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Macbeth
In the Globe Theatre Company's production of Macbeth, Macbeth was played by Jasper Britton.
About Jasper Britton
This is Jasper's second Theatre Season at the Globe. Last year he played Caliban in The Tempest, and played Palamon in The Two Noble Kinsman. He has also spent a season at the RSC, and has appeared in Richard III. His television work includes Casualty, Breakout and Highlander VI. He is currently appearing in Japes at the Haymarket Theatre.
Click on the numbered links to follow Jasper's journey as he creates and plays the character of Macbeth in the Globe Theatre.
Jasper Britton - Character Notes 1
These comments are the actor's thoughts or ideas about the part as s/he goes through the rehearsal process – they are simply his/her own interpretations and frequently change as the rehearsal process progresses.
The first week has been fantastic. The Red Company seems to be excited, inspired and energised! The first thing we did was to play a game. Everyone, apart from one person, sat in a chair and swapped seats. The aim was for the person without the seat to find an empty chair by running to a vacated seat before someone else.
The company read through part of the play together. We then started to improvise parts of the play. The only rule for the improvisation was that each cast member had to appear in every scene. It was fantastic! It took us one week. Tim (Carroll, Master of Play) only wanted the improvisation to be on Act I and last twenty minutes. However, as it was going so well, Tim did not stop us! We worked through the first two acts. Many areas of discussion emerged from the improvisation work.
In rehearsal, we created a ‘physical’ chorus: a group of people who give focus or take focus. This group do not illustrate what is going on, they inform or contribute to what is being said or done. The physical chorus may say something completely different to the action taking place. It works quite well in showing the antitheses, the opposites that are so predominant in Macbeth.
Discussions have taken place about how we will be working our way through the play. We have been considering the Globe stage, its architecture, and working without a set. There are many ideas developing, many of which take a symbolic approach to the play. Tim is interested in dropping a stone into a bucket every time someone dies. The stone is meant to represent life, every time someone dies the stone is dropped into the bucket with a ‘crash’.
I have appeared in Macbeth twice before. I played Angus and Banquo. A part of the play that always interests me is when Banquo gives Macbeth the diamond, which the king has given him for Lady Macbeth. Macbeth says, "Mine own internal jewel, which is my soul I have given to the devil." This has always seemed like a strange gesture. Why does the king give the diamond to Lady Macbeth? How big is the diamond? Is it just a rock? Is it cut beautifully? I then thought that the diamond could be a lump of coal instead, as both coal and diamonds come from carbon.
The company is having a great deal of fun in rehearsals. Four members of the cast were in productions at the Globe last year. The mood has been very ‘light’. In previous ‘tragedies’ I have appeared in, some of the actors were very serious; they never cracked a smile.
I think that Macbeth must start off as a charming character. Macbeth has to go on a long ‘journey’ in the play, in the way that his character changes and develops. If he starts off as an evil character, then his character has ‘nowhere to go’; he has nothing to develop and change into.
The question that I have been concentrating on is why Macbeth takes such actions. I think it revolves around the idea of temptation. A director once told me that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth would do anything out of love (for each other). This idea also seemed to be emerging from our improvisations. Their relationship seemed to be very visceral, virile and powerful. They are very attached to each other. However, there is obviously something wrong in their relationship. Eve (Best) who is playing Lady Macbeth is very open; she does not make any judgements or limitations. It is great to be working with her.
The important themes in rehearsal at the moment are love and temptation. Macbeth has to decide whether he will surrender to temptation. What are the consequences of surrendering to temptation? There may be unforeseen consequences.
I have been thinking about the witches. They tell Macbeth that he will be the "Thane of Cawdor", this is a rather 'random' statement. The witches do not say that Macbeth will be king because Duncan is a bad king. I think that Duncan is a very good king. They do not say it because they feel that the old must make way for the new, in order to create a better world. He interprets what they say. It is his interpretation that is interesting. I think that Lady Macbeth almost blackmails Macbeth, or bullies him. She says to him, "when you durst do it, then you were a man." The balance of masculine and feminine between Lady Macbeth and Macbeth is very strange, as Lady Macbeth is quite dominant.
We had a movement session with Glynn (Macdonald, Master of Movement). She asked what it was to be king, and then she opened her eyes very wide. I realised what she meant by that. The king is always watching his subjects. The leader of any group has to be aware of where everybody is. When do you first see Macbeth as king? I think it is at the banquet. The first thing Macbeth does when he becomes the king is to not sit in the throne. Instead he says "here I’ll sit in the midst, and behold our queen keeps her state". It is Lady Macbeth who sits on the throne. How much does Macbeth really want to be king?
Another exercise which I found very useful involved writing. We had to write for three minutes without stopping about the thoughts and feelings of the character we are playing. I wrote half way down a sheet of A4 paper, and the director revealed that we had really been writing for six minutes. It only felt like two! My piece was all about if I (Macbeth) should listen to my wife, why I want to take these actions and how difficult Lady Macbeth is. I finished by contemplating if I should go abroad. The exercise helped me to clarify the idea that Lady Macbeth seems to drive all of Macbeth's actions.
Working on exercises like this prompts ideas. It stops us being too serious and helps us focus not only on our character but also on our relationship to other characters.
Activities
Chairs
Re read Jasper's first paragraph where he describes the game with the chairs. Try this for yourselves. Do you know any warm up games that you could share with Jasper?
Improvisation
The company worked on an improvisation of each scene in the play. Each member of the company (approx. 15 actors) had to be in each scene, whether or not they spoke. Choose a scene or lines from Macbeth and try this activity for yourself. What do you discover about the status of characters and focus in the scene? Send your discoveries to Jasper.
Antithesis
Macbeth is a play of many antitheses. Chose a scene from the play and read through it searching for moments of antithesis, or antithesis within the language. Send your findings to Jasper.
Macbeth's journey
Jasper must ensure he has a clear picture of Macbeth's journey through the play and how he is effected by the action that takes place when he is not present. Chart your own version of Macbeth's journey - write down each stage clearly marking how each event in the play might effect Macbeth. Send your ideas to Jasper.
Writing Exercise
Look again at the writing exercise Tim set the company. Pick any character in the play and try this exercise for yourself - taking 3 minutes to, (as your character), write down all of your thoughts and feelings. This can be for any moment in the play.
Jasper Britton - Character Notes 2
These comments are the actor's thoughts or ideas about the part as s/he goes through the rehearsal process – they are simply his/her own interpretations and may change frequently as the rehearsal process progresses.
The company has been working on the script with Giles (Block, Master of Verse). Script work includes reading through the scenes, exploring the rhythm of the lines and picking out words and themes that run through the play.
I spent the morning with Mark (Springer, Donalbain/Fleance) and Eve (Best, Lady Macbeth) in the dark, exploring certain scenes. We first rehearsed the scene when I have just killed Duncan and say, "I have done the deed". It was very funny because we were in the dark so we could not see the script; the lines had to be whispered to us! Once we ran through the scene in that way, we did it again, but this time we had to remember the lines ourselves. It was a useful exercise to help us learn our lines.
We then enacted the murder of Duncan in the dark, to help me understand the murder and how I might feel. Mark and Tamara (Harvey, Assistant to the Master of Play) lay down at either side of a chair. On the chair there was a bucket of warm water, this was supposed to be Duncan! We used two ‘J’ cloths as daggers. I then had to find my way around in the dark. Mark warned me that he was improvising along with me. Suddenly I heard a voice in the dark shout out ‘Sleep no more, murderer!’ It was very frightening.
We have been having many sessions on physical work with Sian (Williams, Master of Choreography). After having these sessions, I had an idea. I thought that the army should walk on stage before I come on and say "So foul and fair a day I have not seen." I remember seeing a show years ago in Nottingham. There was a lot of dancing and movement in the show. I mentioned this to Tim (Carroll, Master of Play) and he thought it might be a good idea to incorporate some of these elements into our production. We improvised coming onto the stage and clicking our fingers to the rhythm.
Tim has created some very unusual exercises to help us develop our understanding of the play. One of these examples was when we had to throw a tennis ball on the last strong stress of a line and then catch it on the first strong stress of the next line. While doing this we had to stamp out the rhythm of the lines with our feet.
The cast is very eager to begin specific rehearsals on the play now, after all of the preparation work.
I was asked last week what Macbeth's motives were. I said that he would do anything to gain Lady Macbeth's love. Eve and I speculated that this was due the child that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth possibly had (it is ambiguous). Eve's theory was that the child was about one year old, and it brought them much joy. However, it then died, or was killed, in the same way that the Macduff children were killed. Grief can pull people apart, or can bring people together. We thought that it brought Macbeth and his wife together. The murder of Duncan is their little project, or their little baby. Perhaps the motivation of wanting to be the king means that it would put them in a position of safety, security and the fact that they thought they might deserve it. Is this what Macbeth ‘hankers’ after? I have not decided this yet. Lady Macbeth makes Macbeth feel guilty when he says that he cannot commit the murder, by claiming that he does not love her. Maybe Macbeth feels that this is how he may prove his love. However, the deed has the reverse effect – they are pushed further apart.
I think that the moment of Lady Macbeth's death is Macbeth's biggest moment of discovery.
Giles Block highlighted a very interesting point in relation to Macbeth's language. He said that if all of Macbeth's soliloquies are removed from the text, he says virtually nothing to the other characters apart from one-line answers. He mostly speaks to himself and to the audience.
I think that our production of Macbeth is going to be a very funny show. The beginning with the witches is amazing. They come on stage and make an announcement to the audience about having to turn their mobile phones off. It is sharply choreographed, and they say the following words syllable by syllable: "Welcome ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Globe Theatre, please make sure that your mobile phones are SWITCHED OFF!" They shout the last two words together. Then the music starts and they begin moving in the rhythm with the lines and the music.
Activity
Macbeth's Motives
Jasper has been thinking about Macbeth's motives and has decided that he is motivated by love for Lady Macbeth.
Do you agree with him? Find evidence in the text to support your ideas.
Jasper Britton - Character Notes 3
These comments are the actor's thoughts or ideas about the part as s/he goes through the rehearsal process – they are simply his/her own interpretations and may change frequently as the rehearsal process progresses.
We have been having movement and dancing sessions with Sian (Williams, Master of Choreography). We are currently thinking about how to incorporate dance into the play. What kind of specific movements should Macbeth have? We are trying to progress from simply thinking about ideas to putting then into action. We worked through ‘big’ movements, stretching in all directions and then closing our bodies in completely. There will be a lot of dancing in the scenes with the witches.
Another thing that I have been thinking about is keeping the equivocating, which happens at the beginning of the play, alive until the end. This will keep up the tension. However, there must be other dimensions to Macbeth's character. If he simply turns into an evil psycho, there is no point showing the last two parts of the play.
I feel as though I have learnt a lot about who Macbeth is. It is odd because more lines are suddenly ‘sticking’ in my head then they were before. This is very reassuring. I am trying to solve the ‘ping pong ball’ of ideas in my head, and I feel as if I know where I am now heading with my work. I have gone away from everyone's idea of Macbeth being a great warrior. If I can now work true to the ideas that I have, I think that my character will be more convincing. My work in rehearsals has led me to believe that Macbeth does everything out of love for Lady Macbeth. Usually, in productions Macbeth is portrayed as a tough, invulnerable guy, whose encounter with the witches awakens his twisted ambitions and he begins to think ‘I want to be king’. He is not really driven by Lady Macbeth because the ambition has already developed within him. Our production does not play it in such a way.
This week is the final week before technical rehearsals begin. People may be surprised by this production and it may make them think ‘what is going on here?’, because it is not ‘traditionally’ Shakespearean. I think that the audience will adore the witches, the style and the jazzy saxophone music. I also think that the audience will love Lady Macbeth, as she is such an interesting character to play. I think that she is such a force at the beginning of the play. I very much enjoying work with Eve (Best, Lady Macbeth) because we are on the same wavelength.
The staging of the play will be very interesting. We have a large table, which is suspended by four great big steel wires. The wires are attached to four motors and a computer drives everything. The computer will be programmed to make the mechanism do what we want it to. It can move up all the way to the ceiling and right down to the floor, or any other strange things we would like it to do. I think that it is fabulous and it will be a great deal of fun. This afternoon we will work with it for the first time.
Tim Carroll (Master of Play) is absolutely brilliant. I have never known a director to enjoy himself so much, be so relaxed, and imbue everyone else with a sense of relaxation and to come up with such results. He is taking some great risks with this production.
The computerised table
The production's only piece of set is a black table suspended on wires, situated up stage centre. It can move up and down and tilt in any direction. How would use the table if you were Jasper or Tim, the director of ‘Macbeth’? Look at scenes or moments and write down your thoughts on how use of the table might create tension or dramatic effect.
Jasper Britton - Character Notes 4
These comments are the actor's thoughts or ideas about the part as s/he goes through the rehearsal process – they are simply his/her own interpretations and may change frequently as the rehearsal process progresses.
We’ve been exploring the extremes of the characters of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. For instance, how far with each character go in order to intimidate the other? For me, it's difficult to explore these extremes because I’m a rather calm person. As Macbeth, I’m running around in a state of terror, not only because of the murder, but maybe because of my wife's intimidating nature.
Despite the intimidation, Eve and I have an amazing chemistry on stage, a real sense of togetherness. We believe that this couple commits the murder for love. It's almost as if he's two different people and so is she.
As to my character, I’m trying to play him in a way that it typically wouldn’t be played. I’m battling against preconceived notions of the character. It was really effective during the Witches’ scene. When I first met them, instead of being frightened, I laughed. Tim (Carroll, Master of Play) was pleased with this moment. He said it really worked as an insight into Macbeth's character, a character who is slightly unstable in his intention. I really don’t want to get trapped into playing Macbeth as just being soldierly. I think the character has more depth than that.
Jasper Britton - Character Notes 5
These comments are the actor's thoughts or ideas about the part as s/he goes through the rehearsal process – they are simply his/her own interpretations and may change frequently as the rehearsal and performance process progresses.
Many changes and improvements have taken place in the production. As the re-rehearsal period grew closer we began thinking about possible changes. We were very lucky to have the opportunity and time to rework things with the director (Tim Carroll) and the full company. I felt very strongly about certain things I wanted to change, and these have been changed. I think that the first half-hour of the play is now much easier to understand. The changes in the play are reflected in the behaviour of the audience, who are now more focused and quieter. This, to me, is the main testament that the changes have been successful.
I think that the introduction of the characters and story are now clearer for the audience. I change the way I play scenes everyday, because I can never fully recreate the extreme emotions that I go through as Macbeth. I still do not think that Macbeth is a single character. His character relies upon the interpretation of the actor playing him. Shakespeare provides the fantastic words and fantastic situations, and it is up to the actor to provide the soul of the character. I think that this a very hard part. There are no limits to what an actor can bring to a character. You can be very bold, which is how I played Caliban last year in The Tempest. However, this year I have done the opposite with Macbeth. I have focussed on his psychology, and maybe this is because Macbeth has a lot of soliloquies.
When I first read the play and became familiar with it, I thought that it was fantastic. However, reading a play from the page and having to actually perform it are very different things. It is not enough to simply say the words when you are performing, no matter how fabulous they are. I find that I have to search deep within myself to really embody these words and show that I understand and mean them. This idea can vary from character to character. The character of Richard III is easier then Macbeth because you can simply say the words and the character comes to life. Macbeth is not as explicit. I found him to be confusing and also rather daunting. It is difficult to be able to feel confidently that I am embodying his fear, courage, warlike nature, poetry, and roles of lover and murderer. Shakespeare provides the words, which are the most brilliant raw material, but he leaves a lot of room for the actor to add in his feelings and emotions. You cannot get away with being facile, shallow or charming with the character of Macbeth because there is so much more to him.
Our costumes do not specifically define our characters, and this means that we have to do more work in making them real. On the other hand, it has also helped us to become more imaginative then we may have otherwise have been. The suits that we have been wearing, after performing so many shows, are becoming a bit tattered. The Wardrobe Department keeps telling me that they will get me a new one, however I do not want a new one. I think that the suit works better now that it is dusty and ‘grubby’. The cast looked too slick at the beginning of the run.
When we started performing Macbeth, I was using many of the same techniques that I used last year and I found that they did not work. The more I tried to play to the audience, the more they seemed to ‘back off’. I was speaking to Giles Block (Master of Verse) and he said that I was speaking to the ‘guts’ of the audience rather than the ‘head’. He explained that the top tier of the theatre was the head, the middle and lower tiers are the chest and the Groundlings are the guts. Giles said that Macbeth's thoughts are much ‘higher’ at the beginning of the play then they are at the end, and so I should start speaking to the head of the theatre and work my way down (as Macbeth's thoughts do). I think that was brilliant. The Groundlings want you to talk to them, and they really feel it if you are not talking to them, but to the ‘gods’ above. I am now more introverted on stage, and this is something that is particular to Macbeth.
Eve (Best, Lady Macbeth) and I have been discussing the ‘letter’ scene. This is the first thing that Lady Macbeth talks of when she appears on stage. I suggested to Eve to also make this more introverted.
The run will be ending soon. I want everyone to feel that they have achieved something. Once the run ends, we will be going to Vicenza, Italy, where we will be performing four shows of Macbeth. We will not have the platform on stage as the theatre over there refused to drill holes in the ceiling to suspend it! This will create new challenges to overcome. I am thinking about learning some of the lines in Italian, so that I can say them in Italian and English.
The playing conditions of the theatre in Vicenza will be very different to the Globe. Mark Rylance (Artistic Director of the Globe) has told us that the acoustics in that theatre will allow us to speak softly, for if you shout there will be too much of an echo. The theatre has a roof, lighting and full seating. This is good in one sense, as the rain, aeroplanes or Groundlings talking will not distract us. However, this will also remove the unique playing opportunities that we have at the Globe. For example, last night a seagull was flying overhead and squawking loudly, just at the point when Eve saying "the Raven himself is coarse, That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan" (Act I Scene V). It was a fantastic moment, and the audience really enjoyed it. You do not have these opportunities in another theatre.