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Macbeth · Stage

Lady Macbeth

10days

Ambition she has to summon, not ambition she has: watch her talk herself into the woman the night needs, then take charge of him.

Due Sun 25 Oct, 14:30 ✎ Recall 📍 Quayside Rehearsal Rooms Sides 📄
The role
Lady Macbeth
Late 30s to 40s · Wife of the Thane of Glamis
In the sides: Act 1, Sc 5 (Inverness, the castle)
Macbeth: her husband, newly Thane of Cawdor, on his way home
Duncan: the king, who will sleep under her roof tonight
Reads Macbeth's letter about the witches alone, before anyone else knows. From the sides
Fears his nature is “too full o' th' milk of human kindness”. From the sides
The director wants her intelligence first, her ruthlessness second. From the breakdown
Seen you before
Rhiannon Vale CDG · Lou, Tin Roof Summer, March · Recalled

Your choices swipe · 3

“Unsex me here”
On “Come, you spirits”: is she praying, or performing courage to herself?

Prayer makes her frightened of what she's asking for. Performance makes her braver than she is, and the cracks later in the play start here.

“Yet do I fear thy nature”
Does she fear for Macbeth, or fear him failing her?

One is love that wants to protect him; the other is impatience. It decides how she greets him when he walks in.

“O, never shall sun that morrow see”
When does she decide Duncan dies: reading the letter, or hearing he comes tonight?

If it's the letter, she's been waiting for this. If it's the news, it's a door opening, and you can play her seeing it.

Scene breakdown
1
The letterFrom “They met me in the day of success”

WANTto take in what's happened before anyone else can

PLAYReading for herself, fast and private; the prophecy lands as fact.

SHIFT“Yet do I fear thy nature”: the problem is him.

2
The ravenFrom “The raven himself is hoarse”

WANTto make herself capable of it

PLAYCalling on spirits: an argument with her own body, line by line.

SHIFT“Come, thick night”: she's ready, and he walks in.

3
Great GlamisFrom “Great Glamis! Worthy Cawdor!”

WANTto lift him to where she already is

PLAYGreeting him with the titles: the prophecy as a welcome.

SHIFT“And when goes hence?” says everything.

4
Leave it to meFrom “Your face, my thane, is as a book”

WANTto take the plan out of his hands

PLAYCoaching him: look like the flower, be the serpent.

They might ask
What do you think she wants before this letter arrives?
The director is testing whether your Lady Macbeth has a life before the play starts.
Could you take the speech more quietly?
They want to see you change it, not defend your first version.
What to wear
Simple dark layers you can kneel in: the director may put the speech on the floor.
BlackLets the language do the work
OxbloodA hint of the blood to come, without costume
CharcoalSofter than black under rehearsal-room light
Specific prep4
Speak the letter as news she's hearing for the first time, then let the speech that follows be her answer to it.
Mark the turn at “The raven himself is hoarse”: from thinking about him to calling on something else.
The director will redirect you: have a quieter, more private way into “Come, thick night” ready.
Pick a contemporary speech that shows a different colour: warmth or humour, not more steel.
Check
What they asked for4
Act 1 Scene 5, from the letter to “Leave all the rest to me”, with a reader as Macbeth
A contemporary speech, under two minutes
Be ready to work on it with the director
Wear something you can kneel and move in
Worth knowing1
This is the first time we meet her, and she's alone with a letter. The audience decides who she is from this scene.
Check
Panel2
Rhiannon Vale CDGCasting director
Imogen ThackerayDirector
0 of 7 done

In the app, each step is a reminder on the day.

Your notes

Choices, beats, things to remember in the room. Kept on your phone.

An invented recall: the company, venue and people are made up. The scene is Shakespeare's.