Second Life Macbeth

1. Second Life Macbeth Adapted from Angela Thomas, Kerreen Ely-Harper, Kate Richards’s Guide http://virtualmacbeth.wikispaces.com/island+guide

2. Second Life Macbeth • Macbeth is the story of a serial killer, a story that tales place on the battlegrounds and copses (small forest) of a windswept land and within the uncanny domestic spaces of the protagonists’ castles. • The presence of the paranormal is strong: it symbolizes the ‘dark side’ with which one can choose to bargain if one dares; a parallel universe where deepest desires and power struggles are played out. They are the inner demons of us all. • The island is divided into four key spaces: (1) the arrival grove, (2) Macbeth's head, (3) the "what if?" copse, and (4) the teaching studios. • In general, the island has a feeling of being windswept land. In addition to being windswept, the heath has areas where fog is thick and “dirty”, to resonate with the foul imagery from the play.

3. Arrival Grove • They wanted to give the feeling of recreating Macbeth’s setting. • Lines of text from the play will be spoken and emitted into the grove, in order to immediately immerse visitors in the richness, beauty and wonder of the text. Words from these lines will be also be emitted as written text that might float up and around the heath. • Lines of text include:• Fair is foul and foul is fair, hover through the fog and filthy air• Unsex me here, make thick my blood• O horror, horror, horror!• By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes.

4. Macbeth’s Head • The largest build is a giant head, the head of Macbeth. • The head is literally a head lying on its side, as if fallen there from a beheading. • It symbolises the beheading of Macbeth • It symbolises the rise and fall of enlightenment and consciousness. • Inside the Head there are three linked scenes, spelling out his symbolic journey. They are: • The Throne Room representing Macbeth’s EGO and his delusions of grandeur • The Chamber of Blood being the heart of darkness, his immersion in the paranormal and deep chaos • The Maze (his confusion and the struggle between analysis, intellect, the visceral and desire).

5. The Throne Room. This space symbolizes Macbeth’s ego, the prophecies that speak to his ego. • A curio cabinet signifies Lady Macbeth's influence in the play and inside Macbeth's head. • Crossroads of Conflict - here an apparition prompts the visitor with an obtuse choice, to either follow one of two paths (right or wrong). The right path leads out of the head and off to the “What If?” island, where visitors will imagine what the resulting consequences of taking the moral path would have been. • The Corridor of Enlightenment is a short but high-sided corridor, with steep, blank walls and barely a light visible at the end. • The Path of Temptation. This path initially appears attractive, with flowers or shrubs lining it, but these become grasping hands coming out of the earth, which is dank and riddled with snakes. The change from beautiful garden to the bloody hands and snakes growing foreshadows the horrors to come, and symbolizes the change of Macbeth’s internal state of mind. • The Chamber of Blood is a womb like, crystalline space; There are no right angles, the sides are sloping and visitors feel like they have gravity against them. • The Maze. The maze is comprised of a series of columns/trees – in fact, its as if the columns are transmogrifying into trees or vice versa. • Cube of Nothingness – In this weird "nothing" space, visitors’ avatars are beheaded. This space is a moment of reflection wherein Macbeth is faced with his existential crisis.

6. What If Corpse • The "What if?" copse is a rocky seaside outcrop. This space is designed for the visitors to contemplate the plays moral and ethical dilemmas. Scattered symbolic objects represent the meta themes of the island.

7. Teaching platforms / studios / rehearsal spaces / machinima making spaces. • This is the area for scheduled events, workshops and analysis. It is bare and spacious.