As is well known, these two songs, the first lines only of which are given in Shakespeare's “Macbeth," are found in a play of Middleton's, called "The Witch." This play was not printed till 1778, from a MS. now in the Bodleian Library at Oxford; but Davenant, when he did his verson of "Macbeth," published in 1674, must evidently have had access to a copy, for he introduced two whole scenes from Middleton's play, and, till the discovery of the MS. alluded to, these songs were attributed to Davenant. This is not the place to discuss the question whether Middleton's play of 'The Witch” was or was not written before Shakespeare's “Macbeth," or whether the songs alluded to might not have been taken from some common source open to both authors. The First Folio is the only authority for the text of Shakespeare's " Macbeth," and the introduction of the songs, as I have shown above, is clearly justified by that authority. 66 These songs have now been set to music by Sir Arthur Sullivan, to whom I am greatly indebted for composing the whole of the incidental music for this production. The only lines, therefore, introduced into this stage-arrangement of "Macbeth," from Middleton's "Witch," are the four lines of the song, "Black Spirits and White," and the ten lines of the song, "Come away, come away," which latter I have ventured to transpose from the fifth scene of the first act (in the original) to the end of the first scene of the fourth act in this version. With these two exceptions, all the text is taken from the First Folio. As regards the treatment of the Witches themselves, this is, I believe, the first time that the weird sisters have been performed by women; and this innovation-if it can be called an innovation-is made in the same spirit which has animated many of my predecessors in dramatic management, namely, to divest Shakespeare's Witches of that semi-comic element which at one time threatened to obscure, if not altogether to efface, their supernatural significance, It is with this end in view that their first introduction on the stage they are represented as coming out of a thunder cloud, suggesting that their home is among the dark and tempestuous elements of nature. With regard to the scenery, I have endeavoured to adhere to the principle which has always guided me, namely, that to meet the requirements of the stage, without sacrificing the purpose or the poetry of the author, should be the aim of those who produce the plays of Shakespeare; and I trust that any change, which I have ventured to introduce on this occasion in the ordinary scenic arrangements, has been made in the spirit of true reverence for the works of our greatest dramatist. All such changes have been suggested, either by the test of the play itself, or by the descriptions of the chroniclers from whom we know that Shakespeare derived most of his incidents. For instance, the scene in the last act, where the invading army is seen approaching the wood of Birnam by moonlight, is taken from the following passage in Holinshed:— "Malcolme following hastilie after Makbeth, came the night before the battell vnto Birnane wood, and when his armie had rested a while there to refresh them, he commanded euerie man to get a bough of some tree or other of that wood in his hand, as big as he might beare, and to march foorth therewith in such wise, that on the next morrow they might come closelie and without sight in this manner within view of his enemies. On the morrow when Makbeth beheld them comming in this sort, he first maruelled what the matter ment, but in the end remembred himselfe that the prophesie which he had heard long before that time, of the comming of Birnane wood to Dunsinane castell, was likelie to be now fulfilled."—[HOLINSHED (Historie oj Scotland), Vol. v., p. 276, ed. 1808.] As to the period chosen for the costumes, we read that Macbeth was slain by Macduff on December 5th, 1056; I have, therefore, taken the eleventh century as the historical period of the play. The question as to the space of time covered by the action of the play, and as to the length of the interval which elapses between the various acts and scenes, is one attended with many difficulties, which are most ably set forth and analysed by Mr. P. A. Daniel in his volume on "The Time Analysis of Shakespeare's Plays." We are told by the chroniclers that Macbeth reigned seventeen years. It is, therefore, reasonable to suppose that the last three acts cover some considerable space of time. "Macbeth" is one of the plays divided into both acts and scenes in the First Folio; but it must be remembered that in Shakespeare's day there was no change of scene, and that these divisions were more or less arbitrary. There were no "waits " then between the acts. The end of the act was simply the cue for the musicians in the orchestra to play. I hope that the audience will not be alarmed at seeing that in the arrangement of the play I have divided it into six acts. The object of this subdivision of the last act has been to afford the opportunity for the effective illustration of the bustle and activity of the closing part of the play. HENRY IRVING. |