Roman Polanski Version Of Macbeth

Comparing William Shakespeare's Macbeth Productions

For the purpose of this assignment I shall compare and contrast act 1 scene 1 and the scene surrounding the murder of King Duncan in the play 'Macbeth' as presented in the BBC production and Roman Polanski's production.

The Roman Polanski's version of Macbeth opens with a shot of a beach, with a calm blue sea lapping against the shiny sand, and a red sunrise. The red sky suggesting blood or evil turns slowly to blue suggesting coldness. This scene is filmed on location. It appears to be early morning, the beach is long and distance with little sign of any life, suggesting isolation. The incidental music playing is one which is rather ominous;

In this production there is a lot of symbolism used and makes it that little bit harder to watch rather than the somewhat not so similar version of the same production made by Roman Polanski. This play is very minimalistic in all aspects of its production. The fact that there is no murder scene in this play means the director will have to make sure what has happened off set is clearly spelt out to the audience via words and body actions.

The first act of scene five is where Macbeth is filmed in front of a rather grand portal in his castle. There is a set of concrete steps leading up to the doorway which then has steps leading down on the other side. This scene is very dark with a single light source focused on one side of the actors face making his face half in shadow.

In this scene before King Duncan is killed is a scene where Macbeth psyches himself up to committing this act of regicide. This scene supposedly shows the evil growing inside Macbeth.

The actor playing Macbeth communicates his thoughts directly to the audience by whispering them aloud. The opening shot in this scene