Here I make my pitch to the void: A production of Macbeth that is put to the soundtrack of – and somewhat choreographed to – The Wall by Pink Floyd. Also, it takes considerable inspiration from Danny Boyle’s screen adaptation of Irvine Welsh’s Trainspotting as a surreal nightmare of drug abuse in 1980’s Scotland.

From This…

…To This!

Plot

The play takes place in Glasgow, Scotland in the early 80’s. Margaret Thatcher is the Prime Minister and her economic policies have embittered the Scottish urban population, and invigorated a local radical political organization dedicated to Scottish nationalism and promoting independence, peacefully or otherwise. This “Free Scotland Movement” models its hierarchy after the traditional Scottish nobility titles out of Scottish identity and supplements its fundraising with racketeering. Animosity against Thatcher’s England has brought new younger and angrier recruits bred on urban crime, Speed and Punk music. The leader, ‘King’ Duncan, is an oldguard that is ambivalent against the younger face of his younger more aggressive face of his organization which are more difficult to control and more prone to acts he regards as dishonorable. His son Malcolm likewise is a recent graduate of St. Andrews who envisions transforming this political organization into a legitimate political party. But his idealism and intellectualism puts at odds against the charismatic street smart enforcer Macbeth, who has the ambition to become the sort of active unbridled leader many of his fellow soldiers demand.

The Skids, a Scottish Punk band

Crass, a punk rock band with a much more political Anarchist bent

After brawling with and defeating the treacherous mobster MacDonwald, Macbeth is enticed by the predictions of the three witches, dressed in the outrageous fashion styles of the early 80’s: one as a Goth/Heavy Metal chick, another as a New Romantic, and finally one as a Madonna wannabe (from the “Like a Virgin” period). They instruct him that he will take become the ‘Thane’ of the Cawdor neighborhood, and that he will become ‘King’. They similarly instruct Banquo that his son Fleance will be king. Upon hearing that he shall indeed head the Cawdor neighborhood, Macbeth’s ambition grows strong. But when he hears that the runt Malcolm is slated to succeed Duncan and control the movement, Macbeth starts having dark violent fantasies.

Siouxsie Sioux, a woman who was a major source of inspiration for the Heavy Metal/Goth look

Prominent “New Romantics”

Madonna, “Like a Virgin” outfit

His wife, Lady Macbeth, was raised in privilege by a posh family who has since disowned her, and as such she is able to maintain the veneer of respectability and mannerly class. However she is severely attracted to danger, and while she was once excited to run away with an aggressive rebel she is now bored by Macbeth, and seeks ambition and power. In her introduction she is revealed to be a regular user of cocaine, which gives her the energy and passion to seduce, indulge and convince Macbeth to take the leadership role by force. She helps him plan the murder of Duncan, and in the process Macbeth starts to have psychotic delusions of violence and guilt, possibly brought on by poor mental health and hefty use of amphetamine. Meanwhile, Lady Macbeth gets the bodyguards blackout drunk.

When Duncan is found dead, Malcolm and Donalbain go into hiding in England and Northern Ireland respectably, allowing Macbeth to take the leadership of the “Free Scotland Movement”. Under his leadership, he starts to become mad with power and starts remolding the movement as a Paramilitary force (based off of the Provisional IRA) and causing increasingly random and deadly acts of destruction against the police and civilians. Meanwhile, he begins to view his enforcers as threats. Notably, he hires assassins to murder Banquo, the one who knows about the prophecy, and Fleance, the boy who would become the new ‘king’.

Provisional IRA

The two assassins are met with a third apparent assassin, face covered who find Banquo and Fleance on their way to Macbeth’s party. Banquo is killed, but the third assassin actually assists in helping Fleance get away. The first two assassins move to tell Macbeth the news. The third stays behind, removes the hood and reveals herself to be a beautiful woman. She watches as Banquo rises from the dead. When the witches arrive on the scene, they refer to this woman as Hecate, their leader of witchcraft who scolds them for their ill-attentiveness. She bids them away to prepare for the impending meeting with Macbeth. Then, she mentions the call of a ‘little spirit’; she takes off her jacket and reveals more feminine motherly clothing. When she is done changing, Fleance comes back on, looking at Hecate. Not recognizing her, he keeps his distance, but with her beckoning and supportive words he soon rushes over to her for support while she leads him offstage.

Meanwhile, Macbeth hears of the assassination, and soon he sees the ghost of Banquo, which drives him off the edge. When Lady Macbeth hears that Macbeth has murdered Banquo, she tries to scorn him, but Macbeth smacks her. She realizes she can no longer control Macbeth, becomes guilty, and implicitly goes offstage to start using heroin, apparently her new drug of choice.

Heroin usage, in Trainspotting

Macbeth returns to the witches in the mist of an opium den, and in a drug induced stupor the present him with visions of the future which infuriate yet embolden him to continue his bloodlust. In little time he murders Macduff’s innocent wife while Macduff escapes to find Malcolm.

Pink, from Pink Floyd’s The Wall

Meanwhile, Macduff finds Malcolm in London as he meets with the Siward, the Chief Constable in charge of criminal intelligence and drug enforcement (ironically, in Scotland Yard, which Malcolm scoffs at). Malcolm offers information about this ‘Free Scotland Movement’ in order to remove Macbeth swiftly, before discovering that the mission will be handled by MI5 and counter-terrorist police in a military-style operation – by the request of Margaret Thatcher herself. Reluctantly and against his political principles, Malcolm agrees and joins in on the mission. MI5 requests a warrant and they prepare for a raid on Macbeth’s main compound on Dunsinane Ave.

Margaret Thatcher, the Iron Lady

In the panicked flashbacks of the broken heroin addicted Lady Macbeth, her husband is shown to have gone sadistic and insane. Macbeth is now committed to terrorist acts which become increasingly erratic and bloody. He sends carbombs to military arsenals as well as marketplaces. He captures police and he beats and tortures them for no reason other than his own pleasure. He taunts his wife with his monstrosity, and uses her heroin addiction to control her. In the quiet nights she takes the candle her handmaiden lit for her and uses it to brew her fix of heroin. Her mental health is in a downward spiral; nightmarish visions capture her even in her waking hours. Finally, overtaken by the guilt and pain, she deliberately overdoses to her demise.

A Candle

Macbeth only hears about it as he prepares for the coming siege on his compound. In spite of the fact there is no turning back on what he’s done, Macbeth silently mourns the death of his wife, wondering if he’s really done right. He thinks to the candle she used to fuel her drug habit and, also, to end her life, as the symbol for her fading existence and the fatality of all people. When people witness his broken heart, he immediately scold them for their cowardice and beats them. This leads various soldiers – e.g. Mentieth, Lennox, Angus – to defect and turn themselves in to the police. As Macbeth prepares, Malcolm and the police camp out in the forest waiting for the chance to strike. They camouflage themselves with the wood to disguise their numbers and location, giving the false impression that the wood is moving. Macbeth, overly confident about his invulnerability, is given the report and he suddenly realizes that the witches have tricked him. Concerned that it is too late, he chooses to die in a blaze of bloodshed, and he retrieves his armor (in the form of a Kevlar vest).

The raid begins. While his fellow Scotsmen are outmatched and outwilled by the police, Macbeth calmly puts on his vest, balaclava and beret. He wishes out loud that all his soldiers would die, he prepares his automatic AR15, and when the police bust down his door, he blows half a dozen away. Fearing only Macduff he easily murders Chief Constable Siward’s son, before evading Macduff. Macduff in vengeance searches the premises for Macbeth, since the compound is taken. Macduff finally finds Macbeth, and in a Mexican standoff they agree to one final knife fight for the victory. Realizing that Macduff was technically not ‘born’ of woman as a c-sectioned infant, Macbeth realizes that Macduff will be the man to kill him. Macduff goads him with the prospect of a trial and rotting away in prison as a tyrant, the vision of which drives Macbeth into rage and to kill, only to die dramatically himself.

The Judge from “The Trial”, Pink Floyd’s The Wall

The police catch up and find Macduff standing over the body of Macbeth, with Young Siward not too far away. Thatcher tells Siward that his son died honorably (not Siward himself), while Malcolm focuses on the process of reconciliation and legitimization. At this moment, Hecate returns with Fleance, and Malcolm, finding that Fleance is safe, is immediately enamored with Hecate, and it is implied that they have a marriage together. Fleance has one final vision of all the people who died, which haunts him.

Prologues/Epilogues

The play will have an original (mostly unspoken) Prologue and Epilogue, which finds Fleance as a grown adult following the death of his adopted father Malcolm. He is now slated to lead the new Free Scotland Party in the footsteps of Malcolm, based off of the modern day SNP. With the referendum for independence coming up, he is revisited by Hecate and the three witches, now dressed in the outlandish fashions of modern day Britain. Being visited by Hecate leads him to recall the memories which the play represent. Upon learning that all of his childhood pain and torment were all a part of a plan that was more or less meant to be, Fleance is torn between fulfilling his father’s dream of an independent Scottish nation and embracing the fate for which so much pain was caused, or trying to forge an independent path for himself. We do not see his answer; right as he is about to give his speech before the party members, the epilogue ends.

However, with the failure of the referendum, another possibility presents itself: instead of an independent Scotland, Fleance could gain power over the whole United Kingdom, even Prime Minister, and become the ruler of many ‘kingdoms’…

Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon, Leaders of the Scottish National Party.

Music

The music is borrowed almost entirely from Pink Floyd’s The Wall, which similarly follows a young man’s continuing descent into violent insanity and delusions of tyrannical grandeur. If there is one song I am interested in including from elsewhere, it would be “God Save the Queen” by the Sex Pistols in between scene 2 and scene 3. It’s played during a block party put on by Macbeth and Banquo after their victor over MacDonwald and the gang behind him.

Usually, the music will occur between scenes, often with some stage accompaniment, but sometimes the music which actually occur over the scene dialogue – notably over some of the play’s most important monologues.

The use of the music would be as follows:

“In the Flesh?”: Act I, between Scene 1 and Scene 2. Right after the witches come on and present themselves with their brief introduction, the song plays to introduce Macbeth, and through one of the more coordinated choreographed scenes it establishes Macbeth’s intensity and violence, Banquo’s relationship with Fleance, Macbeth’s initial friendship, and also the coming street brawl with MacDonwald. The climax of the song happens right at the beginning of the brawl itself. The use of “In the Flesh?” foreshadows the music which will play during Macbeth’s final battle with the police.

“God Save the Queen” by the Sex Pistols: Act I, between Scene 2 and Scene 3. Macbeth and Banquo throw a victory party where they play rebellious punk music over their debauchery. While playing the music they frequently indicate a defaced image of Margaret Thatcher they jeer at, using the music as a sarcastic reference. The music is interrupted by supposed police as they break up the party and call the gangsters away. The police are then revealed to be the witches in disguise; they speak of Macbeth as they remove their costumes. (One witch neglects taking off the fake beard, prompting Macbeth’s comment about the beard later on.)

“Another Brick in the Wall Pt. 1”: Act I, Cut up and played in parts during Scene 3, between Scene 3 and Scene 4, during Scene 4 and between Scene 4 and Scene 5. It is used primarily as a motif when Macbeth starts having his first thoughts of murder. It is ominous and understated.

“Happiest Days of Our Lives/Another Brick in the Wall Pt. 2”: Act I, similarly cut up and played in parts in between Scene 5 and Scene 6, and after Scene 7. The marching part would go as Lady Macbeth and Macbeth prepare for the attendance of Duncan. The build into Another Brick in the Wall Pt. 2 would play as Macbeth increasingly contemplates the murder with the enticement of Lady Macbeth. The line in the song about “their psychopathic wives” compliments this somewhat.

“Empty Spaces”: Act II, Scene 1. Played as Macbeth performs the ‘Is this a dagger which I see before me?’ speech. It quiets as a strike of lightning following church bell chimes gives Macbeth the call to begin the murder. Once he speaks the final line “Hear it not, Duncan, for it is a knell / That summons thee to heaven or to hell!” the next song, “Young Lust” starts playing.

“Young Lust”: Act II, between Scene 1 and Scene 2, and in between Scene 2 and Scene 3. Lady Macbeth is shown getting the guards terribly drunk, and lulling them into a stupor as Macbeth is shown approaching Duncan’s room, and murdering him. The phone call is played as Macduff is shown trying to contact the dead Duncan.

“One of My Turns”: Act II, scene 3. The loud part is played as Macbeth is shown viciously murdering the drunken guards in an attempt at scapegoating.

“Goodbye Blue Sky”: Act II, between scene 3 and scene 4. Played while Macbeth is ‘coronated’ as the new leader of Free Scotland, and while Malcolm and Donalbain are seen fleeing. The peaceful scene is broken with the ominous synthesizer, as Macbeth is given the sash of leadership. The words “Goodbye Blue Sky” recall the disastrous weather the night before.

“The Thin Ice”: Act III, in between Scene 2 and Scene 3 and during scene 3. The calm part is played as Banquo tends to Fleance on his way to the meeting with the other ‘thanes’ of Free Scotland. The taut climax is played when Banquo is being murdered, while the third assassin – played by Hecate – conspires to put out the streetlights and help Fleance get away.

“Goodbye Cruel World”: Act III, Scene 3. Played after the two assassins have fled. Hecate watches as the dead Banquo arises and walks offstage as a ghost.

“Don’t Leave Me Now”: Act III, Scene 4. The slow foreboding part is played as Macbeth sees the vision of Banquo’s ghost haunting. The dramatic part is played after the final line, when Lady Macbeth makes clear that she is losing control, and where her heroin habit is indicated.

“Comfortably Numb”: Act IV, Scene 1. Played in various parts as the witches prepare to meet Macbeth and give him visions, and later as some of the visions are being shown. The dramatic solo is played as Macbeth sees visions of Fleance’s line of ‘kings’. It drives Macbeth into rage, and finally he stops the spectacle.

“Another Brick in the Wall Pt. 3”: Act IV, between Scene 1 and 2. Played after Macbeth hears news of Macduff’s flight. Emboldened and enraged by the visions, Macbeth is shown militarizing the former gang into an army, and completing his transformation into an inhuman bloodthirsty tyrant. The audience will notice the comparisons between this paramilitary terrorist organization and the Provisional IRA.

“Mother”: Act IV, between Scene 2 and Scene 3. After the murder in the Macduff household, the song plays as the ghosts of Duncan and Banquo assist Lady Macduff and Boy Macduff to the afterlife.

“Hey You”: Act V, Scene 1. Played as Lady Macbeth is shown taking heroin after Macbeth comes home bloody and makes clear he controls her. The visions playing once she takes the heroin involve the heinous terrorist activities Macbeth has committed, being played as video over top of her. Macbeth himself is shown beating a constable within inches of his life before slitting his throat. Haunted by these visions, she takes one much larger dose of heroin which she imagines will kill her.

“Is there anybody out there?”: Act V, Scene 2 [spliced; starts with beginning of Scene 5, proceeding in middle part of Scene 3]. Immediately after Lady Macbeth commits suicide, Macbeth is shown preparing for a raid. But when he is told Lady Macbeth is dead, he is suddenly broken; seeing her body, he takes the candle away, and monologues to it, as the spirits of Banquo, Duncan, Lady Macduff and Boy Macduff take Lady Macbeth’s spirit away.

“The Show Must Go On”: Act V, Scene 5 [spliced; starts with beginning of Scene 3, ends, proceeding with end part of Scene 5]. After Macbeth hears the report of Birnam wood, he decides to fight anyway. It is used to transition just before the main fight.

“In the Flesh”: Act V, Between Scene 6 and Scene 7. After Siward gives Macduff gives the call, the camouflaged soldiers begin their strike. In another very largely choreographed sequence, the soldiers ram down the door of the compound, and start taking down Macbeth’s guards one by one. Meanwhile, Macbeth calmly but intently dresses in his Kevlar and uniform, undisturbed by the death around him. In fact, as he puts on his balaclava, the music implies that he wishes all his guards and everyone were dead. As such he prepares ammo for an assault on his room, and a rampage he guns down half a dozen police in the climax.

“Run Like Hell/Waiting for the Worm/Stop”: Act V, Scene 7 and 8. “Run Like Hell” and “Waiting for the Worm” are split up and played during various parts as Macbeth tries to evade Macduff in some secret passageways. Meanwhile, Siward and Thatcher discuss the death of Young Siward, as Malcolm is approached by Hecate and Fleance. Tacitly, he makes it very clear that he is bewildered and enamored. Finally, as Macduff catches up with Macbeth, the climax of “Waiting for the Worm” is played during a knife fight. “Stop” is played immediately after Macbeth learns that Macduff was technically not born of a woman, and that he will not beat Macduff.

“The Trial/Outside the Wall”: Act V, Scene 8. When Macduff taunts Macbeth with the prospect of captivity and humiliation, Macbeth envisions the trial where he is accused and condemned by all the ghosts of his victims, in another very well choreographed scene. Finally, Macbeth answers with his final verdict: death by fighting, and gives his final speech before ravenously fighting Macduff. Macduff finally stabs him in the abdomen, and as the final sounds of the breaking wall echo, Macbeth falls to his death. People gather around as “Outside the Wall” plays. Malcolm gives his final speech seeking reconciliation and legitimization as a political party.

“Vera/Bring the Boys Back Home”: Act V, after Scene 8. After all the other people have left the stage, the child Fleance stays behind, staring at the body of Macbeth. As “Vera” plays the ghosts of all those who died come back and surround him. The older Fleance looks down at the scene, just before child Fleance runs off. As “Bring the Boys Back Home” plays, Malcolm is ‘crowned’ as the new leader to much rejoicing, his party is established and he does so with Hecate and Fleance at his side. Fleance, as implied, is now his adopted son, and Hecate his new wife. When the somber part of “Bring the Boys Back Home” starts, the ghosts walk offstage, leaving the dead body of Macbeth behind while Fleance just stares it at. With the words “Is there anybody out there?” the lights go black.

Setting and Themes

The setting of this play in the early 1980’s in Scotland establishes the play in a time of considerable upheaval in culture and politics, with the rise of Thatcher, the widespread movement of dissent, and an expansive scene of drugs and music. The play seeks to connect the ideas of nationalism, tyranny and insanity portrayed in the original with a late 20th Century Scotland which was embittered by the Thatcher policies, fueled by drugs and driven to crime. At the same time, the idea of a terrorist paramilitary organization is made plausible by the activity of the Provisional IRA during that period of the Troubles. The politics of this era are equated with some traditional Scottish politics and also to the contemporary politics of the push for Scottish Independence. Ideally the opening of this play would coincide with the vote for Scottish Independence.

Chronicle headline after the Brighton Hotel was bombed by the IRA

The witches in this play are notable for their shifting shape and their ability to dress whatever is appropriate for the time. This leads them to dress in the most current outrageous fashion trends in order to rob them of distinct personality and face. In spite of their imposing fashion styles, they are frightened by the appearance of Hecate, an attractive woman of understated style who is even more invisible yet far more threatening. They display the desire to set the outcomes of fate into motion through subtle invisible acts, as if their commitment were to the inevitable. It’s important therefore that Hecate is the third assassin, and that she uses this position to save Fleance and eventually raise him as a son.

The use of the music of Pink Floyd to impose an other-wordliness on the actions of Macbeth serve to make the play a unique experience while simultaneously complimenting the themes. If done well, the bloodshed could seem almost surreal and dreamlike, at least as viewed through the eyes of a madman. It also makes Macbeth seem more threatening as a nightmarish vision himself. Finally, the drama in the story should enhance the drama on the stage; Macbeth saying the “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow” monologue over the acoustic guitar in “Is There Anybody Out There?” should make the gravity of his grief be felt even more. Pink Floyd’s The Wall is pretty contemporary to the period, so it is also useful in that respect.

Conclusion

In order to make the play run in good time a large amount of it would have to be cut, and a lot of new themes would be added which weren’t in the original. But while these may seem severe, hopefully it would make the play a unique, intense, memorable experience, a Macbeth play that stands out from all the rest and finds its way with the new setting.

Tell me what you think!