Macbeth - A Shortened Play (10-12 Minutes Version)
Characters-
Macbeth: Aryan
Lady Macbeth / Witch 1: Radha
Witch 2 / Narrator: Ashi
Witch 3: Riya
King Duncan / Banquo: Rhythm
Macduff: Yathart
Scene 1: The Witches' Prophecy
(Thunder. Enter the three witches)
Witch 1 (Radha): When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightning, or in rain?
Witch 2 (Ashi): When the hurlyburly's done, when the battle's lost and won.
Witch 3 (Riya): There to meet with Macbeth.
(Enter Macbeth and Banquo)
Macbeth (Aryan): Speak, if you can. What are you?
Witch 1: All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis!
Witch 2: All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor!
Witch 3: All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, that shalt be king hereafter!
Banquo (Rhythm): What about me?
Witch 1: Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none.
Witch 3: Fair is foul, and foul is fair…
(Witches vanish)
Macbeth: Could it be true? King? But Duncan stands in my way…
SCENE 2: Macbeth Tells Lady Macbeth
(Enter Macbeth and Lady Macbeth)
Macbeth (Aryan): My dearest love, the witches greeted me as king. Duncan still lives, but…
Lady Macbeth (Radha): And shall he live while you wait for fate? You must act. When you durst
do it, then you were a man. Leave all the rest to me.
Macbeth: But he is my kinsman, my guest-how can I strike him down?
Lady Macbeth: He trusts you. That is his weakness. You must be bold, or be nothing.
Macbeth: If we fail
Lady Macbeth: We fail not, if your courage does not falter.
SCENE 3: The Murder of Duncan
(Macbeth walks slowly. King Duncan sleeps. Lady Macbeth waits nervously)
Lady Macbeth: That which hath made them drunk hath made me bold.
(Macbeth returns, dagger in hand)
Macbeth: I have done the deed. Duncan is no more.
Lady Macbeth: Go, wash this filthy witness from your hand.
Macbeth: Me thought I heard a voice cry, "Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep!"
Lady Macbeth: Hush! These thoughts will make you mad. The deed is done. We must appear
calm.
Macbeth: Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?
SCENE 4: Banquo Suspects Macbeth
(Enter Banquo)
Banquo (Rhythm): I fear thou play'dst most foully for it.
Banquo (to himself): If the prophecy be true, why not for me? My sons may yet wear the
crown…
Banquo (aloud): Yet I shall keep my honour. What's done is done, but I will keep watch.
SCENE 5: Macbeth Begins to Lose Control
(Lady Macbeth tries to calm Macbeth)
Lady Macbeth (Radha): What's done is done.
Macbeth (Aryan): O, full of scorpions is my mind! They must not live-Banquo and his son.
Lady Macbeth: Leave no trail to us. Let others do the dark work.
Macbeth: I am no longer the man I was. Blood calls for blood.
Lady Macbeth: Then let the night cover what the day should not see.
SCENE 6: Macduff Plans Revenge
Narrator (Ashi): Macbeth's tyranny grows. Macduff, a loyal nobleman, turns against him. He
learns his family has been murdered by Macbeth's orders.
Macduff (Yathart): Bring thou this fiend of Scotland and myself; within my sword's length set him.
Macduff: My wife, my babes-slaughtered. All my pretty ones? Did you say all?
Macduff: O, I could play the woman with mine eyes, but I must also feel it as a man.
SCENE 7: Lady Macbeth's Guilt
Narrator: Lady Macbeth, haunted by guilt, sleepwalks.
Lady Macbeth: Out, damned spot! Out, I say!
Lady Macbeth: Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?
Lady Macbeth: What's done cannot be undone. To bed, to bed, to bed…
Scene 8: The Final Battle
(Macduff and Macbeth face off.)
MACDUFF: Turn, hell-hound, turn! I was from my mother’s womb untimely ripped!
(They fight.)
MACBETH (fatally wounded): Then be it so...
(Weakly)
Though my hands are stained with blood, let it be known: I fought for a crown I could
not keep… Tell my lady... I was not always a monster.
And to my soldiers... forgive me.
(He dies.)
Narrator (Ashi): Thus ends Macbeth's dark reign - brought down by his own ambition.
With Macbeth dead, peace is restored. Malcolm, Duncan's son, shall be king.
MACDUFF: Hail, King of Scotland!
ALL: Hail, King of Scotland!
END.