STAGING CHALLENGES Blood Will Have Blood: Stage Blood and Banquo s Ghost Macbeth is, with Titus Andronicus, certainly among Shakespeare s bloodiest plays. t only does it have a high body count, but several characters must appear on-stage with blood on their weapons or themselves. In the following activities, your students will explore both the practicalities and the dramatic potential of blood in Macbeth by assessing a scene s blood-related needs, preparing the kind of stage blood appropriate for the scene, and making decisions about staging Banquo s ghost based on the text. Activity 1: Stage Blood Blood is something that actors and production companies have to negotiate with, deciding how much to use, what kind to use, where to hide blood packets, whether or not it can get on clothing (and if so, how to get it out; if not, how to keep that from happening). Materials Needed: o Clear plastic cups o Plastic spoons o Plastic baggies o Empty gel capsules (available at most pharmacies) o Food coloring (red, blue, yellow) o Corn syrup o Water o Peanut butter o Cornstarch o Powdered cocoa o Liquid soap Have your students come to class with old T-shirts they can put on over their clothes. Even if you end up preparing washable blood, this measure is still good to take. You may also want to lay down newspaper or a tarp in your classroom, or, if possible, to do this activity outside. Divide your students into at least 5 groups. Give each group one of the snippets of text from Handout #9A. Have each group determine: o What kind of blood they are going to need thick or thin, drippy or flowing, etc o How much blood they will need o Where the blood needs to go o How to release the blood, if it does not appear at a character s entrance o Which recipe from Handout #9C they need to use to create their blood, based on the conditions of their scene You may wish to give your students Handout #9B, our Flowchart, to help them make this decision. -1-
o How to manipulate the blood on-stage. Do they need a hidden packet? Can it be palmed? Your students will need to experiment in order to find out the appropriate proportions of these ingredients in their recipes. We recommend mixing in clear plastic cups for the trial-and-error process. Have each group present their scene snippets to the class. o They may want to use the feeding-in method (page 22) so that the students manipulating blood are not also trying to hold paper. Discuss: o How easy was it to determine the kind of blood they needed to create? o How easy was it to achieve the right mixture? o What other ways of showing blood on-stage might be possible? Some modern productions use red ribbons or red fabric as a way of stylizing the blood. What effect do your students think that would have on the scene? o You may also want to discuss the practicality of getting the blood back off. When Macbeth and Lady Macbeth s hands are covered in blood at the end of 2.2, how long do they have before their 2.3 entrance to get clean again? (See Production Choices, page 165, for more information on matters of timing). This could become even more complicated if an actor doubles as multiple characters who appear in successive scenes(see Casting and Doubling, page 165). Does this consideration change the kind of blood your students think they should use? FOLLOW-UP Consider Lady Macbeth s sleepwalking scene (5.1), when she washes imaginary blood from her hands. How does this play against all the blood the audience would have seen in the production up until that point? Would using stylized blood, or avoiding the use of blood altogether, change the impact of that scene? FURTHER EXPLORATION Working blood into fight scenes is an additional challenge. Sometimes productions. Advanced Studies classes or production companies may wish to consider the challenges of adding blood to one of the fight scenes (Banquo vs Murderers, 3.3; Macduff family murder, 4.2; Macbeth v Young Siward, 5.7; Macbeth v Macduff, 5.8). How to conceal the blood during the fight How to release the blood What clothing the blood might get on What weapons the blood might get on How to clean up the floor afterwards Activity 2: Banquo s Ghost One of the more spectacular and dramatic moments in Macbeth is the appearance of Banquo s ghost at Macbeth s banquet. The audience shares Macbeth s experience. They see the Ghost with him while no-one else on stage can. This situation is an interesting reversal of the typical theatrical suspension of disbelief. -2-
Typically, the audience is asked to imagine something that is not really there, as in the dagger scene earlier in the play. Here, the audience must try to imagine what it is like for Lady Macbeth and the assembled lords, watching Macbeth react to nothingness meanwhile, the audience knows perfectly well that Macbeth suffers no hallucination, but is truly haunted by Banquo, whom they can see as clearly as he can. Shakespeare uses these scenes to play with the theatrical convention of suspension of disbelief, pitting the theatre of imagination versus the theatre of illusion. Give your students Handout #10: the text of 3.4 from Macbeth Discuss the following: o What does Macbeth tell us about how the ghost looks? o Consider your above exploration of stage blood. What kind of blood would be best to use for this scene? Where does it need to be on Banquo? How much blood should there be? You may wish to look back both at Banquo s murder (3.2) and the Murderer s description of it (3.3) for further clues. o What is the best arrangement for the stage? If there is a Banquet prepared, what does that mean? How big is the table? Where is it? Who prepares it? Where should each character sit? Consider issues of status as well as practical matters of blocking. (See Elizabethan Classroom, page 35, for more on blocking and sight lines). Where is the space reserved for Macbeth? o How does the Ghost appear, disappear, and reappear? Consider the options available to the King s Men at the Globe: the stage left and stage right doors, the central discovery space, appearing above in the balcony, descending from the heavens, or ascending from the trap. Which of these options is the most practical? The most dramatic? tice that the Ghost has two entrances marked in the text, but no exits. When does he leave? Or does he? Is there a way to keep him on-stage but somehow out of Macbeth s sight? Keep in mind that the Globe stage would have had, in addition to the above entrance spaces, two large columns about two-thirds of the way downstage. Should any noise or music accompany Banquo s entrance or exit? o How should the other characters react to Macbeth seeing the ghost? Should they all react in the same way, or differently? Stage the scene. Use your Teacher s Guide, page 148, to help your students make choices about performance. o If your class time is limited, you may wish to only explore through the Ghost s first exit, at about line 42. Discuss: o How difficult is it to sort out Banquo s timing? o How hard is it for the actors portraying Lady Macbeth, Lennox, Ross, and the other lords to avoid looking at Banquo s ghost? o How does Banquo s appearance fit in with the other supernatural elements in the play? -3-
FOLLOW-UP Compare this scene to Macbeth s 1.7 monologue when he sees the dagger of the mind. Examine the language Macbeth uses in that monologue. How does Shakespeare tell the audience (and production companies) whether or not the dagger is real or imagined? How is that language similar to or different from the language that Macbeth uses about Banquo s ghost? Discuss: o Some production companies will choose to stage the dagger, using a prop or a projection. How does this change the audience s perception of Macbeth s hallucination? How is it different if we share the experience of seeing the dagger, as opposed to just watching Macbeth imagine it? o Some companies will also choose not to have Banquo s ghost physically present, rather having the actor playing Macbeth acting against the same empty air that the other characters see. How does this change the energy of the scene? Does it have any greater implications for Macbeth s character? For the supernatural elements of the play? FURTHER EXPLORATION For Advanced Studies classes, compare the appearance of Banquo s ghost to the appearance of ghosts in other plays, such as: Hamlet s father appearing to Horatio and the sentinels, then to Hamlet in various scenes in Hamlet; Caesar haunting Brutus in Julius Caesar and foretelling his death at Philippi; the ghost of Don Andrea serving as a sort of chorus in Thomas Kyd s The Spanish Tragedy. How is Banquo s appearance similar to or different from these ghosts? Why do your students think that Shakespeare keeps Banquo silent while so many other avenging ghosts speak? -4-
Handout #9A Scene Snippets for Blood Work #1: 1.2 Duncan and Bloody Captain DUNCAN What bloody man is that? He can report, As seemeth by his plight, of the revolt The newest state. [...] CAPTAIN But I am faint. My gashes cry for help. DUNCAN So well thy words become thee as thy wounds; They smack of honor both. Go get him surgeons. #2: 2.2 Macbeth and Lady Macbeth LADY Who was it that thus cried? Why, worthy thane, You do unbend your noble strength, to think So brainsickly of things. Go get some water, And wash this filthy witness from your hand. Why did you bring these daggers from the place? They must lie there: go carry them; and smear The sleepy grooms with blood. I'll go no more: I am afraid to think what I have done; Look on't again I dare not. LADY Infirm of purpose: Give me the daggers #3: 2.2 Macbeth and Lady Macbeth Enter LADY LADY My hands are of your colour; but I shame To wear a heart so white. Knock. I hear a knocking at the south entry: Retire we to our chamber; A little water clears us of this deed: #4: 3.4 Macbeth and Murderer See, they encounter thee with their hearts' thanks. Both sides are even: here I'll sit i' the midst: Be large in mirth; anon we'll drink a measure The table round. There's blood on thy face. MURDERER 'Tis Banquo's then. 'Tis better thee without than he within. Is he dispatch'd? MURDERER My lord, his throat is cut; that I did for him. Thou art the best o' the cut-throats: yet he's good That did the like for Fleance: if thou didst it, Thou art the nonpareil. [...] But Banquo's safe? MURDERER Ay, my good lord: safe in a ditch he bides, With twenty trenched gashes on his head; The least a death to nature. #5: 4.3 Macbeth and Banquo s Spirit Thou art too like the spirit of Banquo: down. Thy crown does sear mine eye-balls. And thy hair, Thou other gold-bound brow, is like the first. A third is like the former. Filthy hags, Why do you show me this? -------- A fourth? Start, eyes! What, will the line stretch out to the crack of doom? Another yet? A seventh? I'll see no more: And yet the eighth appears, who bears a glass Which shows me many more; and some I see That two-fold balls and treble scepters carry: Horrible sight: w, I see, 'tis true; For the blood-bolter'd Banquo smiles upon me, And points at them for his. What, is this so? -5-
Handout #9B Flowchart START HERE Is the blood visible on the actor or on an implement (knife or sword) at the entrance? Does the blood need to be edible? Does the blood need to be hidden in a packet under clothing for release during the scene? Does the blood need to be highly viscous or does it need to be thick and sticky? Sticky Does the blood touch clothing? Yes Is the blood flowing freely? Yes Yes Does the blood need to be edible? Does the blood touch clothing? Yes Yes Yes #3 Does the blood touch clothing? #3 + soap Yes #2 #3 + extra PB Yes Viscous Does the blood touch clothing? #2 + extra cornstarch Yes #2 thinned, apply w/ spray bottle #1 thinned, apply w/ spray bottle #1 + extra cornstarch #2 #1-6-
Handout #9C -- Stage s Recipe #1 corn syrup warm water cornstarch red food coloring powdered cocoa green or yellow food coloring ---Mix cornstarch/cocoa with water. Stir in corn syrup. Add food coloring. Recipe #2 corn syrup liquid soap red food color blue food color Recipe #3 corn syrup peanut butter lots of red food color little blue food color -7-
Handout #10 - Banquo s Ghost Macbeth, 3.4 Banquet prepared. Enter, LADY, ROSS, LENNOX, Lords, and Attendants [...] LADY My royal lord, You do not give the cheer: the feast is sold That is not often vouch'd, while 'tis a-making, 'Tis given with welcome: to feed were best at home; From thence the sauce to meat is ceremony; 5 Meeting were bare without it. Enter the GHOST OF BANQUO, and sits in Macbeth s place. Sweet remembrance: w, good digestion wait on appetite, And health on both. LENNOX May't please your highness sit. Here had we now our country's honour roof'd, Were the graced person of our Banquo present; 10 Who may I rather challenge for unkindness Than pity for mischance. ROSS His absence, sir, Lays blame upon his promise. Please't your highness To grace us with your royal company? The table's full. LENNOX Here is a place reserved, sir. 15 Where? LENNOX Here, my good lord. What is't that moves your highness? Which of you have done this? LORDS What, my good lord? Thou canst not say I did it: never shake Thy gory locks at me. 20 ROSS Gentlemen, rise: his highness is not well. LADY Sit, worthy friends: my lord is often thus, And hath been from his youth: pray you, keep seat; The fit is momentary; upon a thought He will again be well: if much you note him, 25 You shall offend him and extend his passion: Feed, and regard him not. Are you a man? Ay, and a bold one, that dare look on that Which might appal the devil. LADY O proper stuff: This is the very painting of your fear: 30 This is the air-drawn dagger which, you said, Led you to Duncan. O, these flaws and starts, Impostors to true fear, would well become A woman's story at a winter's fire, Authorized by her grandam. Shame itself, 35 Why do you make such faces? When all's done, You look but on a stool. Prithee, see there, -8-
Behold, look, lo, how say you? Why, what care I? If thou canst nod, speak too. If charnel-houses and our graves must send 40 Those that we bury back, our monuments Shall be the maws of kites. LADY What, quite unmann'd in folly? If I stand here, I saw him. LADY Fie, for shame. Blood hath been shed ere now, i' the olden time, 45 Ere human statute purged the gentle weal; Ay, and since too, murders have been perform'd Too terrible for the ear: the times have been, That, when the brains were out, the man would die, And there an end; but now they rise again, 50 With twenty mortal murders on their crowns, And push us from our stools: this is more strange Than such a murder is. LADY My worthy lord, Your noble friends do lack you. Avaunt, and quit my sight, let the earth hide thee: Thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold; Thou hast no speculation in those eyes 65 Which thou dost glare with. LADY Think of this, good peers, But as a thing of custom: 'tis no other; Only it spoils the pleasure of the time. What man dare, I dare: Approach thou like the rugged Russian bear, 70 The arm'd rhinoceros, or the Hyrcan tiger; Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves Shall never tremble. Or be alive again, And dare me to the desert with thy sword; If trembling I inhabit then, protest me 75 The baby of a girl. Hence, horrible shadow, Unreal mockery, hence. Why, so: being gone, I am a man again. Pray you, sit still. LADY You have displaced the mirth, broke the good meeting, With most admired disorder. 80 I do forget. Do not muse at me, my most worthy friends, 55 I have a strange infirmity, which is nothing To those that know me. Come, love and health to all; Then I'll sit down. Give me some wine; fill full. Enter GHOST I drink to the general joy o' the whole table, And to our dear friend Banquo, whom we miss; 60 Would he were here: to all, and him, we thirst, And all to all. LORDS Our duties, and the pledge. -9-
Teacher s Guide Macbeth, 3.4 Banquet prepared. Enter, LADY, ROSS, LENNOX, Lords, and Attendants [...] LADY My royal lord, You do not give the cheer: the feast is sold That is not often vouch'd, while 'tis a-making, 'Tis given with welcome: to feed were best at home; From thence the sauce to meat is ceremony; 5 Meeting were bare without it. You may wish to review the beginning of the scene, or to have your student whose Line Assignment covers the scene to recap it for the class. Lady Macbeth is reminding Macbeth that he has ceremonial duties to his guests. Why does she have to stress the point three different times? Enter the GHOST OF BANQUO, and sits in Macbeth s place. Where does the Ghost enter from? Where is Macbeth standing and what way is he facing, that he does not immediately see the Ghost? Sweet remembrance: w, good digestion wait on appetite, And health on both. LENNOX May't please your highness sit. Here had we now our country's honour roof'd, Were the graced person of our Banquo present; 10 Who may I rather challenge for unkindness Than pity for mischance. ROSS His absence, sir, Lays blame upon his promise. Please't your highness To grace us with your royal company? The table's full. Does Banquo s Ghost respond at all to hearing his name? Macbeth reminds the audience that, so far as anyone at the banquet knows, he is only late. one else knows of his death yet. This is an important embedded stage direction for the size of table and number of stools present However many lords a production chooses to include, there cannot be any gaps. LENNOX Here is a place reserved, sir. 15 Where? Lennox uses the demonstrative pronoun here rather than there, indicating close proximity rather than distance Does this mean that the empty/ghost-occupied seat is next to him? -10-
LENNOX Here, my good lord. What is't that moves your highness? Which of you have done this? LORDS What, my good lord? Thou canst not say I did it: never shake Thy gory locks at me. 20 ROSS Gentlemen, rise: his highness is not well. LADY Sit, worthy friends: my lord is often thus, And hath been from his youth: pray you, keep seat; The fit is momentary; upon a thought He will again be well: if much you note him, 25 You shall offend him and extend his passion: Feed, and regard him not. Are you a man? Ay, and a bold one, that dare look on that Which might appall the devil. LADY O proper stuff: This is the very painting of your fear: 30 This is the air-drawn dagger which, you said, Led you to Duncan. O, these flaws and starts, Impostors to true fear, would well become A woman's story at a winter's fire, Authorized by her grandam. Shame itself, 35 Why do you make such faces? When all's done, You look but on a stool. Prithee, see there, Behold, look, lo, how say you? Why, what care I? If thou canst nod, speak too. If charnel-houses and our graves must send 40 How is Macbeth moved? What physical signs does he give? Does he literally move, or is this a move in the emotional sense? Should the Lords speak in perfect unison, or staggered? Try it both ways. What is the effect of each? tice the embedded stage direction for Banquo s appearance. You may also want to examine the fight itself (3.3) and the Murderer s description of his death (earlier in 3.4, on Handout #9A) for more clues. Lady Macbeth s line indicates that at least some of the Lords must follow Ross s suggestion to rise. Lady Macbeth is thinking pretty fast on her feet here but how convincing is her explanation? How can the Lords show whether or not they re buying it? Should Lady Macbeth s demeanor or voice change when she starts talking to Macbeth? How? Is this an indication of just how gruesome Banquo ought to look? Does Lady Macbeth figure out what it is that Macbeth is seeing (or, from her perspective, thinks he s seeing)? Remember that she does not know of the murder yet Macbeth tells her to be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck, till thou applaud the deed (3.2) but she may have had her suspicions. Does Macbeth s behavior confirm them? Can she piece it together? If so, when? How can an actor show that realization? An embedded stage direction for the props needed for this scene. Does Macbeth do anything to try and force Lady Macbeth (or someone else) to look at Banquo? -11- An embedded stage direction for Banquo.
Those that we bury back, our monuments Shall be the maws of kites. LADY What, quite unmann'd in folly? If I stand here, I saw him. Macbeth has moved to the past tense, suggesting that Banquo is no longer on-stage (or at least no longer within his vision). When does Banquo leave? LADY Fie, for shame. Blood hath been shed ere now, i' the olden time, 45 Ere human statute purged the gentle weal; Ay, and since too, murders have been perform'd Too terrible for the ear: the times have been, That, when the brains were out, the man would die, And there an end; but now they rise again, 50 With twenty mortal murders on their crowns, And push us from our stools: this is more strange Than such a murder is. LADY My worthy lord, Your noble friends do lack you. I do forget. Do not muse at me, my most worthy friends, 55 I have a strange infirmity, which is nothing To those that know me. Come, love and health to all; Then I'll sit down. Give me some wine; fill full. Enter GHOST I drink to the general joy o' the whole table, And to our dear friend Banquo, whom we miss; 60 Would he were here: to all, and him, we thirst, And all to all. LORDS Our duties, and the pledge. Avaunt, and quit my sight, let the earth hide thee: Thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold; How much of this speech can the Lords hear? How do they react to this news? Does it confirm Lady Macbeth s suspicions about Banquo? How can Lady Macbeth direct Macbeth s focus back to the Lords? Is it all in her voice? Does she do something physically? Do the Lords do anything? Is this an embedded stage direction for the Lords? Is it perhaps an understatement? There are several embedded directions in these few lines. Take note of the prop needs and of Macbeth s position on the stage. Again, the Ghost enters several lines before Macbeth seems to see him. From where? How does he move into Macbeth s line of sight? Why does Macbeth invoke Banquo again? Is it in defiance of the Ghost? An attempt to ameliorate? How can the actor show this choice? -12-
Thou hast no speculation in those eyes 65 Which thou dost glare with. Another embedded direction for Banquo. LADY Think of this, good peers, But as a thing of custom: 'tis no other; Only it spoils the pleasure of the time. What man dare, I dare: Approach thou like the rugged Russian bear, 70 The arm'd rhinoceros, or the Hyrcan tiger; Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves Shall never tremble. Or be alive again, And dare me to the desert with thy sword; If trembling I inhabit then, protest me 75 The baby of a girl. Hence, horrible shadow, Unreal mockery, hence. Why, so: being gone, I am a man again. Pray you, sit still. LADY You have displaced the mirth, broke the good meeting, With most admired disorder. 80 Are these descriptions perhaps also embedded directions for Banquo? What sort of physicality and behavior might they suggest, if so? Or, is it the opposite? Macbeth seems to be wishing Banquo would take those forms what might that suggest about Banquo s behavior in contrast? Again, we have no exit line for the Ghost. When does he leave? How long does it take him to get off-stage (or at least out of Macbeth s sight)? Who is this embedded direction for? Everyone? A single lord? What do Lady Macbeth s words indicate about how Ross, Lennox, and the others have reacted to this second outburst? -13-