YOUR PRODUCTION

Research your own Shakespeare play: Macbeth, 
What is the play about? 
When was it first performed?
 Find a contemporary production of the play you can get an idea of and research it in terms of concept, style, design, casting. Give some attention to your own character and their role in the play.

 Macbeth is a play about a man called Macbeth who is told by three witches that he will one day become King. With the influence of his wife, Lady Macbeth, he kills the King at the time Duncan and blames it on the guards. Duncans's two sons Malcolm and Donnelbain run away in fear of their lives as they know someone is after the crown. Macbeth is made King but the power and guilt starts to go to his head. His best friend Banquo suspects Macbeth of killing Duncan, so Macbeth has him killed. His guilty conscience comes back to bite him, and at a banquet Macbeth starts seeing Banquos ghost and goes crazy. 

 Lady Macbeth is also taken by guilt and starts to sleep walk and imagines blood on her hands. It all becomes too much for her and she ends up committing suicide. Macbeth sends for more people to be killed in fear someone might find out the truth of what he has done. He learns that Macduff has sided with Malcolm and both suspect him of killing Duncan. He then sends people to kill Macduff's family. When Macduff finds out about this he is enraged with anger and him and Malcolm decide to go to war against Macbeth. 

 The battle commences and leaves Macduff and Macbeth to fight it out. Macduff wins and stabs Macbeth to death. Finally the crown is given to Malcolm and he is named King.


The play was first performed in 1606 at Hampton Court Palace. The performance was for King James I and his brother-in-law, King Christian IV of Denmark. However on the day of the performance the actor Hal Berridge, who was playing Lady Macbeth, became very ill and had to drop out of the play. He later died, this is one of the reasons people say the play is cursed. 



Macbeth was performed at the Globe in June - October 2016. The style was not modern but the set was full of lights and effects. They used puppets to show the witches and had actors dressed in black moving controlling them, audience members said it was "terrifying". The costumes did not have a time era, they were created from inspiration from the set which was made of wire elements to show the "chaos and tangle of nature and war". For the royals their costumes had embroidery to show importance. The costumes were designed by Joan O’Clery.

Malcolm in the play signifies all good. He is a trusting soldier and is liked by many, just like his father, Duncan. Shakespeare based the character of Malcolm off King Malcolm of Scotland who reigned from 1058 - 1093. He was nicknamed "Canmore" which translates into Great Leader. Malcolm is first shown as weak as he runs away after finding out about his fathers death. He is shown to not be near as good of a leader as his father. However you see how clever Malcolm is when he starts to test Macduff to see if he is trustworthy. And at the end he takes the crown. 









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