Lady Macbeth

As a director of the play Macbeth, this blog will allow me to explain the play, our proposal for the character of Lady Macbeth and why I chose this casting to the actors.
 
Throughout history there have been different portrayals of Lady Macbeth – from original 1600’s, where she was depicted as a witch because King James was obsessed with witches, to 19nth century, being depicted as a insensible and cruel woman. Choosing how to represent this character has been a notoriously difficult task for a director. This character is key to the tragedy as she works as a catalyst. The character development of Lady Macbeth is surprising and Shakespeare leaves the audience to have different interpretations for the motivation of this character. In a desire to be original, we have decided to make an adaptation of play in the 1950's and location it in a small town in the U.S.A.

The original Macbeth, being written in the midst of a time where paranoia of witchcraft reigned and the fear or a conspiracy against the king arose, provides the main themes of both paranoia and fear for our new, present day orientation of the play. The 1950s, an era of reconstruction after the second world war and a time where communism was, again, the greatest threat, provides the perfect setting for fear to continue to brew and grow. Macbeth is now portrayed as a powerful dictator who gained his stature by killing his enemies and opposers. With a great fear of communism roaming the globe and the rejection of communism, a dictator such as Macbeth poses a grave threat upon the utopia most societies were striving for.
After the war, the traumatized men who went back home after months of battle often developed drinking problems because they had trouble re-ajusting to society. By including this theme and portraying characters with drinking habits provides both comic relief and a tool with which to contextualize the play. The depicting of alcohol related problems fully display the psychological struggles men often faced; in this way, an explanation is also offered for Macbeth's actions and behaviours, as he too had been a witness to horrendous events and was also unable to discuss them freely. This echoes the original because in the 1600’s he just came from fighting the norwegians.
 
In this case we chose Lady Macbeth to be a strong character from the begginning of the play. At the same time we wanted to explore the intimate relationship between her and Macbeth, this is why there is more confidence between the too of them. In this play, Macbeth is the colonel of the army. We want to show the relevance of the post war society because like in the original, Macbeth has just returned from the war in Europe. After coming back home, he tells his wife that because he solved a revolt and he is now General of the Army. After hearing the good news Lady Macbeth sees the opportunity of her husband  becoming more important than he already is by any means.
 
Moreover, in our attempt to modernize the play, the character Malcom has been removed, for there is no longer a need to portray any sort of monarchy hierarchy due to the political context. Instead of striving for a throne, the Macbeth's are seeking the title of "High Governor" for Macbeth. Moreover, we chose that there would not be a Malcom because there is not a monarchy, making it irrelevant to have a King’s son who succeed his father as no-one can inherit the crown. In this case, the mayor tittle is ‘High Governor’ and the Macbeths will seek towards it.

Lady Macbeth's character is presented as highly ambitious from the very beginning of the play, focusing on Macbeth's career path and the necessary steps to bring him to the next level. She openly presents the idea of murdering the governor, and at the time of inception and delivery of the plan, it is clear that it is Macbeth who becomes concerned, rather than his wife. Lady Macbeth can be interpreted as the perfect wife due to her extreme ambitions and instinct to act. However, her own actions do remain subject to her conscience, and throughout the play her courageous facade begins to decay, eventually leading her damaged perspective of right and wrong to drive her into committing suicide.

Throughout the play, an underlying theme becomes evident, but it flourishes within the banquet scene, for example; the theme of appearances versus reality is constant. In this specific cene, Lady Macbeth's character is hosting an event within her own house, making sure everything is kept under control. This scene serves as a perfect example of how well Lady Macbeth is able to keep up her facade of having a normal family and perfect household while keeping up with the demands of a high social status, despite having multiple skeletons in her closet and heart. The 1950's movie star Audrey Hepburn should serve as an example for the desired portrayal of Lady Macbeth, for the exemplifies sophistication, elegance, and fierceness. These factors will also establish a clear difference between Lady M and other female characters, such as the housewives, who would not have that element in their characterizations.

Finally, the last key factor that affects Lady Macbeth's character is the presence of the witches in the original play. In this adaptation, however, witches would not fit in with the setting, and are therefore presented as a metaphor. The role of the witches will be played by the gossip shared between Lady Macbeth's housewives and neighbors, as their power will be that of information, rather than magic. Due to the fact that gender roles were a crucial factor in the time period we are setting this adaptation of the play in, the gossip we are referring to will be transmitted between Lady Macbeth and the housewives in the midst of conversations regarding their husbands' interest to whether or not work with Macbeth.