Director's Blog
Director's Blog and Notes
Putting together our annual Shakespeare in the Park event each year entails not only the normal pre-
production work on costumes, design and rehearsals, but the construction of an entire "theatre"
from scratch. On the Monday of our run, we stand in a lovely park and two days later, the Festival
Stage is up and operational.
For what it is worth, here are a few of my notes on last year's production of Macbeth.
Enjoy!
Colleen Stovall
Producing Artistic Director
Putting together our annual Shakespeare in the Park event each year entails not only the normal pre-
production work on costumes, design and rehearsals, but the construction of an entire "theatre"
from scratch. On the Monday of our run, we stand in a lovely park and two days later, the Festival
Stage is up and operational.
For what it is worth, here are a few of my notes on last year's production of Macbeth.
Enjoy!
Colleen Stovall
Producing Artistic Director
| January 26, 2009 11:00 pm Farewell to the Scot Well, the set went down today. We put the Scottish play to bed and said goodbye to the curse, the stalkers, the broken carillon bells and the loud drive by rap concerts. The show went well and the cast held together through three wonderful weeks. We had a little bit of rain early on in the run and some cold weather in the middle, but for the most part, we had glorious weather and huge crowds. We finished the last show of the run at 10:05 pm and by midnight, the set was down and mostly packed in the shipping container. The cast has named the shipping container the "Bat Cave". The crowds were different in each location, rowdy, young and enthusiastic on South Beach; College students, families and tourists poured into Peacock Park in Coconut Grove and a smaller but no less enthusiastic group in Miami Gardens. At first we didn't have any students from our host school, FMU, but on the last night a handful of them showed up to watch the play. At first they just stood in the back, ready to leave if they got bored. After the first sword fight, they sat down and didn't get up until they gave the actors a standing ovation. South Beach had a pack of 6 year olds who were running amok in the park, playing loudly through the tech rehearsals, riding their bikes around the stage and generally being a nuisance. On opening night they planted themselves in the front row, yelling back at the witches and almost getting trampled by the soldiers as they leaped off the stage in act five. On the second day, I was upset because there they were in the front row, again. But this time, they brought their plastic swords and as I walked by, I heard one say to the others "You are not going to believe what Lady Macbeth is wearing in this play when she reads that letter from Macbeth." On Sunday, the closing night... there they were... and they brought more friends. They had their swords all ready and one brought his leather Batman gloves. He very patiently explained to me that they were for scaring off the witches. He demonstrated his technique by holding up his forearms crossed over his face while muttering. I left them happily discussing Macbeth's ordering the killing of MacDuff's children. "What I don't get is that he calls his kids chickens. I wouldn't let my dad call me a chicken." The security guard at Florida Memorial University came up to me to thank us for the show. She was upset that she was assigned to guard the stage area, thinking it would be boring to have to hear the play for three nights in a row. She told me that she had read Macbeth in school and absolutely hated it. She was glowing as she reeled off her favorite parts of the play, having watched it three times. "I loved it. I never thought that I'd understand Shakespeare. I now know the whole story, the characters and know it is a really exciting play." I am exhausted but happy. It was a good show. We plan to do a staged reading in May and perhaps something small for Shakespeare's birthday in April. I think we will do either The Merchant of Venice or The Taming of the Shrew. Email me and let me know what you think. Colleen January 3, 2009 4:48 pm Today we worked in Flamingo Park on South Beach. It was messy but fun. We ran the show from cue to cue and it looked like we were filming one of those old Keystone Cops movies. We're basically done with the show. All elements have been added and rehearsed to a high glossy polish and now we are waiting for the added terror of being on an unknown stage. The deck goes up in two days and once up, it will add a slew of new obstacles to our rehearsals. Stairs, backstage, music cues, live drumming, long runs to make entrances and working on unfamiliar ground will have to be tackled head on in the next few days. Then we do the water run through. The pond comes to my house tomorrow and we will build the waterfall on Monday. I worry about energy and the morale in the long run to opening night. Hell week is aptly named, with a build-out day, technical and dress rehearsals and the stress of building an entire theatre from thin air....and although I worry, I feel that we have a cast that can take turns keeping everyone on an even keel until the moment this production comes to life on our stage. December 4 10:38 pm 'Tater Night It is getting a little chilly at our rehearsal space... under cover but no walls...I fed the cast baked potatoes to keep everyone warm. We are now running entire acts. It's scary when you think we are only a month away from opening night. Most of the scenes are running smoothly and look great. It's hard to keep everyone's energy up for the battle scenes. We are getting half-hearted cheering and battle noises. Everyone is a little tired and probably wondering what the heck they have gotten themselves into... This is the time in the rehearsal process where we meld the dialogue, diction and blocking into one seamless performance. It can be mentally and physically challenging and the director can only push so far at this point. The week before Hell Week is the week to demand perfection. This week, I'm just glad to get through an entire scene without stopping. Last night Meghan walked into a punch and took it on the jaw. She's a pro, though and shook it off and went on with the scene. We have to be so careful with the stage combat. It is difficult to just stop and slow down the hand to hand combat and the sword work at this point. We're not up to full speed with it yet and if we rush, someone will get more than a sock in the jaw. That said, there are moments in the show already that take my breath away. Tonight the image of Siward picking the dead body of his son (played by Marianne Eisenhart) out of the pool brought tears to my eyes. Cliff has done a great job with the character, Malcom and his speech at the end sounds beautiful and it looks better than I had hoped. The school reservations continue to roll in and I think we are going to have two packed houses for the school shows. Veronique gave us some information on the bagpipes and their classification as a weapon by the English after the Jacobite revolt in the 1700's. I'll get her notes and post them here. December 1 1:03 am THE CURSE OF MACBETH STRIKES AGAIN We're well into rehearsals, having survived funding cuts, staffing changes and other craziness. The actors continue to amaze and inspire me; Just to name a few...Skye with his intensity and dedication, Meghan with her toughness under all that girlishness and Marianne who can take a hit like nobody's business. We have gone through our mandatory three "curses" of Macbeth: My broken ankle at fight school, Johnny's sprained knee at fight school and Joey's broken ribs (not at fight school). So now, we're in the clear. I am now the proud owner of (OK, it's rented) a 20 foot long steel shipping container, which resides on my driveway at the house. It has been converted into a costume shop. Now we only have to hope & pray that my neighbors will put up with it until January 26th. Fight school continues on apace... all of the fights have been blocked with the exception of the MacDuff kids demise. The most difficult scenes to block and choreograph were the "domestic violence" scenes between Macbeth and Lady M. They are violent and disturbing, but move the scene and convey the message of a violent couple. Skye and Meghan rehearse these scenes over and over. Our joke is about Act 1 Scene 5. There is a lot of snogging plus a little violence in the scene and they have the scene polished to a disturbing level of realism. August 16 7:08 pm Demetrius made me the most amazing scale model of the set. See photos to the left. You'll note that there are a few changes to the set. On the stage left side you'll see that we cut off the horizontal line provided by the balcony. We created an angle with a 6 foot tall gate. The double doors will be used in the Porter's scene and the backstage space provided there will be used to store the 4x5' table/bed on wheels and the oversized throne. This area will also be able to be locked, so we can use it for storage over night. The Stage Right area will have two sets of 3' stairs with a landing. This will allow easy access to the balcony. My neighbor has a perfect stairway on his construction site, which we can use for the backstage entrance to the balcony. Thanks, Octavio! Miami Beach has told us that we cannot have any fire on stage, so we'll have to drop the giant torches from the stage design. August 14 12:17 am Oh my God! Well, it looks as if we are now going to have three weeks of shows; Miami Beach, Coconut Grove and Miami Gardens. I'm exhausted, just thinking of it. This is wonderful news because we have always wanted to hold our shows over multiple weekends so that our audience can build as the weeks go by. I have some news about our Lady Macbeth, but I cannot make the announcement until the AEA contract has been signed and finalized. Casting was a hoot. I got chewed out by an august actor (not of this country) who lectured me about my casting decisions. His agent gave me hell for wasting his time. Sighhhhh. Actors should check the new calendar page for rehearsal and performance schedules. As I was putting my calendar together, I realized that every year we rehearse on my birthday and perform on my son, Chaille's birthday. I don't even notice it, but I think Chaille likes the idea of celebrating with the cast. July 25 10:05 The show is cast! The new book is in! Company Member Daniel Lugo and I volunteered at Shake-a-leg's "Anything can Happen" Day. It was a fun event for their summer campers and it exposed them to many forms of performing arts, crafts and the fine arts. There was some world famous violinist from Russia there who played a piece from Swan Lake and had the kids totally enthralled. Daniel did some short performances with masks. The kids were alternately frightened of him and in love with him. He was all up in their faces and running all over the room. The kids just went crazy! There were a few hundred campers there and although it was very hot, it was a great event. They sat still for about an hour and a half as performers, musicians and others came up and talked and performed. Those were amazingly well behaved children. Part of what Shake-a-leg does is to mix kids from all backgrounds and ability levels together in a normal summer camp setting. I had a blast decorating the wheelchair of a lovely young lady with Titania's wings, a purple ballgown and a tiara to top it all off. She took her role very seriously and was a tad reluctant to relinquish her finery. My first thought was to just give her the costume. I had to stop myself because I realized that if I wanted to treat her just like one of the other kids, I couldn't do it. There were five other girls helping me out. I couldn't give away all my Midsummer Night's Dream costumes. The other girls would have been very unhappy if I wasn't handing out fairy wings and tiaras to everyone. Treating her specially wouldn't be making her any friends. The fairy wings came home with me. Sigh. July 17 12:39am Auditions, tattoos and naked warriors. Well, we had an amazing crowd of actors who came to audition. I'm very excited about the callbacks and additional Equity walk ins on July 21 Thanks to all of the actors who took the time to prepare a piece and to come out and audition. I've been thinking about tattoos. Yes, tattoos. Julius Caesar described the ancient Britons as scary whack jobs who went into battle naked and slathered in blue dye. Some scholars think the translation meant blue glass (scarification) or blue tattoos. The common theory is that they used blue dye derived from the Woad plant in face and body painting to terrify their opponents during battle. Kind of like Braveheart only scary. According to the Wikipedia entry on Woad, the first archaeological find of woad seeds were found in the French cave of l'Audoste, Bouches du Rhone. Some people report that the blue dye from Woad was used as a tattooing ink but I have read that the dye dissolves after the tattoo has been completed and so it probably wasn't the substance actually used for coloring tattoos. I think our actors will be heavily tattooed. I just purchased Celtic tattoo sleeves, which are full arm tattoos, conveniently painted on sheer sleeves, giving the appearance of a severely tattooed arm. Tatts sans ouch. I am also experimenting with temporary tattoos. Because the tattoos were not meant to be hidden,(this means put on your face) we will experiment with them on faces as well. I was thinking about doing henna tattoos, but most of our actors have day jobs and it may be difficult to explain away a full face tattoo during the run of the show. also...blue body paint. The Picts and ancient Celts were reported to have gone into battle naked. While that may be fun and controversial, a bare chest with a little blue clay substance might be a better choice... colorful AND scarey. Hmmm. Maybe we had better work this out in advance. We don't want to look like smurf warriors. MacSmurf. July 11 5:02 pm Faux Fur robe The response to our audition call has been phenomenal. Actors are coming from as far away as New York. I had to shut down the sign up sheet because we simply ran out of time. I' m hoping I can find the Macbeth I need. I have no doubt that there are many gals who can play Lady M as I see her, but I'm not familiar with the older male actors in the area. I can't wait to see who shows up. Yesterday I found a full length faux fox coat for Macbeth's night robe. I cut the sleeves and the fluffy fur pockets off and viola! A regal vest/robe. I have this image of Macbeth's bed being a simple platform piled with skins and furs. (Faux if possible) I need to also dig out the leather armor that my sister Nancy gave me. It needs to be dyed and assembled. arrgh... What a job. As soon as the auditions are over, I will tackle the task of hiring the costumer for this production so I'm not tempted to put together three sets of leather armor. |
July 5 1:07 am Lady Macbeth
Yeah, I know... I gotta get a life!
I have been thinking about our Lady M.
She's gonna be young. How Young? Scary young. I need an adult actor who can play a 15 year old vixen with a heart as
black as the mouth of hell... and play her convincingly.
I'm trying to find a counterpart for our 15 year old Lady M... I want a 60+ year old Macbeth. He needs to be able to fight
and have a seductive spirit because if you read the play carefully, our Scott spends a lot of time seducing others...
The age difference needs to scream "some thing's not right here!" and "ewwww". It needs to be almost an obscene
age difference. This decision was sparked by my thinking about the Scott. He has been a loyal retainer and now a mid
level general in the twilight of his career. He's been content busting heads for the King, content with his life of serving
as a hammer for the ruler. What could cause this loyal man in an advanced age to suddenly turn the switch and covet
advancement at absolutely any cost?
Sure, it is tempting to say that the witches prophesy alone changes Macbeth in a flash. Here is permission to covet.
What changes in him and what plants the seeds of disloyalty and why does it sprout so quickly? Why is he so
susceptible to this prophesy? Did he just leave a wife at home in bed laughing at him for being an old man in an ugly
rundown castle. (the King politely comments on the nice "air" of the castle. ) I think she has him dazed with lust and is
learning how far she can drive him. Dazed with desire, he wants to impress her and give her everything she desires...
Maybe she decides to take her power over him...out for a spin. (read Lolita... I can't stress this enough)
Maybe she is bored... Maybe she longs for something bigger, greater and covered with more jewels. Maybe she
decides to withhold sex...How far will he go to get back into her bed? Let's see now... What can she get him to do?
Murder?
I am envisioning a Lady M as a laughing girl a pampered golden child. Radiant, apple cheeked, flaxen haired and the
beloved mistress of her people.
It's all an act. In reality, she's a corrupt, evil monster. Not a bimbo, but a real child who happens to have no conscience.
By the time she realizes what she has done, the guilt, horror and fear have driven her mad. She is like a child who sets
a forest fire and laughs and claps her hands as the flames dance higher and higher. As it begins to burn out of control
and spread to the entire forest, she realizes that to her horror, she is powerless to stop it. The fire completely immolates
her and everything around her.
Re: the river at front of the stage. The costume designer will need to design with wet costumes in mind. I don't think
they will appear any other way than dripping wet. My son, Chaille suggested that we design the witches after the scary
little gal in the film "the Ring". I like the idea of the creepy long hair and the simple white gown. Let's see what the
designer comes up with. When i get a chance, I'll scan in his character design drawings, which are truly truly creepy.
Stage notes:
The stage will be coated with no-skid so that the witches can move about the stage and not worry about leaving puddles
for the actors following.
A mock up of the waterfall will be built off site so that the actors will have an opportunity to practice in the water. We are
renting portable space heaters so the gals won't be too cold backstage. The river water will be heated. We have
specialists from UM who are helping us build these water systems complete with heaters and safe underwater lighting.
RSMAS rocks!
Waterfall
A company in Orlando has donated an engineer to design our waterfall. The man in charge has built waterfalls and
fountains for some of the giant casinos in Los Vegas.
July 4 9:00pm
Equivocation and the Gunpowder Plot
What does this have to do with our understanding of Macbeth? Why should you care?
The Gunpowder Plot of 1605, was a failed assassination attempt by a group of English Catholic terrorist nut burgers who
wanted to do away with King James I of England & Scotland. He was a crazy guy to begin with and probably shouldn't
have been running a MacDonald's let alone England and Scotland... however, the idea was to kill the King and most of
the Protestant ruling class in a
single giant explosion. (sound familiar at all?)
The plan was to blow everyone to kingdom come at the opening of Parliament on 5 November 1605. This may seem to us
like... Ho, hum, just another bomb...keep in mind that the people of the time considered it to be much worse than the
attacks on September 11, 2001 seem to us today. In addition, a dastardly second phase of the plan was to kidnap the
rest of the royal family (I imagine this would have ended like the end of the Romanov family in Russia after their caputre
and imprisonment. No one wanted any member of the family alive so no "rescue attempts" could be made on the
imprisoned royals. Also crucial to their plot was their assumption that in the ensuing chaos, unhappy Catholics and other
citizens would join in the revolt which would put the Catholics back in power with James’ daughter,
Princess Elizabeth on the throne.
The plotters almost succeeded when a room under the Parliament building became available for rent. Head plotter, Guy
Fawkes moved 36 giant barrels of gunpowder into place, directly beneath the spot where King James I would be sitting.
Had they been successfully ignited, the explosion could have demolished most of the buildings in the Westminster
Palace complex, and would have blown out windows in the surrounding area of about a ½ mile radius.
Due to plague and other delays, the opening date kept being pushed back and finally, the plot was foiled by aristocratic
plotters who wrote letters warning their pals to skip the opening of the Parliament.
Interest in the demons and witchcraft reached a fever pitch after the Gunpowder Plot was exposed. Killing a king was
considered to be the act of the Devil because people believed that the king was appointed by God. (King James had
become obsessed with witchcraft way before he was king. He wrote a wacky book called Daemonology in 1597, which
was then considered a great scholarly accomplishment.) The Gunpowder Plot is believed to have partly inspired
William Shakespeare's Macbeth. (You wondered how I was going to tie all this together, weren't you?)
Shakespeare gave a nod to James' research by using some of the Demons from his book in the play. Demonic logic
such as the line " fair is foul and foul is fair" and other references to witches are frequently seen in the play. This play
was performed for the King and was supposed to be a flattering reference to his Scottish ancestory. It was a major suck
up to the King, who supposedly descended from Banquo. Another probable reference to the Gunpowder plot and James
I were all the references in Macbeth about equivocation. One of the plotters was a Priest named Father Henry Garnett.
Shakespeare references Father Garnett's essay and mocks it by giving the lines to comic character, the Porter.
“Faith, here's an equivocator, that could
Swear in both the scales against either scale;
Who committed treason enough for God's sake,
Yet could not equivocate to heaven
- Macbeth, Act 2 Scene 3
The porter directly alludes to the practice of deceiving under oath using a technique called equivocation.The central
concept of Macbeth's long aside that occurs in Act 1, scene iii, is concerned with equivocation and ambiguity. In this
aside Macbeth speaks in circles, suggesting that the prophesies give him permission to move forward without
consequence. Kind of a formal version of "the ends justify the means." Big mistake on his part.
The final words of his speech are an object lesson in the art of equivocation. The character ‘Macbeth’ is intended to
parallel withthe real life figure of Father Henry Garnet who was executed for his part in the Gunpowder Plot. Garnet's
name is tied to the idea of Equivocation because of an infamous essay he composed on the subject of equivocation,
giving plotters and others lessons on how to respond in utterly ambiguous ways to official questioning while under oath
in order to protect yourself from prosecution while also ensuring that you reveal no actually useful information.
Shakespeare has Macbeth apply Garnet's lessons regarding equivocation with predictably disastrous results as he
considers and rejects the possibility of the witches having the ability to know his future. His weak equivocating gets a
little pathetic in the murder scene when he struggles mightily to absolve himself of guilt and justify the act of murder.
June 28 Photo book.
I'm finishing up the last bits of a book about our five years in Peacock Park. It's turning out nicely, mostly photos of
productions and castmembers. Watch this space for more iformation. It's a hardcover book and I think it'll sell for about
$30.00. T-shirts are finally coming. We will have a white shirt wtih the Macbeth poster on the front and
I think it'll go for about $20.
June 29
Costume ideas:
The three witches will use the understage entrance through the waterfall to enable them to appear and dissappear. They
will also use the understage entrance for the front pool
June 1
Well, it's Macbeth. Our first Tragedy. Here we go!
Yeah, I know... I gotta get a life!
I have been thinking about our Lady M.
She's gonna be young. How Young? Scary young. I need an adult actor who can play a 15 year old vixen with a heart as
black as the mouth of hell... and play her convincingly.
I'm trying to find a counterpart for our 15 year old Lady M... I want a 60+ year old Macbeth. He needs to be able to fight
and have a seductive spirit because if you read the play carefully, our Scott spends a lot of time seducing others...
The age difference needs to scream "some thing's not right here!" and "ewwww". It needs to be almost an obscene
age difference. This decision was sparked by my thinking about the Scott. He has been a loyal retainer and now a mid
level general in the twilight of his career. He's been content busting heads for the King, content with his life of serving
as a hammer for the ruler. What could cause this loyal man in an advanced age to suddenly turn the switch and covet
advancement at absolutely any cost?
Sure, it is tempting to say that the witches prophesy alone changes Macbeth in a flash. Here is permission to covet.
What changes in him and what plants the seeds of disloyalty and why does it sprout so quickly? Why is he so
susceptible to this prophesy? Did he just leave a wife at home in bed laughing at him for being an old man in an ugly
rundown castle. (the King politely comments on the nice "air" of the castle. ) I think she has him dazed with lust and is
learning how far she can drive him. Dazed with desire, he wants to impress her and give her everything she desires...
Maybe she decides to take her power over him...out for a spin. (read Lolita... I can't stress this enough)
Maybe she is bored... Maybe she longs for something bigger, greater and covered with more jewels. Maybe she
decides to withhold sex...How far will he go to get back into her bed? Let's see now... What can she get him to do?
Murder?
I am envisioning a Lady M as a laughing girl a pampered golden child. Radiant, apple cheeked, flaxen haired and the
beloved mistress of her people.
It's all an act. In reality, she's a corrupt, evil monster. Not a bimbo, but a real child who happens to have no conscience.
By the time she realizes what she has done, the guilt, horror and fear have driven her mad. She is like a child who sets
a forest fire and laughs and claps her hands as the flames dance higher and higher. As it begins to burn out of control
and spread to the entire forest, she realizes that to her horror, she is powerless to stop it. The fire completely immolates
her and everything around her.
Re: the river at front of the stage. The costume designer will need to design with wet costumes in mind. I don't think
they will appear any other way than dripping wet. My son, Chaille suggested that we design the witches after the scary
little gal in the film "the Ring". I like the idea of the creepy long hair and the simple white gown. Let's see what the
designer comes up with. When i get a chance, I'll scan in his character design drawings, which are truly truly creepy.
Stage notes:
The stage will be coated with no-skid so that the witches can move about the stage and not worry about leaving puddles
for the actors following.
A mock up of the waterfall will be built off site so that the actors will have an opportunity to practice in the water. We are
renting portable space heaters so the gals won't be too cold backstage. The river water will be heated. We have
specialists from UM who are helping us build these water systems complete with heaters and safe underwater lighting.
RSMAS rocks!
Waterfall
A company in Orlando has donated an engineer to design our waterfall. The man in charge has built waterfalls and
fountains for some of the giant casinos in Los Vegas.
July 4 9:00pm
Equivocation and the Gunpowder Plot
What does this have to do with our understanding of Macbeth? Why should you care?
The Gunpowder Plot of 1605, was a failed assassination attempt by a group of English Catholic terrorist nut burgers who
wanted to do away with King James I of England & Scotland. He was a crazy guy to begin with and probably shouldn't
have been running a MacDonald's let alone England and Scotland... however, the idea was to kill the King and most of
the Protestant ruling class in a
single giant explosion. (sound familiar at all?)
The plan was to blow everyone to kingdom come at the opening of Parliament on 5 November 1605. This may seem to us
like... Ho, hum, just another bomb...keep in mind that the people of the time considered it to be much worse than the
attacks on September 11, 2001 seem to us today. In addition, a dastardly second phase of the plan was to kidnap the
rest of the royal family (I imagine this would have ended like the end of the Romanov family in Russia after their caputre
and imprisonment. No one wanted any member of the family alive so no "rescue attempts" could be made on the
imprisoned royals. Also crucial to their plot was their assumption that in the ensuing chaos, unhappy Catholics and other
citizens would join in the revolt which would put the Catholics back in power with James’ daughter,
Princess Elizabeth on the throne.
The plotters almost succeeded when a room under the Parliament building became available for rent. Head plotter, Guy
Fawkes moved 36 giant barrels of gunpowder into place, directly beneath the spot where King James I would be sitting.
Had they been successfully ignited, the explosion could have demolished most of the buildings in the Westminster
Palace complex, and would have blown out windows in the surrounding area of about a ½ mile radius.
Due to plague and other delays, the opening date kept being pushed back and finally, the plot was foiled by aristocratic
plotters who wrote letters warning their pals to skip the opening of the Parliament.
Interest in the demons and witchcraft reached a fever pitch after the Gunpowder Plot was exposed. Killing a king was
considered to be the act of the Devil because people believed that the king was appointed by God. (King James had
become obsessed with witchcraft way before he was king. He wrote a wacky book called Daemonology in 1597, which
was then considered a great scholarly accomplishment.) The Gunpowder Plot is believed to have partly inspired
William Shakespeare's Macbeth. (You wondered how I was going to tie all this together, weren't you?)
Shakespeare gave a nod to James' research by using some of the Demons from his book in the play. Demonic logic
such as the line " fair is foul and foul is fair" and other references to witches are frequently seen in the play. This play
was performed for the King and was supposed to be a flattering reference to his Scottish ancestory. It was a major suck
up to the King, who supposedly descended from Banquo. Another probable reference to the Gunpowder plot and James
I were all the references in Macbeth about equivocation. One of the plotters was a Priest named Father Henry Garnett.
Shakespeare references Father Garnett's essay and mocks it by giving the lines to comic character, the Porter.
“Faith, here's an equivocator, that could
Swear in both the scales against either scale;
Who committed treason enough for God's sake,
Yet could not equivocate to heaven
- Macbeth, Act 2 Scene 3
The porter directly alludes to the practice of deceiving under oath using a technique called equivocation.The central
concept of Macbeth's long aside that occurs in Act 1, scene iii, is concerned with equivocation and ambiguity. In this
aside Macbeth speaks in circles, suggesting that the prophesies give him permission to move forward without
consequence. Kind of a formal version of "the ends justify the means." Big mistake on his part.
The final words of his speech are an object lesson in the art of equivocation. The character ‘Macbeth’ is intended to
parallel withthe real life figure of Father Henry Garnet who was executed for his part in the Gunpowder Plot. Garnet's
name is tied to the idea of Equivocation because of an infamous essay he composed on the subject of equivocation,
giving plotters and others lessons on how to respond in utterly ambiguous ways to official questioning while under oath
in order to protect yourself from prosecution while also ensuring that you reveal no actually useful information.
Shakespeare has Macbeth apply Garnet's lessons regarding equivocation with predictably disastrous results as he
considers and rejects the possibility of the witches having the ability to know his future. His weak equivocating gets a
little pathetic in the murder scene when he struggles mightily to absolve himself of guilt and justify the act of murder.
June 28 Photo book.
I'm finishing up the last bits of a book about our five years in Peacock Park. It's turning out nicely, mostly photos of
productions and castmembers. Watch this space for more iformation. It's a hardcover book and I think it'll sell for about
$30.00. T-shirts are finally coming. We will have a white shirt wtih the Macbeth poster on the front and
I think it'll go for about $20.
June 29
Costume ideas:
The three witches will use the understage entrance through the waterfall to enable them to appear and dissappear. They
will also use the understage entrance for the front pool
June 1
Well, it's Macbeth. Our first Tragedy. Here we go!
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