on behalf of the RSC at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in Stratford-upon-Avon, allows an “RSC stage history” to become a crucible in which the chemistry of the play can be explored.
Finally, we go to the horse’s mouth. Modern theater is dominated by the figure of the director, who must hold together the whole play, whereas the actor must concentrate on his or her part. The director’s viewpoint is therefore especially valuable. Shakespeare’s plasticity is wonderfully revealed when we hear directors of highly successful productions answering the same questions in very different ways.
FOUR CENTURIES OF
MACBETH
: AN OVERVIEW
Macbeth
is one of the most frequently performed of all Shakespeare’s plays. Its central place in the repertory has resulted in a full stage history.Simon Forman, the Elizabethan quack doctor and astrologer, described a production he saw at the Globe in 1611. Scholars, however, believe that the play with its oblique references to the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 was first written and performed around 1606 as a tribute to King James I, who was also James VI of Scotland. It is impossible to say whether or not Forman gives an accurate account of the production he saw (it has also been suggested that the document is a fabrication, but the balance of evidence very strongly supports its authenticity). His perception may have been filtered through a reading of Holinshed’s
Chronicles
, the play’s main source. And the version Forman witnessed may have been different from that which survives (see the discussion in the introduction of Middleton’s possible revisions). It is striking that he makes no reference to Macbeth’s second visit to the weyard sisters. Nevertheless, Forman’s report is of inestimable value as the only detailed eyewitness report of the performance of a Shakespearean tragedy in Shakespeare’s lifetime:
There was to be observed first, how Macbeth and Banquo, two noblemen of Scotland, riding through a wood, there stood before them three women, fairies or nymphs, and saluted Macbeth, saying three times unto him, ‘Hail, Macbeth, King of Codon, for thou shalt be a king, but shall beget no kings,’ etc. Then said Banquo, ‘What, all to Macbeth, and nothing to me?’ ‘Yes,’ said the nymphs, ‘hail to thee, Banquo, thou shalt beget kings, yet be no king.’ And so they departed and came to the court of Scotland, to Duncan, King of Scots, and it was in the days of Edward the Confessor. And Duncan bad them both kindly welcome, and made Macbeth forthwith Prince of Northumberland, and sent him home to his own castle, and appointed Macbeth to provide for him, for he would sup with him the next day at night, and did so. And Macbeth contrived to kill Duncan, and through the persuasion of his wife did that night murder the king in his own castle, being his guest, and there were many prodigies seen that night and the day before. And when Macbeth had murdered the king, the blood on his hands could not be washed off by any means, nor from hiswife’s hands, which handled the bloody daggers in hiding them, by which means they became both much amazed and affronted. The murder being known, Duncan’s two sons fled, the one to England, the [other to] Wales, to save themselves. They being fled, they were supposed guilty of the murder of their father, which was nothing so. Then was Macbeth crowned king, and then he, for fear of Banquo his old companion, that he should beget kings but be no king himself, he contrived the death of Banquo and caused him to be murdered on the way as he rode. The next night, being at supper with his noblemen whom he had to bid to a feast, to the which also Banquo should have come, he began to speak of noble Banquo and to wish that he were there. And as he thus did, standing up to drink a carouse to him, the ghost of Banquo came and sat down in his chair behind him. and he, turning about to sit down again, saw the ghost of Banquo, which [af]fronted him so, that he fell
Finally, we go to the horse’s mouth. Modern theater is dominated by the figure of the director, who must hold together the whole play, whereas the actor must concentrate on his or her part. The director’s viewpoint is therefore especially valuable. Shakespeare’s plasticity is wonderfully revealed when we hear directors of highly successful productions answering the same questions in very different ways.
FOUR CENTURIES OF
MACBETH
: AN OVERVIEW
Macbeth
is one of the most frequently performed of all Shakespeare’s plays. Its central place in the repertory has resulted in a full stage history.Simon Forman, the Elizabethan quack doctor and astrologer, described a production he saw at the Globe in 1611. Scholars, however, believe that the play with its oblique references to the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 was first written and performed around 1606 as a tribute to King James I, who was also James VI of Scotland. It is impossible to say whether or not Forman gives an accurate account of the production he saw (it has also been suggested that the document is a fabrication, but the balance of evidence very strongly supports its authenticity). His perception may have been filtered through a reading of Holinshed’s
Chronicles
, the play’s main source. And the version Forman witnessed may have been different from that which survives (see the discussion in the introduction of Middleton’s possible revisions). It is striking that he makes no reference to Macbeth’s second visit to the weyard sisters. Nevertheless, Forman’s report is of inestimable value as the only detailed eyewitness report of the performance of a Shakespearean tragedy in Shakespeare’s lifetime:
There was to be observed first, how Macbeth and Banquo, two noblemen of Scotland, riding through a wood, there stood before them three women, fairies or nymphs, and saluted Macbeth, saying three times unto him, ‘Hail, Macbeth, King of Codon, for thou shalt be a king, but shall beget no kings,’ etc. Then said Banquo, ‘What, all to Macbeth, and nothing to me?’ ‘Yes,’ said the nymphs, ‘hail to thee, Banquo, thou shalt beget kings, yet be no king.’ And so they departed and came to the court of Scotland, to Duncan, King of Scots, and it was in the days of Edward the Confessor. And Duncan bad them both kindly welcome, and made Macbeth forthwith Prince of Northumberland, and sent him home to his own castle, and appointed Macbeth to provide for him, for he would sup with him the next day at night, and did so. And Macbeth contrived to kill Duncan, and through the persuasion of his wife did that night murder the king in his own castle, being his guest, and there were many prodigies seen that night and the day before. And when Macbeth had murdered the king, the blood on his hands could not be washed off by any means, nor from hiswife’s hands, which handled the bloody daggers in hiding them, by which means they became both much amazed and affronted. The murder being known, Duncan’s two sons fled, the one to England, the [other to] Wales, to save themselves. They being fled, they were supposed guilty of the murder of their father, which was nothing so. Then was Macbeth crowned king, and then he, for fear of Banquo his old companion, that he should beget kings but be no king himself, he contrived the death of Banquo and caused him to be murdered on the way as he rode. The next night, being at supper with his noblemen whom he had to bid to a feast, to the which also Banquo should have come, he began to speak of noble Banquo and to wish that he were there. And as he thus did, standing up to drink a carouse to him, the ghost of Banquo came and sat down in his chair behind him. and he, turning about to sit down again, saw the ghost of Banquo, which [af]fronted him so, that he fell
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