Shakespeare on Toast: Getting a Taste for the Bard (25 page)

I’ve always thought it interesting that when she refers to her father, it’s a nine-syllable line – and because of the contraction,
intentionally
a nine-syllable line. Without the contraction (
done it
instead of
don’t
) it would be an even ten.

What deep psychological trauma lies in that simple sentence? When she saw Duncan sleeping, as she laid the daggers next to him for Macbeth to find, she says he looked like her father … Does this remind her of her own father’s death for some reason? Is that what drives her mad, eventually, a twisted idea that she’s killed her own father?

Whatever the reason, it’s a cheeky little slice of back-story for an actor, and writing it in a nine-syllable line means there’s a half-beat before the next line where the actor can pause, reflect, think of
something
, and in so doing give the audience a momentary glimpse into the character’s life.

Then she breaks from her thoughts, hears him, calls to him. But he doesn’t immediately reply:

This is a fascinating little piece of writing. Either she still can’t see him yet, doesn’t recognise him, or perhaps is worried that the person coming towards her
isn’t
Macbeth. Not only that, he doesn’t reassure her straight away:
My Husband?
she asks – a three-syllable line, meaning he waits 3½ beats before he responds. Why does he wait? That’s a question for the actor. Perhaps he’s nervous. Perhaps he’s listening for the guards, or crossing the stage to whisper to her. Perhaps he’s completely freaking out. Whatever the reason, finally he says:

And then pauses for another 2½ beats. He listens again. Then asks her:

She doesn’t reply immediately. She waits two beats before answering. Think about that. Two people, standing in near-dark, in a castle. One has just killed the king. Both are nervous as all hell, and straining to hear if they’ve been caught.

She waits. Thinks or listens. Then she says:

A beautiful line of ten.
Owle s
cr
eam,
cr
ickets
cr
y
. Great bit of poetry. The words she uses sound like the owl and cricket noises she thought she heard during her speech earlier,
cr-cr-cr
…

Then she asks,
Did you just say something?
And Shakespeare, deciding they’re not tense enough, gets them
really
worked up:

This is really wonderful writing. Look at the staggered, shared speech that looks like a stairway, ending with the words
As I descended?
Shakespeare shares one line of iambic pentameter between two characters, over four speeches. The actors
must
, in order to keep the metrical rhythm, immediately respond to each other, jumping on each others’ words.

Speak those four speeches out loud as one unbroken line, no pausing or punctuation:

Did not you speake when now as I descended

That’s how fast it should be said. It’s machine-gun fast, and Shakespeare, knowing that his actors knew how metre worked, tells them to say it that fast, without any need of actually writing stage directions down. He’s speaking to them through the metre.

It’s the closest thing to Shakespeare’s voice we have, closer than any of the sonnets where he writes so much in the first person. When you find these directions in Shakespeare’s plays, it’s almost like a bearded voice whispers over your shoulder, ‘Do it like
that
…’

But we need to step back a line or two. We’ve missed something small, but noteworthy. Macbeth asks Lady

Macb
.

Didst
thou
not heare a noyse? ____________|

And she replies:

Lady

I heard the Owle schreame, and the Crickets cry.

Did not
you
speake?

He uses the
thou
of special intimacy, the pet name, to her. She uses the more formal
you
to him, as she has done ever since he tried to talk her out of the murder, and as she does until she dies …

Immediately after that rat-a-tat-tat shared line, Lady Macbeth begins a new line of metre with one word, ‘I’ …

And they both stop still …

… they’re both fiercely listening for any sound that might let them know they’ve been caught killing God, or that someone might have heard them speaking to each other. Nine syllables – 4½ beats – that’s a lot of stage time, especially after the quick-fire exchange. After the rapidity of the shared line, a great pause. Then Macbeth comes in with his line and we have
another
4½ beat silence: