Foul is foul

Torrential rain is forecast. Appropriately I'm going through the Macbeth Script and history to look for insights into the production.

The central problem today is reducing the script to 90 minutes. The complication is I don't know how long it is now. I've been hunting for estimated lengths. I do know I've seen two productions well over 2 hours.

Anyway back to the start.
I have always been fascinated by the Scottish Play. At drama classes when I was 12 we did sections of it. I studied it at school and university, I've seen many movie versions. I've paradied the play in essays and letters.

Three things prompted me to seek to direct the play now:
1 I was writing a play for a cafe and I wanted to turn the waitresses into the 3 witches.
2 My father died.
3 I was watching a play at a theatre that would lend itself to a production of it.

That theatre company had no slots till 2009 but Elmwood players did have a slot and when I went to suggest a comedy to them, I mentioned what I really wanted to do at some point was the Scottish Play.

And so 2 months later here we are.

What is amazing is how quickly the script has taken over my conscious thoughts. Many decisions about the production have already gone in ways I wouldn't have expected.

My intention here is to follow these decisions and then the production as it takes shape. The few equivalent discussions I have found on the web have been fascinating and I want to link to some of the key ones as I go. I also think leaving our record may be of interest to others. Or not. The one issue I have is to not have spoilers here that may take away from the living production.

As I progress I would like to invite those involved in the production to join the blog and share their decisions and observations.