc has said “you known what you should not” the doc and GW will have to look extremely worried because they know that if they say anything about what they´ve heard they will be killed.

When the doc says “this disease is beyond my practice” the GW will look sad as she realises LM cannot be cured. The doc is now troubled as he doesn´t know what to do now that he has heard what LM has done even though it was indirectly. After he has said ”I think but dare not speak” and the GW has replied “good night, good doctor” the doc will make a fast exit.If you took this one you cheat then you will be gutted!! You have failed your life! (courtesy of www.studentcentral.co.uk) suppliers of coursework for GCSE’s.