I don’t really have a theory for this question, but as I listen to “Enter Three Witches” on audiobook, the idea crossed my mind.  Do you think that Lady Macbeth was, once upon a time, a nice person?  Who then turned into what we see in the play?  Or do you think that what we see is the way she’s always been?

In another book I’d started and never finished, they go with the plot that she was a perfectly nice and normal woman who was forced to live at the nasty, gloomy castle Inverness by King Duncan, and this directly led to the miscarriage of her child.  In that case, the whole story plays out more like revenge against Duncan.

The same is true for Macbeth himself, I suppose, since we often speak of them as the perfect couple.  Is Macbeth just a man like any other, with his own fair share of ambition, who gets pushed over the edge by the wyrd sisters?  Or was it always eating away at him, something that would have come to pass whether the witches had anything to do with it or not?

What do you think the Macbeths’ life was like 10 years before the play?

It’s that time of year again when those of us who don’t play dress-up for a living get to break out the costumes and wander the streets as our favorite Zombie Shakespeare.  We’ve spoken of Shakespeare Halloween Costumes in years past (see here, here and here), and I even finally pulled the trigger and made my own Halloween costume last year, which I like to think was a success even if most of the people at the party didn’t get it. 🙂

As we wandered the aisles of the costume shoppe, always on the lookout for something I could spin Shakespearean, I had all sorts of ideas. Great Caesar’s Ghost is always a relatively easy option. Personally I still want to go as Bacon one of these years, complete with name tag that says “Hello My Name is Francis” and carrying around a book “The Complete Works Of Me”. But to properly do that my wife has to agree to be Eggs (the costumes come as a set), and she ain’t have that. I spotted a knight costume and thought I could maybe pull off a Richard III with apropriate use of hump. Pirate Family was high up on the list for a bit, and I already had visions of carrying around little home made Rosencrantz and Guildenstern dolls, carrying a letter between them that reads “To England”.

Alas, I was outvoted – we’re vampires this year. Fair enough I suppose, I got the vote last year.

So now my dilemma – how do I make vampire Shakespeare? Looking for ideas. Something that doesn’t just say generic undead character (I already did zombie Yorick), but actually ties in the vampire/blood theme in some way. I’ve already considered seeing if my wife will put blood spots on her hands and go as Vampire Lady Macbeth. 🙂

Last Will. & Testament by First Folio Pictures (that’s the exact spelling, with that period in the middle like that) is coming soon to On Demand and iTunes download.  Roland Emmerich and Derek Jacobi are also attached to this one, so I’m guessing from the materials that it’s some sort of documentary that they shot while filming that other movie – you know, the entirely fictional one.

I don’t know that I’ve got anything to add on the subject.  We’ve been over it all before.  Maybe this is some sort of “Anonymous : Behind The Scenes” special that focuses more on the supposed actual research that backs their theories.

The whole thing reminds me of the recent political debate, where the rule appears to be The last person not to be called a liar, must have been telling the truth.

So I saw a commercial just now for the new “Lincoln” movie by Steven Spielberg, starring Daniel Day-Lewis in the title role. I love this guy as an actor.  There are some actors that have become so iconic that you never forget, “Wow, Anthony Hopkins is really good in this!” or nudging the person next to you and saying, “See, that’s why I love Ian McKellen…”   From the opening lines of There Will Be Blood, on the other hand, Mr. Day-Lewis was simply gone, replaced by an oil man for the next two hours’ traffic of my television screen.

So I saw him doing Lincoln – where, again, he looks and sounds like no other role he’s yet taken – and all I can think is, “We gotta get this guy to do some Shakespeare.”

Some of you may know where I’m going with this. 🙂  What I did NOT know is that he did play in Hamlet back in 1989, and famously had a nervous breakdown on stage, claiming to see the ghost of his own dead father.  It has been theorized (I can not find confirmation) that a major plot point of the television show Slings & Arrows, where director Geoffrey Tennant has a nervous breakdown during a production of Hamlet, was inspired by this episode.

From what I understand, Daniel Day-Lewis has never performed a live stage role again.

Theme Song Shakespeare: The Scottish MacHillbillies

(Macbeth sung to the theme song of “The Beverly Hillbillies”)

Come and listen to the story of a Scottish dude named Mac,
He was praised by King Duncan, who always had his back.
But he got a funny feeling he’d be elbow-deep in gore
when three witches told him he was destined for much more…

(King, that is…Dunsinane and everything.)

He told his bitchy wife and she figured out a plot
(later to bemoan that bloody spot wouldn’t come out.)
Macbeth was on a roll and had Banquo soon killed off
So Macduff and his buddies said, “Yo — enough’s enough!”

More predictions from the witches left Macbeth without a care
(Well except for seeing ghosts and flying daggers in the air)
“No man born of woman” could defeat him, so, it’s cool,
and unless the trees were movin’, Macbeth would always rule.

(Oppress, that is…baby-killin’ and massacres)

Using branches cut off from old Birnam Wood
Macduff’s crew disguised themselves best as they could
When Macbeth saw the forest moving out of the blue
He knew the hags’ predictions were all comin’ true.

At last he met up with his foe face-to-face,
Thinking his opponent could never take his place
“No man born of woman” was his last deception
‘cause Macduff had been born by Caesarian section!

Ya don’t come back now, Macbeth, y’ hear?