Day Seven - backstage at the "Scottish Play"

Set as seen from the lighting "booth"

The costumes, organized by "character"

Directors desk

The music on today's slide show is "Scotland the Brave" (Scottish Gaelic: Alba an Aigh) and it is a patriotic song and one of the main contenders to be considered as a national anthem of Scotland. In June 2006, the song came second to Flower of Scotland in an online poll with more than 10,000 votes to determine the nation's favourite unofficial "anthem". The song is used to represent Scotland in the Commonwealth Games.

History
The real Macbeth took the throne of Scotland in 1040, after killing his cousin King Duncan I in a battle near Elgin in the Moray district of Scotland. Duncan's eldest son, Malcolm, ended Macbeth's reign in 1057 by killing him in battle and later assuming the throne as Malcolm III. The real Lady Macbeth's first name was Gruoch, ( pronounced "ga-rue-wah").  Although this is not mentioned in the play, Macbeth was her second husband.

More quotes:

"There 's daggers in men's smiles". (Act II, Scene III).

"What 's done is done". (Act III, Scene II).

"Fair is foul, and foul is fair". (Act I, Scene I).

"I bear a charmed life". (Act V, Scene VIII).

"Yet do I fear thy nature; It is too full o' the milk of human kindness." (Act I, Scene V).

"When shall we three meet again in thunder, lightning, or in rain? When the hurlyburly 's done,
When the battle 's lost and won". (Act I, Scene I). 

"Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand?" (Act II, Scene I).

Day Six - from the bloody Scottish Play

The players have been learning their lines and more oft' than not, they speak them with great art. Meanwhile, back stage and downstairs the production crew is working away and the set and props are really coming along! Maureen Blasco is leading the work with design and painting from Caleb Chase and man-of-all work, Declan Flynn. The work creating props got a huge boost from the Gospodarek family who made some awesome weapons over the weekend.  Big thanks to Noah Seigel and Steven Chace for carpentry, sound set-up and dangerous ladder work. Rosie and Lyndsey are working magic with our thrifting and costuming the cast in a neo-Scots theme. This evening, as the actors struggle to get all those words into their heads, the production crew is making torches, cauldrons, daggers, thrones, crowns and sound effects.

Please note this time change: "Tomorrow and tomorrow..." we will end at 1pm as we hope to run through the play, from  King to King, to King  on Tuesday and Wednesday. And, if your actor wears a kilt in the play they need hiking boots, Doc Martens, work boots, or some high topped foot wear and knee socks. We will have some shoes to try on but are in need of extras. Also, we need  3 pair of old gloves that can have the fingers cut off (without hands in them). Slide show below.

Some quotes from the 1st act

Ian McKellan and Judy Dench as the Macbeth's

Macbeth is one of William Shakespeare's great tragedies. There's murder, battles, supernatural portents, and all the other elements of a well-worked drama. And great quotes - Here are a few from Macbeth Act 1

• "First Witch: When shall we three meet again
  In thunder, lightning, or in rain?
  Second Witch: When the hurlyburly's done,
  When the battle's lost and won."
  - William Shakespeare, Macbeth, 1.1
  
• "Fair is foul, and foul is fair."
  - William Shakespeare, Macbeth, 1.1
  
• "If you can look into the seeds of time,
  And say which grain will grow and which will not."
  - William Shakespeare, Macbeth, 1.3
  
• "If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me."
  - William Shakespeare, Macbeth, 1.3
  
• "Come what come may,
  Time and the hour runs through the roughest day."
  - William Shakespeare, Macbeth, 1.3
  
• "Nothing in his life
  Became him like the leaving it...
  
• "More is thy due than more than all can pay."
  - William Shakespeare, Macbeth, 1.4
  
• "Yet do I fear thy nature;
  It is too full o' the milk of human kindness."
  - William Shakespeare, Macbeth, 1.5
  
• "Come, you spirits
  That tend on mortal thoughts! unsex me here,
  And fill me from the crown to the toe top full
  Of direst cruelty; make thick my blood,
  Stop up the access and passage to remorse,
  That no compunctious visitings of nature
  Shake my fell purpose."
  - William Shakespeare, Macbeth, 1.5
  
• "Your face, my thane, is as a book where men
  May read strange matters...Your hand, your tongue: look like the innocent flower,
  But be the serpent under 't."
  - William Shakespeare, Macbeth, 1.5
  
• "If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well
  It were done quickly

• "Letting 'I dare not" wait upon 'I would,'
  Like the poor cat i' the adage."
  - William Shakespeare, Macbeth, 1.7
  
• "I dare do all that may become a man;
  Who dares do more is none."
  - William Shakespeare, Macbeth, 1.7
  
• "Screw your courage to the sticking-place,
  And we'll not fail."
  - William Shakespeare, Macbeth, 1.7
   more to come...
  

Day Five- cast goes home with T-shirts on, ready to memorize lines!

We hope you  will wear your t-shirt in the coming week and invite people to the show. Great job so far on learning the meaning of Shakespeare's language and delivering the lines in staged readings. Next week we will work with sets, props and costumes so we need those lines to be memorized.

 Warning - loud bagpipe music with slide show (below)  of  RSC at work on Day 5 or the "Scottish Play"

Slide show from Day Two of Mr. and Mrs. MacB "hit" the town

  Pictures (above)  by RCD Fairchild.

The story behind the superstition....

( Two of this production's directors were the first say the dread name and ran three times around the theater on Day Two)


Angels and Ministers of Grace: Theatrical Superstitions Through the Ages
by Kristen McDermott


". . . why do I yield to that suggestion, Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair, And make my seated heart knock at its ribs, Against the use of nature?"
— Macbeth, 1.3.133-6


If at any time you find yourself starved for attention, simply wander into the backstage area of any theater in the English-speaking world. Start to chant "Double, double, toil and trouble," or perhaps simply shout the word "Macbeth!" at the top of your lungs. You will instantly be surrounded by actors and stagehands, frantically shushing you and maybe even trying to push you out the door. Once outside, you must do several things: you must turn around three times, spit over your left shoulder, run around the theater three times and either 1) say the filthiest word you know, 2) say "Angels and ministers of grace defend us!" or 3) speak a line from A Midsummer Night's Dream. Then you must wait to be invited back into the theater. Only then will the dread Curse of the Scottish Play be reversed.

Anyone who has studied Macbeth in high school or college has heard of the Curse of the Scottish Play — or "the Plaid Play" — or simply, "That Play." In fact, it officially entered the elite ranks of pop culture last year in an episode of The Simpsons. America's most beloved animated family visited England and met Sir Ian McKellen as he rehearsed "That Play." Of course, the Simpsons' incessant mentioning of "Macbeth" onstage results in the hapless Sir Ian's being struck by, among other things, lightning and a scaffold.

Productions of Macbeth have historically (it is claimed) been beset with disaster — accidents both onstage and off, from actors gouged and maimed during the many sword fights in the play, to friends and relatives of theater people struck with sudden, unexplained ailments during the run of the show, to the bizarre offstage deaths of actors and directors connected with Macbeth productions. The explanations for these occurrences are long and complex, ranging from the purely supernatural to the purely practical. Macbeth is cursed, some argue, because its depictions of witchcraft rituals invite evil spirits into the space of the theater. Others claim that the curse is the cumulative result of random bad fortune over 400 years of performances, creating a backstage atmosphere of nervousness and tension that invites danger. More pragmatic people suggest that the play is plagued with bad luck simply because any production that features lots of swordplay and special effects with smoke and flames will suffer more than its share of accidents.

One thing is certain: professional theater people respect the curse, whether they literally believe in it or not. Actors have traditionally had a hearty respect for the unseen forces at work in the world, perhaps because their own livelihood depends so much on luck, illusion, and a deep connection with the darkest recesses of human emotion. This may also be the reason why the world of the theater is densely packed with superstitions and ghost stories.

Here are some things that actors never do:

* Whistle backstage
* Say "good luck!" to one another
* 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.

Of course, some of these superstitions have perfectly logical origins. When the lights and curtains were operated by teams of stagehands manipulating hundreds of heavy bars and sandbags backstage, they used the sailors' language of whistles and handclaps to communicate with one another. Any ill-timed whistle could bring a half-ton curtain down onto your head! Having a distracted fellow-actor sit on one's elaborate stage hat because it was lying on the chaise in your dressing room would also be a bad thing. But many stage superstitions seem much more obscure.

Pictures from Day Two

Games and a read-through from beginning to end were the order of  our day's work.We cast the play and then had to recast a bit as our players were shuffled about due to summer commitments. A slide show, with more pics from Tuesday, is in production.
.

The Scottish play starts!

The cast hit the road running on Monday with a fun group of new to us and long time RSC actors who are working with the usual suspects of directors, and co-directors (see side bar). We learned about the plot of the Scottish play and improvising on themes, using a selection of wigs and hats for characterization. We have set a cast for the play and did a complete read through of the script and are on way.

When and where - MON JUN 21st

We'd like to meet from 9:30AM - 12:30PM at Royalston Town Hall, starting bright and cheery on MONDAY JUNE 21st. The final performance will be on THURSDAY JULY 1st so as not to interfere with anyone's plans for the July 4th weekend.

Here is a bit of silliness from the "other" RSC...Reduced Shakespeare Company. Text below.

Witches: Double, double, toil and trouble

(Macbeth enters with sword. In nearly impenetrable Scottish accents:)

Macbeth: Stay, ye imperrfect macspeaker. Mactell me macmore.

Witches: Macbeth, Macbeth, beware Macduff
None of woman born shall harm Macbeth
'Til Birnam Wood come to Dunsinane, don't ye know.

(Witches out; Macduff in, hiding behind a twig.)

Macbeth: O, that's dead great. Then macwhat macneed macI macfear of Macduff, eh?

(Macduff throws down disguise, wields sword, throws two-fingered gesture at Macbeth.)

Macduff: See ye Jimmy and know that I was from me mother's womb untimely ripped! What d'ye think about that?

Macbeth: Aye, it's bloody disgusting. Lay on, ye great haggis-face.

(They fence. One misses, apologizes; they stop a beat and continue.)

Macduff: Ah, Macbeth! Ye killed me wife, ye murdered me babies, and ye dropped a  in me stew!

Macbeth: Och, I didna'!

Macduff: Oh aye, ye did! I had t' throw half of it away.

Macbeth: Well, then, eat out, Macduff!

(Macduff chases Macbeth offstage. "Time out!" Macduff enters, but Macbeth can still be heard fighting in the back. Macduff sticks sword through curtains; backstage, Macbeth's scream is abruptly cut off. Macduff disappears, reenters with severed head.)

Macduff: Behold where lies the usurper's cursed head. Macbeth, yer arse is out the windie.

(Macduff throws the head to the witches, who screech with delight. He tries to start the next line, but is cut off by the cackling several times.)

Macduff: Shut up, ye gits!

(The witches fall silent.)

Macduff: That never was there a story of more blood and death, than this o' Mr. and Mrs. Macbeth. Thankee.

(He bows and departs. Lights out.)

When and where

We'd like to meet from 9:30AM - 12:30PM at Royalston Town Hall, starting bright and cheery on MONDAY JUNE 21st. The final performance will be on THURSDAY JULY 1st so as not to interfere with anyone's plans for the July 4th weekend.

Here is a bit of silliness from the "other" RSC...Reduced Shakespeare Company. Text below.

Witches: Double, double, toil and trouble

(Macbeth enters with sword. In nearly impenetrable Scottish accents:)

Macbeth: Stay, ye imperrfect macspeaker. Mactell me macmore.

Witches: Macbeth, Macbeth, beware Macduff
None of woman born shall harm Macbeth
'Til Birnam Wood come to Dunsinane, don't ye know.

(Witches out; Macduff in, hiding behind a twig.)

Macbeth: O, that's dead great. Then macwhat macneed macI macfear of Macduff, eh?

(Macduff throws down disguise, wields sword, throws two-fingered gesture at Macbeth.)

Macduff: See ye Jimmy and know that I was from me mother's womb untimely ripped! What d'ye think about that?

Macbeth: Aye, it's bloody disgusting. Lay on, ye great haggis-face.

(They fence. One misses, apologizes; they stop a beat and continue.)

Macduff: Ah, Macbeth! Ye killed me wife, ye murdered me babies, and ye shat in me stew!

Macbeth: Och, I didna'!

Macduff: Oh aye, ye did! I had t' throw half of it away.

Macbeth: Well, then, eat out, Macduff!

(Macduff chases Macbeth offstage. "Time out!" Macduff enters, but Macbeth can still be heard fighting in the back. Macduff sticks sword through curtains; backstage, Macbeth's scream is abruptly cut off. Macduff disappears, reenters with severed head.)

Macduff: Behold where lies the usurper's cursed head. Macbeth, yer arse is out the windie.

(Macduff throws the head to the witches, who screech with delight. He tries to start the next line, but is cut off by the cackling several times.)

Macduff: Shut up, ye gits!

(The witches fall silent.)

Macduff: That never was there a story of more blood and death, than this o' Mr. and Mrs. Macbeth. Thankee.

(He bows and departs. Lights out.)

2010 season - Directors stop looking and decide

Here it is, a play all must read in high school - generally sophomore year ~ "the Scottish play" aka Macbeth.

Join us and "Screw your courage to the sticking place..."
Here is a great synopsis of the play...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5nlx2XzP-4
and a lesser one here.