Day 28: What I Learned: Macbeth

John Singer Sargent's Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth (1889)

Macbeth is DARK. I expected it to be bloody, but I thought it would be "stage bloody" like The Tempest is "stage stormy." No, it's BLOODY. There are murdered children, visions of bloody babies and onstage decapitation. WHAT THE HELL, SHAKESPEARE? Thanks for the nightmares, bard!

I can see why this play has captured the imaginations of actors and actresses for generations. There are so many meaty parts. (Oh no, now I'm thinking about all the murder and dismemberment again. Ick.) Plus there are so many parts for women, very few of which are just as simpering daughters or doting wives. The women in Macbeth--particularly Lady Macbeth--mean business. Plus there are so many opportunities to portray desperation, fear, madness, the whole gamut. It's the sort of play that would excite me to no end if I were an actor. 

And it would probably intimidate me. I mean, if you can't make Macbeth spectacular, what's wrong with you? It's already spectacular (and bloody, did I mention bloody?). All you have to do is live up to it. I would find it a little nerve-wracking. Maybe that's the real reason for all those Scottish play superstitions.

It's an eraser!!