preliminary objective notes on the scottish play

to be formatted/editted later.

-set a square tiled room, at times a kitchen, morgue, hospital,basement (?). very cold and industrial
-1.1 and 1.2 switched, nurses in the hospital tending to the wounded captain then become witches and kill him
-england scene takes place in a make-shift music hall (idea of war converting places) with piano and chairs. macduff's reaction to children's death very quiet but anguished, words come out strangled
-banquet scene staged twice, no either side of intermission. first time, we hear all the lines and see banquo's ghost come out of the service elevator and stalk down the table. second time macbeth's conversation with the murderer is unheard and banquo does not appear, so we know only as much as the guests themselves
-odd business where macbeth takes a lit cigarette from a guest and crushes it over the guest's head
-witches serve the banquet, first time with knoves behind their backs, second time without
-macduff arrives to the castle with family in tow, establishing family connections early on. some lines of the porter scene given to lady macduff
-boy and old man discussing natural events of the night of the murder given to banquo and fleance. fleance open the scene by sneaking to the fridge to get a piece of cake, which macbeth takes back from him when he enters and puts away
-moment of announcing malcom an heir, malcom and macbeth side by side so it looked like duncan as about to announce macbeth. looks on macbeth's face one of "you like me! you really really...oh,no you don't..."
-macduff family killed on-stage. lady macduff realizes they're in peril and keeps trying to leave, but menacing figures appear at every exit and the family backs up against itself in the center. lights black out, then come up slightly so you can just barley make out each member being sluaghtered (including the youngest, teddy-bear-wielding daughter having her throat cut by a hacksaw)
-scene with the witches giving the riddled warnings takes place in a morgue. each "vision" they conjure is a corpse momentarily brought back to life to give his prophecy
-intense video projections during the witch scenes and the final battle. really vibrant, jungle greens used for birnam wood.
-final battle somewhat chaotic
-macbeth makes and eats a sandwich while hiring banquo's murderers. funny and oddly humanizing, though showing a disparity between attitude and action
-lady macbeth's mad scene very fearful, distracted, desperate. uses bleach to wash her hands and the sink (downstage right, spotlit) runs blood
-initial castle scene takes places in the ktichen with staff all around hacking vegetables and fowl for the meal. warmer lighting tones in this earlier scene, eventually becom colder and more clinical as the humanity lessens. when the couples exits, resolved to kill duncan, they bring with them a chocolate cake (model host/hostess)