Macbeth

In this one-act version of Shakespeare's masterpiece, your auditorium becomes the Globe Theatre in 1605, and Shakespeare himself appears on stage to introduce the play. A lone figure is sitting in a dimly lit corner making notes on a sheet of foolscap. It is Shakespeare. Richard Burbage, the actor, enters and discovers that the manuscript is the outline of a new play to be called Macbeth. As Shakespeare relates the plot, scenes from the play appear. This smooth-flowing adaptation contains favorite scenes and lines: witches on a heath prophesying that Macbeth will be king; Lady Macbeth reading about the prophecy in her husband's letter; their plot to kill the king; Macbeth's struggle with his conscience—"Is this a dagger which I see before me?"; Lady Macbeth's sleepwalking scene ... all the great scenes and quotable lines which have made Macbeth Shakespeare's masterpiece. This version of Macbeth is an excellent introduction to the play for situations in which the full five-act original won't work. Some appropriate situations include contests, festivals, lab scenes and classroom demonstrations. Stage directions in this acting script have been kept to a minimum because actors are more likely to create their own business if they are forced to use their imagination. However, full stage directions are given in the director's script which also contains drawings of costumes and set, full discussion of characterization and other aspects of staging, a discussion of the play and its background, and other information helpful to the experienced and inexperienced director alike.