Sofia and I created a dramatic and humorous take on Macbeth, as an amateur puppet. Our puppet show simplifies and adds a comical aspect to the play Macbeth. We modernized and combined all of the extensively-worded Shakespearean text to make it understandable material for any age group. This project was designed to create a unique understanding and perspective of the play Macbeth. We used our ¨vaulting ambition¨ to create an interpretive puppet show like no other project.

In interpreting the whole material for our script, we deliberately left out some scenes to minimize distractions from the meaning and basic plot. We deleted scenes like the comic relief from porter character to really bring out the lies of the Macbeths. Our version instead goes straight from them plotting to be sad to them pretending to be sad right away. We also cut the murder of Macduff’s family because it is dramatically discussed later, and start late in scene 4.3 because Malcolm and Macduff’s droning on distracts from Macduff’s reaction to the murder of his family.

Our production consists of many sound effects and background noises. We utilize these to create a setting because the background image cannot be changed. In 1.6, there are birds chirping softly to add to Duncan’s announced comfort and also portray that they are outside. Later, crickets can be heard to symbolize nighttime. In addition to setting, dramatic music can also be heard beneath many of the soliloquies to amplify the mood. We feel drama should be ever-present in our show as it is in the play, so suspenseful sound effects are also used.

When working with puppets, one cannot change their facial expression easily. To fix that issue, we often change the tone and style of our voices. In one scene at the end of Act 3, we describe our scene when practicing as “thane gossip”, so we changed the usual dull voices of our thanes to those of gossiping teenage girls, because gossiping is what is occurring in that scene. We also make the character Macduff very sassy sounding, because in the play he clearly “throws shade” at Macbeth and disses him on multiple occasions. Lady Macbeth was portrayed as a loud and over the top drama queen, because that's exactly what she was. Shakespeare wrote in very dramatic speeches for her such as “unsex me here” as well as her dramatic actions, like fainting at the sight of Duncan (on purpose).

Overall, we thought this project choice would be great for group work and equal collaboration. We worked outside of class making puppets and filming for many days, even weeks. For us, making a hand/finger puppet show was a very smart choice. Our minimal artistic skills were used to make funny puppets that acted out our strength, our well written modern script. We painstakingly translated almost every line of the play, and are extremely proud with the outcome. While our show may be long, the drama and comical aspects draw the audience back in.

For my Macbeth Creative Project, I decided to create a Playbill. I choose this option because I thought it would be interesting to create a modern version of Macbeth with actors that are popular today. I know that it has been done before, but I thought it would be fun since I get to make the casting decisions and such.

One of the main aspects of this project was the actors/actresses that would be bringing the play to life. What I did to decide, was sit down and really think about the personalities of the characters that we really got to know in the play, and see if I knew any actors/actresses with similar personalities, or who I think could do a good job taking on that personality. Some of the easiest casting decisions was Macbeth (Johnny Depp), Lady Macbeth (Helena Bonham-Carter), and Hecate (Maggie Smith) to name a few. I choose Johnny Depp to take on the role of Macbeth because I know how much of a versatile actor he is. I have also seen him act as many characters with such different personalities, for example, he was Edward Scissorhands in Tim Burton’s Edward Scissorhands (1990) and Willy Wonka in Tim Burton’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005). I also chose Helena Bonham Carter for the same reasons, her being a very versatile actress, and her ability to become very cruel and kind characters, for example, Bellatrix Lestrange in David Yates’ adaptations of the final three Harry Potter books made into four movies: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Parts 1&2. I also choose Maggie Smith as the head witch because of her amazing performance as Professor McGonagall in all the Harry Potter movies.

For the costume decisions, I basically just created a set of my own choices for the tops, bottoms, etc. The website I used is called Polyvore, which contains a lot of modern day clothing, with the ability to make a collage of the ones you choose, which was perfect for this project. I chose to focus on our two main characters, Lady Macbeth and Macbeth, and choose what they might wear in this production.

When deciding on the stage layout, I kept it very simple. I based on most stage/set layouts of other productions. I also incorporated what I thought was best and made the most sense.

Lastly, for the ads, I decided to base them around the actors and actresses seen the the play. I know that when I go to see a movie or a play, I always see one of the really great performers and wonder what else they have done. That is what I based my ads around. I knew that Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham-Carter were going to be acting together in an upcoming movie, so I incorporated that, and I also know that Tim Curry stars in a movie that is celebrating their fortieth anniversary this year, so I put that in as well.

We have chosen a video for our proposal because it demonstrates the scene of Macbeth killing King Duncan vividly. For example, before Macbeth kills the king, he goes through psychological thoughts in his head and he suffered some kind of psychosis or hallucination because of it. In addition to the distress Macbeth had to face, a video would depict it in a realistic way. Furthermore, when King Duncan stares at Macbeth with his last minutes of his life, it could show the audience the terror from his tone of voice and facial expression. In conclusion, we chose to do a video as an option simply because the scene can depict Macbeth as someone who is struggling on which decision to make that anyone could relate to some part of their life.

The project we plan to complete is we are doing the video depiction and we are planning on completing it by following our to-do list, and the calendar we made. We also have a due date for each of the things we need to complete, like for example, what day we should have the costumes for the video, what day we are going to need to film,  etc. Also, we are going to use other people from the other streams to help us film during lunch. That’s how we plan on completing our project.

Macbeth Rationale

The two people in our group are Darlenny Rodriguez and Lilly Roman.The project we decided on was to “disneyfy” Macbeth. We wanted to take Disney songs and remixed them to form a new twist on Macbeth.  One of our songs included “Can You Feel The Betrayal Tonight” or better known as “Can You Feel The Love Tonight”.  We decided to this because we wanted to make a project that not only the audience will love, but what we would love making. Disney is a classic point that everyone can relate and understand. Not only can it help you understand Macbeth better, but it also brings this Scottish Tragedy in a creative and funny way. After all that, it makes blood and murder something fun to listen to, in a weird and twisted way, that is. After deciding to “disney-fy” our dear Macbeth, we sketched out our calendar, who was responsible for what (90% of which was collaboration anyways), and how/where we would do our work. Had we done this project again, I think we would’ve kept things the same for the most part. We worked together very well and got the things that needed to be accomplished, done in a relatively organized manner. Although, a couple things we could improve on would have to be out audio for the songs. The recordings are clear, but they are a bit hard to understand only because at times we were either singing too low or too high and the app did not allow us to fix that problem. At times we found our self re-recording songs over and over again to get it just right. Our songs can be found here!!!!

As far as the album cover goes, that was an idea that, sadly, we cannot take credit for. So that being said, I believe we would like to thank Mrs. Giknis for suggesting to do so. Though we wanted to create our songs, we were not quite sure what we would be handing in exactly. She suggested that we could create a vinyl-ish cover and put the lyrics on the back. We instantly took a liking to the idea and decided to go with that. However, later down the road, we decided to record the songs online instead and we would post those digitally on canvas, but still, we took the album idea to heart and decided not to part with it. Instead we would put the names of the songs on the album and turn the rest in digitally. What we used to record is called Ujam, a website Darlenny had found. After making an account, we were able to edit and save the songs to the website. We agreed that we would then share the link to the songs on canvas. Ujam was very easy to use and even though we aren’t exactly the “best” singers in the whole world (especially because one of us isn't a singer at all) we are very proud of our work and out tons of effort went into making this and not making people's ears explode.

One thing that was really tough getting through were the lyrics. At times we were able to finish a song on the spot, but at times the lyrics were off with the music and it because a mouth full to say at a time and we needed to find the perfect ones, that also matched Macbeth. Lilly was a huge help when it came to the lyrics, she was boosting with excitement when it came to songs we were going to use and ended picking amazing songs. The lyrics can be found here. Overall, this project was a complete success!

Our Process

The following are pictures of our process such as the app we used to record and Lilly design of the album cover

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Welcome to our rationale about the Macbeth playbill! First of all, my partner is Emily Pugliese and we decided to create a playbill. Why did we choose a playbill out of a board game, a video, and a musical? Well, we decided that a playbill would be the perfect fit to not only introduce our playset and characters, but it also allows us to provide imagery. This would give the readers a better vision of how the scene we chose would be performed. Our understanding of how the directors feel when setting everything up will develop as we have to solve our way through the different tasks. We would be able to choose an advertisement, our actors, how the playset will be, the location of the play, and just intrigue the readers in general.

One of the key decisions that directors would make is choosing the best scene to include in the play. We chose to make this playbill about Act 1, Scene 5. The purpose of this is that in the beginning of the scene, begins one of Lady Macbeth’s most famous soliloquies. Also, this is not something that everything would be choosing to write about. We have thought about writing about the death of King Duncan but it has probably been used too many times and we want to be different.

To be able to strongly show the vivid emotions, we would need good actors. After looking and brainstorming past a variety of actors, we decided to choose Johnny Depp as Macbeth and Angelina Jolie as Lady Macbeth. This is not just because they are famous, but because we have watched them in movies and feel as if they would be a great fit for a main role. Aside from Lady Macbeth and Macbeth, there would be a servant walking in, so he would be Louis Tomlinson. Although Louis did not have any professional acting lessons, his personality is silly. Although William Shakespeare did not really describe the servant that walks into Lady Macbeth’s room, we can make a prediction. The servant is probably like the three that Macbeth hired to murder Banquo and Fleance. This means that the servant would be pretty dumb. The clothing for all of these characters consists of dull colors to match the 1700s which is when this play was written. Although, Lady Macbeth and Macbeth wear some gold because they are in royalty.

Acting without a stage is unlikely, so we would have to create a well fitting stage for this scene. First of all, we decided to locate Lady Macbeth in her room as she is reading the letter from Macbeth. This is because a room is a personal space, which is good when reading something written to you from your husband. Onto the second arrangement of the stage, a servant will walk in from the left door and have a quick chat with Lady Macbeth. On the third stage arrangement, the servant exits and Macbeth soon enters. This is where the scene gets heated and Lady Macbeth is questioning Macbeth’s manhood. Lady Macbeth also told Macbeth to act like innocent flower but be the serpent under it.

Those amazing lines about the serpent and the innocent flower, is the inspiration that Emily and I had for our playbill cover. We both feel as if this quote signifies how everything will be in the future. For example, Macbeth will act good but he actually has bad intentions. Also, we did not just choose any flower. We chose a daisy. When researching, we found that a daisy represents purity and innocence while a serpent is evil. This is how Macbeth is trying to act innocent around Duncan but is actually planning to murder him.

The process of creating this playbill was spectacular because we really enjoyed working together and we make a great team! Our communication and collaboration was good, so this project allowed us to excel on this core value. On the first day we immediately created a calendar and a to-do list. We also assigned roles to make it easier for us to keep track of things. Emily would do a lot of the drawing as I would with the writing. Afterwards, we just did each task one by one until everything is completed. We also made sure to check on one another just in case we need any help.

The overall purpose of this entire playbill is to get people excited to come see Act 1, Scene 5. Also, the purpose is to make everyone excited to come see and to show a preview of it. It is to also show who will be the actors and how the stage would look. Hopefully, all of these factors would make people want to see this play!

The Board game title “Who killed King Duncan” is a fun, challenging, and  mental game for all ages. This board game is 4 players minimum. My partner, Lauren Matthews, and I decided we wanted to do a board game because a board game is the best way to find out about Who killed King Duncan . In out board game, the main objective is to use the quotes from the book as clues to find out King Duncan’s killer. The first person to guess the right killer with all the clue cards gone from in the center of the board, wins the game. The board game uses quotes from all over the the book, including the “suspects” quotes,  provided in the game. The suspects in the board Lady Macbeth, Malcolm and Donald, And Macbeth as himself.

There are four stages in the board game. Stage one is King Duncan’s  room, Stage two is the Ballroom, Stage three is Malcolm and Donalbain room, and Stage four is Lady Macbeth and Macbeth’s room. Just like in the book, all the suspects that was named, was in the house with King Duncan when his death was announced. Each player rolls the die on their turn and move on the board to the number which was roll. If the player who has the turn rolls on a  square “goblet” they pick up a clue card with the goblet in the center of the board. On the card there is certain quotes chosen from the book to that help determine who is King Duncan’s killer.

When the player at least has four of the clue cards, they have the opportunity to guess the killer or continue to gather more clue cards. If the player guesses the killer wrong twice, they automatically lose the game. To make the game just a bit challenging, there are “hot spots”. The hot spots are spots on the board where the player either moves forward or moves backward. For example on of the hot spots could be “move three space back” this prevent the player from winning.

Working with my partner has been a great way to over look Macbeth in a fun game form. Some things we had found challenging was finding time and creating dates to do the project. There wasn’t no lack of communication in this project. We found it really easy to make the board and the design of the board. We really wanted to base the board off of the game “Clue” but it was hard because we didn’t want to steal the idea . So we came together and we kind of used the layout of the board.

Game rule!

• 4 players

• - Pick a character figure.

• - everyone is a victim

• - Place the character figure on the start

• - Roll the dice

• - If you land in the same room too long you are automatically assumed to be the killer

• - Take a clue when you have guessed it right

• - Take the space as an advantage

Rationale

One of the main reasons why we chose to do a playbill is to be able to show our creativity and our take on Macbeth. We wanted to be able to change it to how we would imagine it in modern day times. We felt like the playbill would be the best option to do since we would be able to work on it over winter break without having to work through our schedules and see if we can meet up one day. Most of our work was completed outside of class. We would meet up during lunch in the library to finish what we could. One of the things we had to do when we first decided to do a playbill was to plan what was going to go on each page. We planned it out first so that we could know what we wanted to put in our playbill and then change up the pages without having to make major edits.

In order to get our playbill to look just like any other playbill that you would get when attending a play, we looked at different examples online of real playbills. We tried to make sure our playbill looked as realistic as possible by also including pictures of our actors and the different costumes they would wear in our modernized version of Macbeth. The pictures of our actors were pictures that we took during work periods, lunch and also advisory.

When we first started the project, we settled on making our version of Macbeth more modern than the original Macbeth written by Shakespeare. We thought this way because it would then be opened to a bigger audience. Not just the typical adults coming to see them, but we would have kids our age more intrigued about Macbeth and would like to learn more about it after watching the play as well.  As we were working on this, we also learned a lot. We learned that the right collaboration is a big part of working together. We also learned that playbills are not as simple as you would have thought. We worked very hard on this and we are proud of our final product. A lot of time went into making it and putting all the parts together. For example, trying to convince a bunch of teenagers for pictures was probably one of the hardest parts. You would think they would just do it but no that's not the case at all. After a while we got all of the pictures we needed. Another hard part was trying to figure out the ages we wanted to use and who we wanted to play each character. Overall, we agree that this was one of the best projects we have done because we enjoyed working on it. It was not stressful at all because we could be as creative as we wanted and we had plenty of time to do it. We hope you notice all of the hard work we put into this creative project.