No Fear Shakespeare: Macbeth
Project Overview
Macbeth is a famous tragedy written by William Shakespeare, and No Fear Shakespeare is a service created by Sparknotes, to make the dialogue in his plays more like modern English. This is an audio-book that will be uploaded to YouTube based off that adaptation.
It will be overall approximately 2 hours (As long as the actual play), and will be split up into multiple parts.
I will try to upload 1-2 scenes each fortnight once the project starts, depending on how long the scene is, but that's a very tentative time frame, and will also be dependant on the Voice Actor's schedules.
What you Should Have:
Confidence
Macbeth is reliant on heavy emotion and the very strong way dialogue is told and how the characters are presented to the audience, and you should try to carry that through your audition.
A Decent Mike
It doesn't need to be amazing or anything, but I would really like it to be mostly clear and not have too much static or peaks.
Discord
Just makes it easier to communicate and give lines.
The ability to take criticism
I'm not going to be extremely negative or whatever, but if you get chosen, I'll have a certain way some lines are said, and I'll just let you know if I want you to just change how you're saying certain lines.
Be ready to monologue
Almost every character has long spiels of dialogue, so be prepared to talk for a long time, and depending on the situation, I will ask for it unedited. Be prepared!
Commitment
Please don't just leave for no reason in the middle of the project. It will cause me to need to recast, which I don't want to do. Be prepared to send in lines regularly.
One final note, there are a lot of characters who show up in only small amounts of the play, so I will probably be casting some actors as multiple roles. Be prepared to play a multitude of roles, and if you can, audition for multiple roles so I know you want to. If you don't want to do this, please let me know, and I will exclude you from multi-rolling.
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Macbeth is (obviously) the main character of Macbeth. Although beginning the play as a noble and good person, after being corrupted by power and ambition, he becomes an evil and tyrannical ruler. Loves to monologue.
His voice should be probably mid-low range. Otherwise, anything is fine.
A good knowledge of the original script would be advised, as the No Fear Shakespeare script is not great at conveying the original emotions, so knowing what the dialogue is supposed to sound like would be a good idea.
(Entranced) Is this a dagger I see in front of me, with its handle pointing toward my hand? (to the dagger) Come, let me hold you. (he grabs at the air in front of him without touching anything) I don’t have you but I can still see you. Fateful apparition, isn’t it possible to touch you as well as see you? Or are you nothing more than a dagger created by the mind, a hallucination from my fevered brain? I can still see you, and you look as real as this other dagger that I’m pulling out now.
(Horrified at what he's done) Will all the water in the ocean wash this blood from my hands? No, instead my hands will stain the seas scarlet, turning the green waters red.
(Angry) May the devil turn you black, you white-faced fool! Why do you look like a frightened goose?
Lady Macbeth, while inviting and frail on the exterior, is a calculating, ambitious woman at the beginning of the play, helping Macbeth with the murder of Duncan. However, throughout the course of the play, she is pushed further and further into the background as she becomes wary and tired of Macbeth's actions.
I don't mind what her voice is like, however, a good knowledge of the original script would be advised, as the No Fear Shakespeare script is not great at conveying the original emotions, so knowing what the dialogue is supposed to sound like would be a good idea.
If you are cast as Lady Macbeth, you may be asked to also play Hecate, depending on how many people also audition for the witches.
(Quiet and Angry) Coward! Give me the daggers. Dead and sleeping people can’t hurt you any more than pictures can. Only children are afraid of scary pictures.
(Pleading and Entranced) Come, you spirits that assist murderous thoughts, make me less like a woman and more like a man, and fill me from head to toe with deadly cruelty! Thicken my blood and clog up my veins so I won’t feel remorse, so that no human compassion can stop my evil plan or prevent me from accomplishing it!
(Crazed. A little angry and a little sad) Come out, damned spot! Out, I command you! One, two. OK, it’s time to do it now.—Hell is murky!—Nonsense, my lord, nonsense! You are a soldier, and yet you are afraid? Why should we be scared, when no one can lay the guilt upon us?—But who would have thought the old man would have had so much blood in him?
Banquo is Macbeth's best friend, until Macbeth becomes king. He is noble and brave, and just as ambitious as Macbeth, however he is more reasonable when dealing with the witches, and is not as corrupt as Macbeth.
I don't really mind what voice you have for Banquo, as long as he sounds reasonable.
(Shocked) Can the devil tell the truth?
(Amused and Calm) Macbeth is not used to his new titles. They’re like new clothes: they don’t fit until you break them in over time.
(Angry and Afraid) This is treachery! Get out of here, good Fleance, run, run, run! Someday you can get revenge!
Macduff is a courageous, intelligent and strong-willed nobleman, who is loyal to his country of Scotland and is a pivotal character in the play.
His voice should be mid- to low-range, but otherwise, I don't mind how his voice sounds.
(Angry, Horrified, Afraid, Sad) Oh, horror, horror, horror! This is beyond words and beyond belief!
(Angry) Fit to be king? You’re not fit to live!—Oh miserable nation, ruled by a usurping, murderous tyrant, when will you see peaceful days again? The man who has a legal right to the throne is, by his own admission, a cursed man and a disgrace to the royal family.
(Happy) Look, here I have Macbeth’s cursed head. We are free from his tyranny. I see that you have the kingdom’s noblemen around you, and they’re thinking the same thing as me. I want them to join me in this loud cheer, Hail, King of Scotland!
Malcolm is the true heir to the throne after Duncan is murdered, He is intelligent and strong willed, as well as being a good leader.
He should have a mid-to-high range voice, but not extremely high, as he is a younger character.
(Quietly and Frustratedly) Why are we keeping quiet? The two of us have the most to say in this matter.
(Bitterly) This tyrant, whose mere name is so awful it hurts us to say it, was once considered an honest man.
(Excited) Cheer up as much as you can. A new day will come at last.
The 3 witches don't show up a lot, but they are extremely important in the grand scheme of things. They are manipulative, mysterious, and ultimately, are evil. They give advice to Macbeth, and take orders from the Goddess of Magic herself, Hecate.
I don't really mind how they sound, as they have been portrayed as multiple different ages in different media, but as long as they sound malevolent and other-worldly, it should be fine.
(Chanting) Double, double toil and trouble,
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
All hail, Macbeth! Hail to you, thane of Cawdor!
The king of Scotland. He is noble, trusting, and kind, which is ultimately his downfall.
I don't mind too much how his voice is, as long as he sounds his age.
Since he dies pretty early on, I will most likely ask you to multirole for other characters, so please be prepared for that.
(Proud) My brave relative! What a worthy man!
(Bitterly) There’s no way to read a man’s mind by looking at his face. I trusted Cawdor completely.
There are a lot of characters in Macbeth who show up for only a scene or two, and disappear from the play entirely. I don't really want to cast too many people, so I want to not only have people who are already cast for other roles multi-role, but I may need extra people in case a lot of characters show up at once. If you audition for this role, I will try to put you into as many scenes as possible, although you will be playing different characters. If that sounds like fun, then go ahead and audition.
The characters are: Lennox, Porter, Doctor, Servant, Young Siward, Seyton, Lord, Angus, Caithness, Menteith, Donaldbain, Ross, Murderers
A flexible voice range would be good, but since these characters are all young adult to older adult, a more mature voice would be recommended.
Just choose something to show your emotional range, preferably from Shakespeare, but it doesn't matter too much.
There are a few children in Macbeth, and there aren't really any major roles for them, so I decided to put them all together in one role. The characters you will play are : Macduff's Son, Apparition, Fleance
As long as you can pull off the voice of a child, preferably a pre-teen so it is a bit harder to tell their voice, since Fleance is probably somewhere in his teens, but the apparition is explicitly a child, then it should be fine.
(Otherworldly) Be brave like the lion and proud. Don’t even worry about who hates you, who resents you, and who conspires against you. Macbeth will never be defeated until Birnam Wood marches to fight you at Dunsinane Hill.
(Angry) You’re lying, you shaggy-haired villain!
(Playfully) If he were dead, you’d be weeping for him. If you aren’t weeping, it’s a good sign that I’ll soon have a new father.
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