Screw Your Courage To The Sticking Place

Saturday night I watched Shakespeare's Macbeth at the Roundhouse Theatre in Chicago. I had the wonderful opportunity to see two of my former students perform in the dark tragedy - Dean Beever (Young Soldier) and Allie Reinke (Combat Witch.) Both did a wonderful job and it was great to reconnect with them as well as this great play by Shakespeare.

Watching the play brought many thoughts to my mind: previous productions that have been on my journey with Willy (both TCU and the RSC), the creative solutions theatre artists discover to solve performance challenges (In this production to overcome the small space the witches clang and slide the blades of broadswords to create a soundscape for the battle sequences while the actors on stage fight with mimed weapons, the use of media elements to create the metaphysical world of the play, and creative technical solutions employed by the technical team to beat the budget), the curse of the "Scottish Tragedy," and most importantly the power of Shakespeare's text to share profound insights, not just observations and lessons focused on the human experience but also his "advice to the players."

From my experiences both as a director and actor, I know many performers fear Shakespeare for many different reasons; dealing with the verse and language, the great passions required, or the iconic status we have given the Bard’s work. There are edited versions of Shakespeare’s plays “translated” into contemporary language, editions titled “Shakespeare Without Fear” and comedies about actors fearing the great roles (I Hate Hamlet). Fear is a powerful emotion that Shakespeare leverages in many of his great tragedies.

In Act I Scene 7 of this dark play, Macbeth is struggling in the depths of his ethical dilemma to murder King Duncan (If it were done when 'tis done …) and gain the crown as prophesized by the weird sisters when he confesses to his wife what he truly fears: "If we should fail?" Lady M responds "We fail? / But screw your courage to the sticking place, / And we’ll not fail."

The fear of failure among student performers is real, but as always Shakespeare’s own words can give the player inspiration. To play Shakespeare requires commitment and passion in the moment and on the word. It is a mistake made by many actors to anticipate or project the emotion of the scene, to play the action with over serious intent instead of being connected and in the moment, or to indulge in the moment before and play the emotional pause instead of discovering the truth in the moment. By committing to live in the moment and trusting the text (i.e.: screwing our courage to the sticking place) an actor can bring the richness and complexity of Shakespeare’s characters to life in a vibrant and passionate way.

Theatre people are passionate and superstitious. From wishing “break a leg” for good luck to not whistling in the theatre, theatre superstitions abound but none more powerful that those attached to the “Scottish Tragedy.” The simple mention of the protagonists name in the dressing room will send actors screaming out of the room, spitting profusely over their shoulders, spinning in circles, cursing, and knocking on the door loudly three times before daring to return into the theatre. Those that have challenged the curse have faced uncanny calamities, accidents, deaths, fires, storms, riots (look up the Astor Place Riot), and other strange happenings.

The origins of this superstition are many. Some believe that Shakespeare used actual witches spells that have the power to attract evil spirits and others believe that the play was cursed by Hall Berridge, the boy-actor who was to play Lady Macbeth in its first performance in 1606 but caught a fever and died on opening night. (Legend has it Shakespeare had to fill that role himself.)

Regardless of it origins, it is as powerful a superstition as the play is popular – with its ghostly effects, compressed action (Macbeth is Shakespeare’s shortest play at 2082 lines), and multiple sword fights – which is most likely the real source for the superstition. If there is anything an actor fears more than witch’s curses, it is being out of work. Being that Macbeth was (and is) such a popular play, it was often brought back into repertory when a theatre company fell on hard times and needed a large audience to make sure it made its payroll. That’s enough to make any performer anxious when they hear we are doing the “Scottish Tragedy!”

I was excited to see the use of media in Roundhouse’s production of Macbeth to create the metaphysical aspects of the show – the appearance of the weird sisters, the ghostly vision of Banquo, and the parade of kings – and while the media assets were well executed, the production fell into the trap of using a very traditional rectangular-white-screen mounted upcenter on the back wall of the stage to present these assets. We do not live in a 640X480 flat world. Flat two-dimensional media assets projected upstage of the three-dimensional actors creates a weak visual motif that splits focus while it attempts to blend the cinematic with the theatrical. I highly applaud experimentation with media, it is an important part of my aesthetic, but we need to play with new models of integrating the media into the live performance by exploring multiple rasters and non-tradition projection surfaces including sculpted and reflective scenic elements, the floor, and even the actors bodies.

I end this entry with a smile and my favorite line from the “Scottish Tragedy.” Shakespeare had a wicked sense of humor and showed it in the most ironic moments. After Macbeth has murdered Duncan, replaced the murder weapons next to the dead body, and covered the servants with blood he and Lady Macbeth, reacting to the screaming of the owls and the arrival of MacDuff and Lennox run to their room to clean the blood from their hands. When Macbeth comes back to greet MacDuff he is told by Lennox of the strange happenings the night before: chimneys being blown down; strange screams heard in the air; and the earth shaking - all omens of a great evil taking place in the world. To all this Macbeth simply replies: “'Twas a rough night.”