Macbeth

Production DesignBy Student

Noname

Theme The theme of this production is the

relationship between masculinity, and power and cruelty. Throughout Macbeth there is a major emphasis on the fact that only the men have power and only men are strong enough to be cruel.

The scenes involving these ideas will be what are the primary focus of the production

Setting The production will take place in the

future where monarchy has over powered the democratic society, and is the government that the US is now run by

Cities are very hectic places with a lot of people and often a lot of violence. The story of Macbeth is very much like something that would happen in a big city

All of the sets will be in a big city like New York City and everything will be extremely modernized and very geometric

Costumes Much like the sets the

costumes will be very geometric and modernized to emphasize the futuristic setting of the production

Sets

Macbeth’s Castle One of the major sets of the

production will be the Macbeth Castle. The castle is a very important aspect of the play as a whole. Some of the most important events that take place throughout the play, happen in the castle which is why it is so important. Because it is set in the future, the castle will look more like a mansion than a castle.

“Balcony” Another important set is on the

balcony. This set and the scenes that take place there show how the Macbeth castle over looks everything and represents the power and the isolation of Macbeth himself. In my production the balcony would be more of an overlooking window to help demonstrate the futuristic setting.

Characters

Macbeth In my production I choose to

have Macbeth played by Johnny Depp. Macbeth is portrayed as a man who becomes very powerful and lets that power go to his head which eventually leads to his death, and Johnny Depp does an excellent job of portraying a man who has gone crazy.

Lady Macbeth Lady Macbeth is a very manipulative

woman in society powered by men. Though she does not have full control she is very powerful. I choose Angelina Jolie to play Lady Macbeth as she is a very powerful woman in the modern society.

King Duncan King Duncan was an amazing

king and all of his people were very fond of him. He was a very powerful man but all tended to his society. I choose Daniel Craig to play Duncan because he is well liked, and though he is successful, he doesn’t take advantage of his power.

Banquo Banquo was a brave and noble

man and at one time was a good friend of Macbeth’s. He was loyal to Macbeth, but Macbeth was blinded by his own power and didn’t see how good of a friend he had. I choose James Franco to play Banquo because he often portrays a brave man as well as a loyal friend.

The Witches

The witches are extremely powerful forces in the play. They influence most of what goes on, they control what happens to who and when it occurs. They are young manipulative women. I choose Alexis Bledel, Mila Kunis, and Sarah Michelle Gellar to play the three witches because they all have some aspect of power and manipulation in the personalities that they portray as actresses.

Scenes

Act I, Scene III In this scene Macbeth and Banquo are walking together

and they see the three witches and the witches tell Macbeth that he will be king and they tell Banquo that his descendants will be king.

This scene is very important because it somewhat lines up events that will happen in the future of the play.

It marks one of the first times that Macbeth ever thinks about killing Duncan, and also the first time Macbeth sees the witches.

When Macbeth sees the witches and they tell him that he will be king, it prompts his thoughts of killing Duncan, alluding to the fact that witches are controlling Macbeth’s thoughts and actions with their supernatural powers.

Act I, Scene VII In this scene Macbeth tries to back out of killing Duncan. He

believes that there is no reason to kill him after he had given him such a nice honor.

Lady Macbeth follows Macbeth’s statement with her description of how she would kill her own baby if she needed to.

A very important aspect of this scene in how Lady Macbeth manipulates Macbeth to do what she wants him to by telling him that he is not a man. It is so important in this society to be masculine and powerful and this scene demonstrates that Lady Macbeth has more masculinity than Macbeth and that is what eventually persuades him to “become a man” and kill Duncan.

It is very important that in this scene Lady Macbeth is extremely powerful and is very dominant over Macbeth so that towards the end when the roles change it is very obvious.

Act II, Scene II This scene takes place after Macbeth Killed Duncan and he is

going to tell Lady Macbeth that the deed has been done. This is still the part of the play before the rolls of Lady Macbeth and Macbeth switch places, so Lady Macbeth still has a little power over Macbeth.

Now that he has killed Duncan, Macbeth is acting extremely paranoid and he keeps thinking that he heard different sounds during the murder, and by mistake he took the daggers he used to kill Duncan with him.

Because of his Paranoia, Macbeth won’t go back to place the daggers by the guards to frame them for Duncan’s murder, so Lady Macbeth takes the daggers from him to complete the kill.

Lady Macbeth taking the daggers from Macbeth so that she herself completes the task shows that since she is not scared. She demonstrates more masculinity than Macbeth in this situation, but it also shows that they were in it together as a team.

Act III, Scene II This scene is the major changing point of the roles of

Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. It is the first time that Macbeth stands up to Lady

Macbeth and shuts her down when she is trying to be in control of what he is doing.

Macbeth is planning the murder of Banquo and Lady Macbeth wants to know what he is planning. Subconsciously, Macbeth knows that it is wrong that he is having his friend killed just in attempt to save his position as king which is why he is keeping Lady Macbeth out of it, in case she tries to convince him otherwise. He is giving Lady Macbeth a taste of her own medicine.

This part of the play is where Macbeth’s Masculinity really comes out, and with that comes his unbelievable cruelty.

Act V, Scene I This act displays Lady Macbeth’s complete insanity. By this

time both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have gone insane, but in different ways.

Macbeth was on a killing rampage in order to maintain and protect his position as king because he is so incredibly paranoid.

Lady Macbeth has gone insane in the sense that she cannot get the murder out of her mind.

This scene also somewhat demonstrates the role change between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth in that at first Macbeth was the one who was haunted by the murder of Duncan, and according to Lady Macbeth that was because he wasn’t manly enough and now she was the one plagued by it. Macbeth was over taken by his own paranoia which led his killing rampage which is more of a masculine insanity.

Not only did the personality of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth switch places, but their masculinity switched too.