Project Description
The first draft of Lady was written in 2015, as a response to my first year of Gender Studies. I was interested in Lady Macbeth as a literary figure and her legacy as one of the most notorious female villains in the canon, and wanted to explore a potential backstory for her due to the lack I felt of any real history in Shakespeare’s play.
I drew from three clues about her: washing, witches, and names.
I turned Lady Macbeth’s “out damned spot” into a past life as a washerwoman, her eagerness to pursue the Witches prophecy as an indication that she’d encountered a prophecy before in her life, and the fact of her name being her title and husband’s name as a sign that she was nameless before becoming Lady Macbeth.
In 2016 it was performed at the Sydney University Dramatic Society, and since then has undergone revisions, rewrites, a brief adaptation into a 9 episode TV series, and even inspired an original song.
The latest draft is currently being submitted for readings and workshops around Sydney.
Character List
LADY - young woman, early-mid 20s.
MOTHER - older woman, late 40s - early 50s, Lady’s mother.
MAIDEN - young woman, early-mid 20s.
BOY - the maiden’s brother (older or younger).
MAN - the maiden and boy’s father, late 50s-early 60s.
SOLDIER - a veteran, late 20s-early 30s.
CRONE - a witch. No gender or age stipulated.
QUEEN
STRANGER
