Grace Gagne and Sophie Ewing
Link to the Short Film/Play
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1R2FXim2lDVKKEx9z01G2AvnmOWCPj0FX/view?usp=sharing
Modern Script Rewrites
Act 1 Scene 1
First Witch- When are we meeting again? Is it a storm, lightning or pouring rain?
Second Witch- When the fight finally ends and it’s all decided, win or lose.
Third Witch- That’ll happen before the sun even sets
First Witch– Where should we meet?
Second Witch– Out on the open field
Third Witch– To meet Macbeth
First Witch– My cat Graymalkin is calling me
Second Witch– My toad calls me as well
Third Witch– Then let’s go.
All- good is bad and bad is good, lets fade through the fog and filthy air.
Act 5 scene 4
MALCOM- My cousins I believe the time is coming soon where the chambers will be safe once again.
MENTEITH- No doubt in my mind, my lord.
SIWARD- What is that forest ahead of us?
MENTEITH- That is Birnam Woods.
MALCOM- We shall let each soldier cut down a branch and carry it, we will use them for cover then our enemy won’t know how many of us there truly are.
SOLDIER- It will be done.
SIWARD- We have learned nothing new, That confident tyrant is still held up in Dunsinane, ready to wait out our siege.
MALCOM- That is his only hope, His men have abandoned him, the ones who remain are too afraid to revolt and are forced to fight, their hearts have already been taken.
MACDUFF- The truth will be shown soon enough, until then we fight.
SIWARD- The time approaches where the truth will shine through, We will soon have what is truly ours, and everything we have yet to win. The nay say ends here; our battle will decide the truth.
The exit marching
Act 5 scene 5
MACBETH- Hang our flags high on these walls, They keep shouting “They’re coming”- so let them come, This castle is strong, their siege will do nothing. Let them sit out there, huger and sicknesses will kill them way before we get the chance. If half of those men hadn’t turned on us, wed face them and send them running home.
A woman screams from offstage echoing through the castle
What was that sound?
SEYTON- A woman’s scream my lord.
Seyton exits
MACBETH- I don’t even remember what fear feels likes, In the past a cry in the night would’ve shaken me still, and made my hair stand on edge; but I’ve seen too much horror now. Nothing can shock me anymore.
Seyton returns
What was it?
SEYTON- It was the Queen, my lord, she is gone.
MACBETH- (silent for a moment) Well she would have died sooner or later, there would’ve been time to mourn her but now, tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, everyday just drags on, one more useless day after the next, until one day the clock stops ticking. Every single yesterday just brings us fools closer to our deaths, that’s it one day life’s flame just goes out. Life is nothing more than a shadow, an actor ranting on stage that is then gone forever. Life is a story told by an idiot, meaningless.
A messenger rushes into the room
If you have something to say then out with it, now.
MESSENGER- My lord, I don’t know how to tell you what I have just seen.
MACBETH- Out with it now.
MESSENGER- I stood on the hill, and as I looked toward Birnam Wood, the forest began to move.
MACBETH- Don’t lie to me!
MESSENGER- My lord if I am wrong then please punish me however you want, but within three miles from here you can see it, the trees are moving.
MACBETH- If you’re lying to me, then I will hang you from the next tree I lay eyes on myself, but if you’re telling me the truth then it’s all over. The witches told me “fear not till Birnam Wood do come to Dunsinane” and now the forest is coming for me. We must arm up. There is no running or hiding. I’ve grown sick of this sun, and sick of this world so let it all come to an end. Sound the alarm! Blow wind and come ruin! At least we will die fighting.
He grabs his sword, and they rush out of the castle
Act 5 scene 6
MALCOM- We have gotten close enough, Drop the branches, Let them see who we really are now. Uncle you and your son shall lead our first attack, Macduff and I can take whatever is left, make sure you follow the battle plan.
SIWARD- Good luck then, if we are unable to beat the tyrant tonight then we don’t deserve to win at all.
MACDUFF- Sound every one of our trumpets and let them know what’s coming, Blood and Death.
Act 5 scene 7
MACBETH- They have me tied up, there is no way out. I’ve been chained up like an animal, but I must stand and fight. The only man I fear is one that is not born of a woman, and there is no such man alive.
Young Siward enters with his sword raised
YOUNG SIWARD- What is your name?
MACBETH- You’ll be too afraid to hear my name.
YOUNG SIWARD- That’s not true, you can call yourself whatever you want, nothing will scare me, not even a name from hell.
MACBETH- Then please heart it, I am Macbeth.
YOUNG SIWARD- The devil himself couldn’t say a name that I hate more.
MACBETH- And no name more feared.
YOUNG SIWARD- Liar!, you are a filthy tyrant, and I will prove it with my sword!
They fight fiercely until Macbeth kills Young Siward
MACBETH- You were born of a woman, so of course your sword means nothing to me, I smile at it. There is no weapon born of woman that can harm me.
Macbeth exists
Macduff enters
MACDUFF- I hear you, Show yourself you tyrant! If someone else gets the chance to kill then I will never forgive myself. The ghosts of my wife and children will forever haunt me. I refuse to tarnish my blade on your hired soldiers, I only want you Macbeth, your blood is the only thing that can make this right. Let me find him fortune that is all I ask, and I will end this begging.
He charges away
Malcom and Siward enter with their soldiers
SIWARD- This way my lord the castle has begun to surrender! Macbeths soldiers are fighting both sides now, The noble soldiers are winning all around. Victory can be marked on this day; we are so close.
MALCOM- Our enemies are switching sides mid battle.
SIWARD- Enter the castle sir.
They rush into the castle
Act 5 Scene 1
DOCTOR I have watched with you for two days, yet I can’t find any truth in your report. When was the last time she went for a walk?
GENTLEWOMAN Since his Majesty went into the field, I have seen her rise from her bed, throw her nightgown on, unlock her closet, take a fourth piece of paper, write on it, lick the seal, and go back to bed: all the while she was fast asleep.
DOCTOR It’s weird for someone to be both deeply asleep, and still aware of what is going on around them. Besides her walks and actions, what have you heard her say?
GENTLEWOMAN I am not going to say what she said.
DOCTOR You may to me, and it’s most important that you do.
GENTLEWOMAN I’m not talking to you or anybody else, besides there wasn’t anyone to back up what I’ve heard.
.
Enter Lady ⌜Macbeth⌝ with a taper.
GENTLEWOMAN SHHH, here she comes. This is what she usually looks, I promise you, she’s sound asleep. Observe her; stand close.
DOCTOR Why does she have that light?
GENTLEWOMAN Well, she needs it. She must always have light on her. It’s her command.
DOCTOR You see her eyes are open.
GENTLEWOMAN Yes, but she isn’t seeing.
DOCTOR What is she doing now? Look how she rubs her hands.
GENTLEWOMAN She does this all the time, it seems like she is washing her hands. I have seen her do this for over fifteen minutes.
LADY MACBETH Yet theres another spot.
DOCTOR Oh! She’s speaking. I will take note of what she says for my remembrance later.
LADY MACBETH Come ut, damned spot, out, I say! One. Two. Well then, it’s time to do it. Hell is murky Shame on you my Lord, shame on you for being afraid. You’re a soldier! Why should we fear anyone when our power goes unchallenged? Though, who would’ve thought that old man had so much blood on his hands?
DOCTOR Are you hearing this? Write that down.
LADY MACBETH The Thane of Fife had a wife. Where is she now? What, will my hands never be clean? Let’s not talk about this anymore, my Lord. You’re ruining everything by bringing it up.
DOCTOR Come on. You have heard things you shouldn’t have.
GENTLEWOMAN She keeps bringing up things she shouldn’t, I am sure of that. Heaven knows what she has heard.
LADY MACBETH Here’s the smell of the blood still. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten my hand. O, O, O!
DOCTOR [TAKES A DEEP SIGH] I am heartbroken for her.
GENTLEWOMAN I would not have the heart to go through what she is, for anything.
DOCTOR Well, well, well.
GENTLEWOMAN Pray God it be, sir.
DOCTOR This disease is beyond my expertise, I can’t help her. Yet I know of people who sleepwalk that die peacefully in their sleep.
LADY MACBETH Wash your hands. Put on your nightgown. Don’t look so scared. I’ll tell you again, Banquo is buried; he cannot rise from his grave.
DOCTOR Even so?
LADY MACBETH Let’s go to bed, to bed. There is a knocking at the gate. Come in, come in, come in. Give me your hand. What’s done can’t be undone. Let’s go to bed, to bed, to bed.
DOCTOR Is she going back to bed now?
GENTLEWOMAN Right away.
DOCTOR Many rumors are swirling around. Unnatural actions lead to strange problems. When people are troubled, they tend to reveal their secrets if they feel comfortable. She needs spiritual help more than she needs a doctor right now. We all need some of God’s forgiveness. Please take care of her, remove anything that could cause her harm, and watch her closely. Good night. She really has impacted me, but I dare not speak of it.
GENTLEWOMAN Good night, doctor.
They exit.
Act 5 scene 8
MACBETH Why should I play the fool and die by my own sword? As I see it, these gashes have made me stronger.
Enter Macduff.
MACDUFF Turn around you beast, turn!
MACBETH Of all other men, I’ve been avoiding you. But you always seem to show up. My soul is too elated by the thought of your blood on my hands.
MACDUFF I have no words; My voice is in my sword, you are more cruel than any villain I could ever describe.
[Fight.]
MACBETH You are wasting your effort. It‘s as impossible for you to cut the air as it is for you to make me bleed. Go ahead, kill the weak; I have a protected life that cannot be destroyed by anyone born of a woman!
MACDUFF Forget your protection. And let the angel who has told you so, that I, Macduff, was torn from my mothers womb before I was fully grown!
MACBETH Curse you liar, do not weaken my spirit ! I will not believe any part of this trickery that promises, but provides deceit. I refuse to fight you.
MACDUFF If you give up like a coward, you’ll just end up being a spectacle for everyone to gawk upon! We will display you like a rare creature, and label it, “Here you see the tyrant”
MACBETH I will not yield To kiss the ground before Malcolm’s feet, And to be roused by the crowds. Even if Birnam Wood somes to Dunsinane and you confront me, knowing I cannot be killed of anyone born of a woman, I will still fight until the very end! Bring it on Macduff. And the first man to cry “Hold! Enough” shall be damned.
They exit fighting.
Alarums.⌜They⌝ enter fighting, and Macbeth ⌜is⌝ slain. ⌜Macduffexits carrying off Macbeth’s body.⌝
Retreat and flourish.Enter, with Drum and Colors, Malcolm, Siward, Ross,Thanes, and Soldiers.
MALCOLM I wish the friends we missed had arrived safely.
SIWARD Some must go off; and yet today’s triumph could not come without a large price.
MALCOLM Macduff is missing, and your noble son.
ROSS Your son has died a soldiers death, my Lord. He only lived long enough to prove his bravery in battle, and he died like a true man.
SIWARD Then is he dead?
ROSS Yes, he died on the battlefield. Yoursorrow shouldn’t be measured by his worth, then it will never end.
SIWARD Had he gotten hurt before?
ROSS Yes, on the front.
SIWARD Well then, hes a true soldier! If I had as many sons as I have hairs, I wouldn‘t wish for any better demise than this. And so his death is official.
MALCOLM He deserves more sadness than this, and I am willing to grieve for him.
SIWARD He’s worth no more despair. They say he died well and settled hi debts, God is with him. Here comes good news,
.Enter Macduff with Macbeth’s head.
MACDUFF Hail, King! You are indeed the king! Look! As I have the head of the usurper. Scotland is now free! I see you are surrounded by your loyal servents who think highly of you, I want them to join me in saying, “Hail, King of Scotland!
[ALL] “Hail King of Scotland!”
MALCOLM We will not spend much time before settling the many who have loved and supported me! My thanes and kinsmen, will now be earls, first ever to Scotland. In such an honor named. We must remember those afflicted by exile and who have escaped such tyrannical rule. Showing the cruel ministers by whom the dead butches and his henchman the latter of which has taken her own life, What else needs to call upon us, by the grace of grace, we will perform at the right time and place. Thank you all for being here, and we invite you to see us crowned at Scone.
Flourish. All exit.
Project Reflection
When initially engaging with this project, I had so much freedom that I didn’t truly have a good starting point. We were given the opportunity to home our projects in on things from artwork, video essays to playlists, and I wasn’t sure which way would help me immerse myself into the works from class the most. Though in the end of this process, I decided to work with a classmate and together we rewrote seven scenes from Macbeth and then worked hard to act them out while filming. The entirety of this process was long and somewhat difficult; It was an ambitious choice considering we both have no background in acting and or zero experience with video editing. Still, Something about being able to bring the story to life ourselves got both of us excited. We wanted to step outside of our comfort zones and do something that would help to deepen our knowledge of themes that make up Macbeth.
The rewriting process was probably the easiest portion of the project. Sophie and I split the scenes up evenly and both got to work to rewrite them with a more modern tongue. We are both English Education majors and pride ourselves on our writing abilities, so this aspect of the project hit very close to home and was done in a few hours. Having to dig deep into what Shakespeare meant in each line was difficult but rewarding as it helped me to truly understand what Macbeth was about. Of course, during the readings, I understood the basis of what we were covering as a class and knew the importance of each act; but this gave me the chance to immerse myself into each line of the most import scenes and acts of the play.
The acting and filming process was one of the most difficult aspects of the project and gave me a new appreciation for actors. Once we had our scripts we initially were going to try and memorize our lines for each scene, but this ended up proving to be extremely hard. Sophie and I both have zero acting skills or background in theater, so we really had to focus when saying our lines as simply saying them out loud felt strange. We practiced tone at times without recording but we quickly realized that doing it with the camera off felt a lot different than with the camera on. This helped me learn that acting isn’t just measly memorizing words, it is about trying to understand how the character feels and finding a way to show that through voice, which I can openly admit I was terrible at. Every take that was done countless times over and over taught me how important it is to show how emotions translate through your words. Recording these scenes also reminded me that creative projects aren’t about perfection but they’re about experimenting and learning as you go.
When it came to editing the videos we took it was another huge learning curve that I talk about a lot throughout the prep and posts from this past week. I had never used any form of editing software before, so I had to play around with trimming the clips, editing out our mistakes and trying to make it visually appealing to the best of my ability. I tired countless apps to fix and tweak the clips we had taken, though in the end I used a collection of Capcut, iMovie and even Tik Tok. There was something really satisfying about seeing our collection of messy clips form into an actual mini movie, with completely finished scenes. It made me realize that editing is powerful tool, and you can do a lot with pieces and cuts to help shape a final product.
In the end this project taught me a lot more than I thought it would have. It showed me how creative learning can be when you try new things and work with people you’ve never worked with before. I gained a much deeper understanding of Macbeth from giving myself the opportunity to rewrite and preform the play, and not just analyze it. I also learned a lot of skills that involve acting, script writing ,and video editing, which are things that I don’t usually get the opportunity to learn about in my English classes. This project gave me a greater appreciation for the creative process, but most importantly that not knowing how to do something should not stop you from giving it a try.
Sprockets and Springes 