Alright. So first off you should know that I love Shakespeare. Seriously I'm a wee bit of a Shakespeare nerd. I have had some sort of contact (read, acted in, or seen) with most of his plays- and my favorites are "Midsummer Night's Dream", "King Lear", and "Macbeth" (which I had both seen and read before we studied it in English). While understanding the language can sometimes be like translating Latin, his writing is so gripping, witty, and beautiful that it constantly pulls me in. My first encounter with Macbeth was learning that there is deep superstition rooted with this play and theatre. It is supposedly VERY bad luck to say the name of the play while in a theatre and it is referred to as Mackers or The Scottish Play. Should you mistakenly utter the name you must spit and turn around three times or be cursed. While I am not superstitious I don't mess with this one after my friend said the name by accident in the theatre, then promptly tripped and fell off the stage spraining her ankle. No joke. Actors don't make this stuff up. Regardless of the curse on it's name, I find Macbeth a gripping story of murder and I absolutely love the character's journeys and developments in this play. As an actor I see so much to play with these characters, who are so deep, complicated and challenging, and ever changing and growing throughout the play. I find the theme of power extremely intriguing, and the use of supernatural elements only increases the creepiness and underlying tone of evil that rides throughout this play. The script is excellently written, but watching it on stage really brings the story to life. This video (done by Sparknotes) gives a good detailed overview of the play. This video is a Lady Macbeth monologue (from Act I) done by Judi Dench when she was a part of the Royal Shakespeare Company in London. Her portrayal of Lady M is one of my favorites- she is a powerful and strong actress who's performance resonates very deeply with me.
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