Other scenes

To help you explore other important scenes from the play, watch the videos below to learn more about how the 2011 production was staged at the RSC.

• Watch: Staging Macbeth

  Watch as the director and designer of our 2011 production talk about the design of the play and how rehearsing scenes in different ways gives the actors a greater understanding of the play.

  Warning: Contains scenes some viewers may find upsetting. Suitable for teaching 14-16s.

  

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• Watch: Persuading Macbeth

  The director works with the actors to try out different ways of performing the scene in which Lady Macbeth persuades her husband to kill the king. How would you stage this scene?

  Warning: contains some strong language. Suitable for teaching 14-16s.

  

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• Watch: Macbeth's dilemma

  Watch this rehearsal of Macbeth's soliloquy in which he decides not to kill Duncan. See how the different interpretations of the lines and key images in the speech can change the audience's understanding.

  

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• Watch: After Duncan's Death

  The actors and director explore the very different responses the Macbeths have to Duncan's murder. They experiment with various ways of playing the escalating tension between the couple. Which ways do you find most effective?

  

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• Watch: Hearing noises

  The cast work on the noises mentioned in Act 2 Scene 2 after Duncan's murder, how they add to Macbeth's paranoia and how his wife tries to calm him.

  

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• Watch: iambic pentameter

  In this video, the director and cast think more about how iambic pentameter is used in Macbeth and how the rhythm of the language creates an atmosphere of desperation. Can you find other examples of this in the play?

  

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• Watch: Language in Act 5 Scene 1

  Start to explore Lady Macbeth's sleepwalking scene with this video, where the actor playing Lady Macbeth works with a text and voice coach to understand her character's strange speech in Act 5 Scene 1.

  

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• Watch: Light in Act 5 Scene 1

  Continue looking at this scene as the director and cast experiment with different ways to stage it, seeing what happens when the whole scene is played in a small circle of light. How effective do you find this?

  

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• Watch: Sleepwalking Queen

  Dig deeper into Act 5 Scene 1 as the director and actors investigate how the knowledge of Lady Macbeth's secret changes the lives of the doctor and lady-in-waiting after the sleepwalking scene.

  

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