Macbeth

Initial Responses: SHAKESPEARE

EDUCATIONAL:
This is very trivial topic for it is one of the most common things to learn in acting. Shakespeare was like the founding father of the arts. It was because of him acting is so popular and it has lead us into the wonderful entertainment we enjoy today. Shakespeare has given us amazing techniques, which has helped us learned valuable things that can improve our acting. Such as:
Iambic pentameter - It uses ten syllables with emphasis on every other syllable, giving it a distinctive, lilting rhythm, sounding like this: “de-DUM-de-DUM-de-DUM-de-DUM-de-DUM”.
Personification - when human qualities are attributed to inanimate objects, animals or even abstract ideas, such as deities.
And many more.


COMPLICATED:
I think that this topic is very difficult comprehend. The reason is because Shakespeare always wrote a lot of lines at his era and now a days there is a little less dialogue in scripts. For instance we would be a given a script and there would be short line or mini paragraphs. whereas in Shakespeare's scripts there would be more paragraphs. this gives an overwhelming view of the project and may confront us in harsh way.

MACBETH:

Macbeth is a tragedy by William Shakespeare; it is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those who seek power for its own sake. For this years assessment Macbeth is what we shall be performing.


Macbeth, Thane of Glamis, is told a prophecy from a three witches who say that he will become Thane of Cawdor and "king hereafter." His wife, Lady Macbeth, commands him to take this chance in taking the throne. One night, Macbeth murders King Duncan in his sleep and frames the guards.

• Macbeth's friend, Banquo, was there when the witches' talked of the prophecy and realizes that Macbeth is killed King Duncan. To protect himself, Macbeth hires assassins to kill Banquo. Fleance, Banquo's son, escapes (and he's was also predicted to become king).
• Duncan's sons, Malcolm and Donalbain, run away from Scotland, where they begin plotting against Macbeth. One of their allies, Macduff, in this play Macduff is seen as a threat to Macbeth. Malcolm and Macduff work together and prepare for the fight.
• Overcome with regret over killing King Duncan, Lady Macbeth commits suicide. Macbeth doesn't care and gets three new prophecies: 1. to beware Macduff, 2. that "none of woman born" can kill him and 3. that he won't be defeated until Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane. Macbeth thinks that he is invincible.
• Macduff's army camouflage themselves with Birnam Wood branches as they march on to Dunsinane. Macduff, who was born of a c-section, was not "of woman born" and so has the power to defeat Macbeth, who realizes too late that the witches' prophecies talked about his death and not his success. Macduff kills Macbeth and in the End Malcolm becomes King of Scotland.

Information you see above was gathered from: https://www.enotes.com/topics/macbeth

Lessons & Research :
This not so short summary will contain all the information that was produced from the lessons I attended for the past month and a half. All for which shall prepare me for the performance starting between early to mid March. I describe the lessons in three sections. 2/3rds of them being January and the last section being the first half February which is before the half term holidays.

SECTION 1 - For the first half of the month the entire class and had read the script that was updated by our mentor Rob Alexander.

Our mentor had also assigned us into three groups. Pink, blue and black and I was assigned to the pink group. As were my peers Roman, Dejaa, Mya, Diogo, Ben .T, Favour, Anakin, Elena, Maya and Katie. Our mentor had also assigned us our characters. I was given the character Malcolm (king Duncan's son). For this section of the month me and my group had been focusing on our lines so that for the rest of the month we can focus on blocking.

As you can see on the left, for me to remember my lines, I recorded my lines on my phone and listened to them at available free times (mostly before I reach the college and sometimes after I leave to go home). Not only did I try focusing on my lines but I also did research into my character. As you see below:

MALCOLM - He is the older son of King Duncan, the heir to the throne, and Donalbain's brother. In the end, he gets his throne after getting support to overthrow Macbeth. The character was based on the historical king Malcolm III of Scotland, and is taken from the account in Holinshed's Chronicles, a history of Britain. Malcolm is seen as "chaste, trustworthy, and patriotic". As the heir to the throne, Malcolm is one of Macbeth's worst enemy.
After killing Macbeth and taking his rightful place, Malcolm delivers the final words of the play as a speech contrasting himself and the former tyrant. During his final speech, he gives Macduff and others the rank or title of an earl, while taking his birthright.

Information you see above was gathered from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_(Macbeth)

All this info gave me enough good circumstances to match up to my character. I gathered that he is a kind-hearted young man who is not into war but peace. He has a strong will and will only fight when needed. That means for me to act like him I must always look as I have higher power but act with a kind heart. I must be seen as a worthy ruler who shall destroy evil so that there may be peace in Scotland.

SECTION 2 - It had come to the second half of the month and I had still not learnt all my lines. Though I still would listen to my recordings each day. From this part of the month onwards to February our new mentor Shenagh Cameron (whom had replaced Rob temporarily due to his injuries), Ben .T and I, plus two other students from different groups (we were seen as the ones to direct our groups and help with receiving info from Shenagh) decided it was best that we split most of our lessons into threes. Giving us individual times to rehearse for we are too much for one class room. From then on we have to stay in the order of pink group first, blue second and black last. At the start it was in different orders but the mentor decided we should stay this way.
My group and I mainly focused on our blocking so that we have a good understanding for the performance. I also focused on my voice so I would do vocal exercises (shown in previous blog) to help with my pronunciation. In this play the speech patterns are very Shakespearean so I had to practice a lot in pronouncing my words. Iambic Pentameter really contributed to this.

SECTION 3 - For the last section it had reached the month February. I was still struggling with my lines and my group had decreased. Sure enough people in my group have volunteered to fill in for them and it is quite challenging for them. We only have a few weeks left and we still need to finish our blocking and bonding with our characters.

 I trust my peers to get through this as much as I trust myself. From 1st of February to today I have been non-stop reading my lines over and over. for right now that is my main problem and if it's not fixed my group shall surely suffer. I help out with directing others but from today to the performance I am going to start focusing on my self and leave all the directing to Ben Taylor.

[HALF TERM HOLIDAYS]

After the holidays it was straight back to work. For the rest of the month I was mostly trying to focus
on my lines mostly but that didn't mean I didn't put effort into the lesson. Whenever the teacher or Ben would give a command for where is should be on the stage, when I have to come on or how I should act; I'm all ears. Though I think if I want to act to my full potential i'm going to need to have all my lines completely printed to memory. All I want to do is have a great performance and for that to be a reality.

Final rehearsals :
It has reached march and I shall be performing on the 19th of march, which means my group and I only have 2 weeks and 5 days to rehearse I and get everything on its feet. I have learnt most of my lines; the only bit I need to learn is Malcolm's end speech. As the weeks past by I was trying to increase my acting level. Though it was kind of tough because I looked over my research of Malcolm; I could tell that he's character, his way of thinking was that he is a really humble person (who is in pursuit of getting revenge for his father's killer). That means I can't really go to the extremes with my acting. I know I can still do a lot with this character. I just feel like this is undermining me as an actor. This is a challenge that I hope I can wash over by the performance.

It was the day before the performance and it was time to start thinking of my costume for Malcolm. Now of course I knew that my character is royalty but due to our theme I had to try and make him apocalyptic ready. What I planned to then was wear royal clothing only when king Duncan is still alive and when I'm being crowned at the end of the play. Then when Malcolm runs away I decided to wear my own coat. It's big, it's leather and its kinda roughed up so that give that kind of apocalyptic style. Plus I also added I wore my plain black jeans to help. The end of the lesson was drawing near and we had done a full run through while setting the lights for the theatre tech people.

Performance Evaluation :
What I think went well with my performance is my composure, me pacing through the lines and the fact that I stuck to characteristics that were given to me. I knew my character well and the choice of my costumes came in handy as well. I'm just really glad that it came at well and that not only me but peers acted amazingly. Seeing how I've acted on this just gives me more confidence that I can achieve my goal to be an actor. Though I knew I could do more; that wouldn't be good for my character especially and it would seem as if I'm over-acting. Though there were scenes that I could have added more enthusiasm. Such as the scene with me and Macduff (Deja) and the end scene with my big speech. Doing that could've shown more of my character's emotions.