MaltonNecromancer
04-09-2012, 07:10 PM
I've been meaning to do this since 1999. I've finally started. It's a little like converting a big model, only with far more work involved. Still, this is what I've done so far.
Do people like it?
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ACT I
SCENE 1. We are in the blasted remains of a ruined Imperial city. In the background, the smoking and rusted remnants of Leman Russ MBT's and Chimera IFV's are nestled amongst broken buildings. The sky is a blasted grey. Thunder and lightning. Enter three Witches; they are dressed in shades of blue, as befits followers of Tzeench The first is young, and could be considered passably attractive, were it not for the blood caked around her mouth. The second is older, in her middle forties, and noticeably cleaner, but with a viciousness about her eyes. The third is old and crooked; the textbook definition of a witch. Her cowl hides her features. When they speak, they each have a different way. The first witch's voice crackles with mania – everything is just a little too intense, though the actor should be careful not to overplay it. She should be disturbing, not camp. The second is businesslike and efficient; obviously dead inside. The third is sagelike and confident; she should fill the screen with her malevolence.
First Witch
When shall we three meet again
In thunder, lightning, or in rain?
Second Witch
When the hurlyburly's done,
When the battle's lost and won.
Third Witch
That will be ere the set of sun.
First Witch
Where the place?
Second Witch
Upon the heath.
Third Witch
There to meet with Macbeth.
Exeunt
SCENE 2a. An Imperial camp near Forres; Imperial Guardsmen hurry in all directions.
There is the sound of heavy metal boots; powered armour moving. Enter DUNCAN, MALCOLM, DONALBAIN, LENNOX. They are all clad in various Preheresy marks of Astartes Power Armour. They are accompanied by many Imperial Attendants, meeting a bleeding Imperial Guard Sergeant
DUNCAN
What bloody man is that? He can report
on the revolt.
MALCOLM
This is the sergeant
Who like a good and hardy soldier fought
'Gainst my captivity. Hail, brave friend!
Say to the king the knowledge of the broil.
SERGEANT
Doubtful it stood
Scene 2b
We are overlooking a battlefield; renegade Guardsmen poke their heads out of trenches as loyalist Imperial guard charge towards them.
There is a massive melee.
We focus on a single, sneering renegade Guard officer. This is MACDONWALD.
SERGEANT (V/O)
The merciless Macdonwald--
The multiplying villanies of nature
Do swarm upon him--from the western isles
is supplied;
Macdonwald leads a fresh assault; the bloodshed is horrible to behold.
SERGEANT (V/O)
And fortune, on his damned quarrel smiled.
Macdonwald is doing well. Then MACBETH appears, his powered armour covered in the blood of enemies, his face half-caked with gore. He is carrying a sword that arcs with lightning, his bolter slung. As the sergeant relays the narrative, we see Macbeth literally hack a path through the men between him and MACDONWALD. They fall apart like tissue paper at his strikes. Eventually, he comes face-to-face with MACDONWALD.
SERGEANT (V/O)
but all's too weak:
For brave Macbeth--well he deserves that name--
Disdaining fortune, with his brandish'd steel,
Which smoked with bloody execution,
Like valour's minion carved out his passage
Till he faced the slave.
MACDONWALD smiles, smugly. MACBETH and MACDONWALD fight. MACDONWALD tries to hold of the furious assault, and his look changes as he realises: I have bitten off far more than I can chew.
SERGEANT (V/O)
He never shook hands, nor bade farewell to him,
MACBETH disarms MACDONWALD with a particularly vicious blow, then swings his sword like a cricket bat, in a terrible arc from low to high. It strikes MACDONWALD in the crotch, and carries on up through his torso, effortlessly. It stops in his neck. MACBETH withdraws his sword, and MACDONWALD falls to the ground, dead. With a final slash, MACBETH hacks MACDONWALD'S head off, and picks it up.
SERGEANT (V/O)
Till he unseam'd him from the nave to the chaps,
And fix'd his head upon our battlements.
Close-up on MACDONWALD'S severed head, rammed onto a communication spike over an Imperial bunker.
SCENE 2C. Back at the Imperial camp near Forres.
DUNCAN (elated)
O valiant cousin! worthy gentleman!
The SERGEANT raises an arm, and fixes KING DUNCAN with a steely look. Evidently, he has not finished his tale.
SERGEANT
From that spring whence comfort seemed to come
Discomfort swelled. Listen, king of Scotland, listen:
SCENE 2D. The battlefield.
MACDONWALD'S few remaining men are fleeing, and being shot down as they run. MACBETH smiles, as BANQUO joins him. They grip one another's arm in greeting, laugh at the victory, and give chase to the routed enemy.
As they run through the trench, they climb out, and stop.
Close-up on their shocked faces.
A huge new morass of enemy renegade Guardsmen stand before them.
SERGEANT (V/O)
No sooner had justice
Compelled these skipping kerns to trust their heels,
But the Norwegian lord,
With refurbished arms and new supplies of men
Began a fresh assault.
SCENE 2E. The camp near Forres.
DUNCAN
Dismay'd not this
Our captains, Macbeth and Banquo?
SERGEANT
(He looks down, dejected.)
Yes;
(Then he looks up, and smiles. He says, laughing)
As sparrows eagles, or the hare the lion!
SCENE 2F. The battlefield.
MACBETH and BANQUO tear through the enemy line. The renegade guardsmen can do nothing; the onslaught is swift, brutal, and utterly overwhelming.
SERGEANT
I must report they were
As cannons overcharged! They
Doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe!
They meant to bathe in the reeking wounds!
The battle ends, with MACBETH and BANQUO victorious, surrounded by the torn and ruined bodies of their enemies.
SCENE 2G. The camp near Forres.
The SERGEANT smiles at KING DUNCAN, laughs, then looks pained as he coughs up a mouthful of blood.
DUNCAN
Your words become you as well as your wounds;
They smack of honour both. (To ATTENDANTS) Go, get him surgeons.
The Sergeant is placed on a stretcher by the ATTENDANTS, and they all exit.
DUNCAN
Who comes here?
Enter ROSS, whose ornate power armour marks him out as a Thane
ROSS
God save the king!
DUNCAN
Whence came you, worthy thane?
ROSS
From Fife, great king;
Where the Norweyan banners flout the sky
And fan our people cold.
SCENE 2H. The battlefield at Fife; the Loyalist armies of Scotland are arrayed against the Renegade legions of Norway. There follows an epic battle between the two; it is bloody and horrific in the extreme. The camera flies across the murder and brings us to a small command group stood behind an Aegis defence line. CAWDOR stands in his finest battlefield array, pistols holstered, quietly sipping a cup of tea. He finishes, puts the tea down, unsheathes his chainsword, raises an arm, and screams a mighty battlecry, leading a swarm of renegade guardsmen into the battle.
ROSS (V/O)
Norway himself,
With terrible numbers,
Assisted by that most disloyal traitor
The thane of Cawdor, began a dismal conflict;
Till point against point rebellious, arm 'gainst arm.
Curbing his lavish spirit.
CAWDOR disappears under a morass of Loyalist bodies.
SCENE 2I. The camp near Forres.
ROSS gestures to two of his men, who drag over a prisoner whose head is covered by a hood. ROSS lifts it, to reveal CAWDOR, battered and bleeding.
ROSS (smiling)
and, to conclude,
The victory fell on us.
DUNCAN looks CAWDOR over. CAWDOR looks up at the king, and there is a moment. CAWDOR wants to look defiant, but can't. The king's eyes are sad, and filled with nothing but disappointment, and a deep, very personal heartache. CAWDOR sees it, and looks down, ashamed. DUNCAN looks away, takes a moment to compose himself, and then turns back to ROSS; he's all smiles, but his voice chokes a little.
DUNCAN
Great happiness!
ROSS (all business)
Now
Sweno, the Norways' king, craves truce:
We would not deign him burial of his men
Till he disbursed
Ten thousand dollars for our use.
DUNCAN listens to this news, pleased. He turns to go, shooting a single, final look at CAWDOR. CAWDOR can't even meet his gaze. For his part, DUNCAN is truly hurt over the Thane of Cawdor's betrayal, and it wasn't real to him until right now. He speaks to himself.
DUNCAN (quietly)
No more that thane of Cawdor shall deceive
Our bosom interest. (To ROSS, choking on the words a little) go pronounce his present death.
DUNCAN goes to walk away, stops, and comes back. This time, he smiles genuinely.
DUNCAN.
And with his former title greet Macbeth.
ROSS
I'll see it done.
DUNCAN (quietly to himself; he's trying to make a bad thing good.)
What he's lost, noble Macbeth has won.
Exeunt
SCENE 3. A blasted heath near Forres. Thunder sounds, but there is no lightning. The burning wreck of a Rhino APC marked with DUNCAN'S livery lies in the background, it's crew's mangled bodies in pieces around it. Enter the three Witches.
First Witch
Where hast thou been, sister?
The SECOND WITCH holds up the heads of three soldiers we recognise from the earlier battle scenes – two male, one female. She smiles, and her voice drips with irony.
Second Witch
Killing swine.
Third Witch
Sister, where thou?
First Witch (babbling)
A sailor's wife had chestnuts in her lap,
And munch'd, and munch'd, and munch'd:--
'Give me,' said I:
'Aroint thee, witch!' the rump-fed ronyon cries.
Her husband's to Aleppo gone, master o' the Tiger:
But like a rat without a tail,
I'll do, I'll do, and I'll do.
(she screams the next lines in a rage that is terrible to behold)
I will drain him dry as hay:
He shall live a man forbid:
he shall dwindle, peak and pine:
Though his bark cannot be lost,
Yet it shall be tempest-tost
(suddenly calm and smiling)
Look what I have.
Second Witch
Show me, show me.
First Witch
Here I have a pilot's thumb,
Wreck'd as homeward he did come.
There is the sound of men approaching.
Third Witch
Macbeth doth come.
Enter MACBETH and BANQUO and a few guardsmen; all are in high spirits, celebrating their victory. One of them passes MACBETH an enemy's standard. MACBETH accepts it with a smile. The guardsmen all head off in a different direction, waving goodbye as they go. MACBETH looks down at the standard and smiles.
MACBETH
So fair…
He looks up, and sees the wrecked vehicle and it's dead crew, his sentence drying up as he does so. He looks down, sadly.
MACBETH
And foul a day I have not seen.
BANQUO claps a friendly hand on MACBETH'S shoulder, trying to comfort him. The two exchange looks; they're soldiers. This is just what happens in war.
BANQUO
How far is't call'd to…. (he notices the WITCHES, and his words drift off) Forres?
(quietly, concerned, to MACBETH) What are these
So withered and so wild in their attire?
They look not like the inhabitants of the earth,
And yet, are on it…
MACBETH and BANQUO both shoulder their weapons, and proceed to aim at the WITCHES.
BANQUO
Live you? or are you aught
That man may question?
The WITCHES move towards MACBETH and BANQUO, assertively, confident of not being shot. It is quite intimidating. BANQUO goes to say something, but before he can, the FIRST WITCH is on him, has taken his gun away, ejected its clip, and is holding him in an embrace that's just a little too close for comfort. MACBETH turns and aims at her, but the SECOND WITCH grabs his weapon, knocking the shot up into the air, missing BANQUO'S head by millimetres. The FIRST WITCH doesn't react. MACBETH goes to draw his sword, but the THIRD WITCH appears out of nowhere behind him, and has a knife to his throat.
The FIRST WITCH leans in close to BANQUO, who tries to say something, but she steps back, and puts a finger to her lips. She picks up his weapon, and absently starts to reassemble it.
BANQUO (cautiously)
You seem to understand me,
By each at once her chappy finger laying
Upon her skinny lips.
MACBETH (aggressively)
Speak, if you can: what are you?
The FIRST WITCH loads a bolt into the chamber of BANQUO'S weapon, and aims it at MACBETH'S head. She shoots, casually missing him, and giggles. MACBETH flinches, but is clearly more angry than scared.
First Witch
All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of Glamis!
The SECOND WITCH steps forwards and takes the gun off of the FIRST WITCH, who pouts sullenly.
Second Witch
All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, thane of Cawdor!
The THIRD WITCH leans forwards. There is an extreme close up of her whispering in his ear.
Third Witch
All hail, Macbeth. You shall be king hereafter.
Now MACBETH looks scared. BANQUO dives at the SECOND WITCH and gets his gun off her. He aims at her head, and indicates that she should pass MACBETH'S weapon back to him. She does so, reluctantly, as the FIRST WITCH giggles excitedly in the background. The THIRD WITCH relinquishes her hold on MACBETH, and he and BANQUO stand, back-to-back, guns raised, as the WITCHES begin to walk around them, threateningly.
BANQUO
(hissing through his teeth to MACBETH) Good sir, why do you start; and seem to fear
Things that do sound so fair? (shouted at the WITCHES) In the name of truth,
Are ye fantastical, or that indeed
Which outwardly ye show? My noble partner
You greet with great predictions
of royal hope;
To me you speak not.
If you can look into the seeds of time,
And say which grain will grow and which will not?
Speak then to me.
BANQUO fires off a couple of shots at the SECOND WITCH, causing her to freeze, suddenly cautious– she wasn't counting on BANQUO not being scared of her.
BANQUO (aggressively)
I will neither beg your favours nor fear your hate.
First Witch (worried for her sister)
Hail!
Second Witch (cautious)
Hail!
Third Witch (measured and calm.)
Hail!
First Witch
Lesser than Macbeth, and greater.
Second Witch
Not so happy, yet much happier.
Third Witch
You shall beget kings, though be none.
So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo!
First Witch
Banquo and Macbeth, all hail!
The WITCHES all stop and turn their backs on the men. They are clearly no longer worried about them. MACBETH suddenly runs forwards, desperate to know more.
MACBETH
Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more!
By Sinel's death I know I am thane of Glamis;
But how of Cawdor? the thane of Cawdor lives!
and to be king?
It stands not within the prospect of belief,
No more than to be Cawdor. Say from whence
You owe this strange intelligence! Say why
Upon this blasted place you stop our way
With such prophetic greeting! Speak, I charge you!
The WITCHES vanish into the smoke.
BANQUO
Whither are they vanish'd?
MACBETH
Into the air. Would they had stayed!
SCENE 3B. A wrecked building a little further on. There are fewer corpses, though the area is still a smoking ruin.
BANQUO stops, grabs MACBETH'S arm and stops him too. He stares at MACBETH, and asks him in complete bafflement.
BANQUO
Were such things here as we do speak about?
Or have we eaten on the insane root?
MACBETH just looks blankly at BANQUO, and shrugs. There is a moment. Then, suddenly both men collapse in fits of laughter.
MACBETH
Your children shall be kings.
BANQUO
You shall be king.
MACBETH
And thane of Cawdor too: went it not so?
BANQUO
To the selfsame tune and words.
They collapse on the floor, and laugh until they can laugh no more. MACBETH offers his hip flask to BANQUO, who accepts. They both sit, giggling, wiping the tears from their eyes. The noise of concrete falling snaps them both back to alertness. They hold up their guns.
BANQUO
Who's here?
Enter ROSS and ANGUS. MACBETH and BANQUO are visibly pleased to see them, and run over to greet them.
ROSS (beaming)
The king hath happily received, Macbeth,
The news of thy success; and when he reads
your personal venture in the rebels' fight,
His wonders and his praises do contend
Which should be yours or his. (He holds up three of four letters of dispatch to show MACBETH)
As thick as hail
Came post with post; every one did bear
Your praises in his kingdom's great defence,
And pour'd them down before him.
ANGUS
We are sent
To give thee from our royal master thanks;
to herald thee into his sight.
ROSS
And, for an earnest of a greater honour,
He bade me, from him, call you thane of Cawdor.
MACBETH is stunned. BANQUO is too. ROSS picks up on the mood, and, embarrassed, assumes it's because he's not address MACBETH correctly.
ROSS
In which addition, hail, most worthy thane!
For it is thine.
BANQUO (to himself)
What, can the devil speak true?
MACBETH
The thane of Cawdor lives: why do you…
ANGUS (interrupting)
He who was the thane lives;
But under heavy judgment bears that life
Which he deserves to lose.
He labour'd in his country's wreck;
treasons capital, confessed and proved,
Have overthrown him.
MACBETH (to himself)
Glamis, and thane of Cawdor! (he pauses, suddenly dark)
The greatest is behind.
(To ROSS and ANGUS)
Thanks for your pains.
(To BANQUO)
Do you not hope your children shall be kings,
When those that gave the thane of Cawdor to me
Promised no less to them?
BANQUO looks at the ground, and takes a moment, before coming back to MACBETH, and speaking in a very sincere tone of voice. This is real advice he desperately wants MACBETH to listen to.
BANQUO
It's strange. (He pauses, trying to find the words.)
oftentimes, to win us to our harm,
The instruments of darkness tell us truths.
They… Win us, with honest trifles, to betray us
In deepest consequence. (He looks really concerned, then turns to ROSS and ANGUS)
Cousins, a word, I pray you.
MACBETH (to himself)
Two truths are told,
As happy prologues to the swelling act
Of the imperial theme. (To ROSS and ANGUS) I thank you, gentlemen.
(to himself) This… it cannot be ill. But it cannot be good.
If ill, why hath it given me earnest of success,
Commencing in a truth? I am thane of Cawdor:
If good,
SCENE 3C. DUNCAN'S private chamber. POV shot. A dagger, held in MACBETH'S hand advances on the sleeping DUNCAN.
MACBETH (V/O)
Why do I yield to that… suggestion?
That horrid image unfixes my hair
And makes my seated heart knock at my ribs…
SCENE 3D. The wrecked building.
MACBETH (to himself)
Present fears
Are less than horrible imaginings:
This murder yet is but fantastical, but
Shakes so my single state of man that function
Is smother'd in surmise, and nothing is
But what is not.
BANQUO (To ROSS and ANGUS)
Look, how our partner's rapt.
MACBETH (to himself)
If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me,
Without my stir.
(suddenly dismissive) Ah! Come what come may,
Time and the hour runs through the roughest day.
BANQUO (politely)
Worthy Macbeth? We stay upon your leisure.
MACBETH (apologetically)
Give me your favour: my dull brain was wrought
With things forgotten. Let us toward the king.
They all go to leave. MACBETH taps BANQUO lightly on the shoulder, and beckons him to listen.
MACBETH (whispering)
Think upon what has chanced, and, at more time,
let us speak
Our free hearts each to other.
BANQUO (nods, concerned but pleased by MACBETH'S suggestion)
Very gladly.
MACBETH
Till then, enough. (Cheerfully) Come, friends.
Exeunt
Do people like it?
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ACT I
SCENE 1. We are in the blasted remains of a ruined Imperial city. In the background, the smoking and rusted remnants of Leman Russ MBT's and Chimera IFV's are nestled amongst broken buildings. The sky is a blasted grey. Thunder and lightning. Enter three Witches; they are dressed in shades of blue, as befits followers of Tzeench The first is young, and could be considered passably attractive, were it not for the blood caked around her mouth. The second is older, in her middle forties, and noticeably cleaner, but with a viciousness about her eyes. The third is old and crooked; the textbook definition of a witch. Her cowl hides her features. When they speak, they each have a different way. The first witch's voice crackles with mania – everything is just a little too intense, though the actor should be careful not to overplay it. She should be disturbing, not camp. The second is businesslike and efficient; obviously dead inside. The third is sagelike and confident; she should fill the screen with her malevolence.
First Witch
When shall we three meet again
In thunder, lightning, or in rain?
Second Witch
When the hurlyburly's done,
When the battle's lost and won.
Third Witch
That will be ere the set of sun.
First Witch
Where the place?
Second Witch
Upon the heath.
Third Witch
There to meet with Macbeth.
Exeunt
SCENE 2a. An Imperial camp near Forres; Imperial Guardsmen hurry in all directions.
There is the sound of heavy metal boots; powered armour moving. Enter DUNCAN, MALCOLM, DONALBAIN, LENNOX. They are all clad in various Preheresy marks of Astartes Power Armour. They are accompanied by many Imperial Attendants, meeting a bleeding Imperial Guard Sergeant
DUNCAN
What bloody man is that? He can report
on the revolt.
MALCOLM
This is the sergeant
Who like a good and hardy soldier fought
'Gainst my captivity. Hail, brave friend!
Say to the king the knowledge of the broil.
SERGEANT
Doubtful it stood
Scene 2b
We are overlooking a battlefield; renegade Guardsmen poke their heads out of trenches as loyalist Imperial guard charge towards them.
There is a massive melee.
We focus on a single, sneering renegade Guard officer. This is MACDONWALD.
SERGEANT (V/O)
The merciless Macdonwald--
The multiplying villanies of nature
Do swarm upon him--from the western isles
is supplied;
Macdonwald leads a fresh assault; the bloodshed is horrible to behold.
SERGEANT (V/O)
And fortune, on his damned quarrel smiled.
Macdonwald is doing well. Then MACBETH appears, his powered armour covered in the blood of enemies, his face half-caked with gore. He is carrying a sword that arcs with lightning, his bolter slung. As the sergeant relays the narrative, we see Macbeth literally hack a path through the men between him and MACDONWALD. They fall apart like tissue paper at his strikes. Eventually, he comes face-to-face with MACDONWALD.
SERGEANT (V/O)
but all's too weak:
For brave Macbeth--well he deserves that name--
Disdaining fortune, with his brandish'd steel,
Which smoked with bloody execution,
Like valour's minion carved out his passage
Till he faced the slave.
MACDONWALD smiles, smugly. MACBETH and MACDONWALD fight. MACDONWALD tries to hold of the furious assault, and his look changes as he realises: I have bitten off far more than I can chew.
SERGEANT (V/O)
He never shook hands, nor bade farewell to him,
MACBETH disarms MACDONWALD with a particularly vicious blow, then swings his sword like a cricket bat, in a terrible arc from low to high. It strikes MACDONWALD in the crotch, and carries on up through his torso, effortlessly. It stops in his neck. MACBETH withdraws his sword, and MACDONWALD falls to the ground, dead. With a final slash, MACBETH hacks MACDONWALD'S head off, and picks it up.
SERGEANT (V/O)
Till he unseam'd him from the nave to the chaps,
And fix'd his head upon our battlements.
Close-up on MACDONWALD'S severed head, rammed onto a communication spike over an Imperial bunker.
SCENE 2C. Back at the Imperial camp near Forres.
DUNCAN (elated)
O valiant cousin! worthy gentleman!
The SERGEANT raises an arm, and fixes KING DUNCAN with a steely look. Evidently, he has not finished his tale.
SERGEANT
From that spring whence comfort seemed to come
Discomfort swelled. Listen, king of Scotland, listen:
SCENE 2D. The battlefield.
MACDONWALD'S few remaining men are fleeing, and being shot down as they run. MACBETH smiles, as BANQUO joins him. They grip one another's arm in greeting, laugh at the victory, and give chase to the routed enemy.
As they run through the trench, they climb out, and stop.
Close-up on their shocked faces.
A huge new morass of enemy renegade Guardsmen stand before them.
SERGEANT (V/O)
No sooner had justice
Compelled these skipping kerns to trust their heels,
But the Norwegian lord,
With refurbished arms and new supplies of men
Began a fresh assault.
SCENE 2E. The camp near Forres.
DUNCAN
Dismay'd not this
Our captains, Macbeth and Banquo?
SERGEANT
(He looks down, dejected.)
Yes;
(Then he looks up, and smiles. He says, laughing)
As sparrows eagles, or the hare the lion!
SCENE 2F. The battlefield.
MACBETH and BANQUO tear through the enemy line. The renegade guardsmen can do nothing; the onslaught is swift, brutal, and utterly overwhelming.
SERGEANT
I must report they were
As cannons overcharged! They
Doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe!
They meant to bathe in the reeking wounds!
The battle ends, with MACBETH and BANQUO victorious, surrounded by the torn and ruined bodies of their enemies.
SCENE 2G. The camp near Forres.
The SERGEANT smiles at KING DUNCAN, laughs, then looks pained as he coughs up a mouthful of blood.
DUNCAN
Your words become you as well as your wounds;
They smack of honour both. (To ATTENDANTS) Go, get him surgeons.
The Sergeant is placed on a stretcher by the ATTENDANTS, and they all exit.
DUNCAN
Who comes here?
Enter ROSS, whose ornate power armour marks him out as a Thane
ROSS
God save the king!
DUNCAN
Whence came you, worthy thane?
ROSS
From Fife, great king;
Where the Norweyan banners flout the sky
And fan our people cold.
SCENE 2H. The battlefield at Fife; the Loyalist armies of Scotland are arrayed against the Renegade legions of Norway. There follows an epic battle between the two; it is bloody and horrific in the extreme. The camera flies across the murder and brings us to a small command group stood behind an Aegis defence line. CAWDOR stands in his finest battlefield array, pistols holstered, quietly sipping a cup of tea. He finishes, puts the tea down, unsheathes his chainsword, raises an arm, and screams a mighty battlecry, leading a swarm of renegade guardsmen into the battle.
ROSS (V/O)
Norway himself,
With terrible numbers,
Assisted by that most disloyal traitor
The thane of Cawdor, began a dismal conflict;
Till point against point rebellious, arm 'gainst arm.
Curbing his lavish spirit.
CAWDOR disappears under a morass of Loyalist bodies.
SCENE 2I. The camp near Forres.
ROSS gestures to two of his men, who drag over a prisoner whose head is covered by a hood. ROSS lifts it, to reveal CAWDOR, battered and bleeding.
ROSS (smiling)
and, to conclude,
The victory fell on us.
DUNCAN looks CAWDOR over. CAWDOR looks up at the king, and there is a moment. CAWDOR wants to look defiant, but can't. The king's eyes are sad, and filled with nothing but disappointment, and a deep, very personal heartache. CAWDOR sees it, and looks down, ashamed. DUNCAN looks away, takes a moment to compose himself, and then turns back to ROSS; he's all smiles, but his voice chokes a little.
DUNCAN
Great happiness!
ROSS (all business)
Now
Sweno, the Norways' king, craves truce:
We would not deign him burial of his men
Till he disbursed
Ten thousand dollars for our use.
DUNCAN listens to this news, pleased. He turns to go, shooting a single, final look at CAWDOR. CAWDOR can't even meet his gaze. For his part, DUNCAN is truly hurt over the Thane of Cawdor's betrayal, and it wasn't real to him until right now. He speaks to himself.
DUNCAN (quietly)
No more that thane of Cawdor shall deceive
Our bosom interest. (To ROSS, choking on the words a little) go pronounce his present death.
DUNCAN goes to walk away, stops, and comes back. This time, he smiles genuinely.
DUNCAN.
And with his former title greet Macbeth.
ROSS
I'll see it done.
DUNCAN (quietly to himself; he's trying to make a bad thing good.)
What he's lost, noble Macbeth has won.
Exeunt
SCENE 3. A blasted heath near Forres. Thunder sounds, but there is no lightning. The burning wreck of a Rhino APC marked with DUNCAN'S livery lies in the background, it's crew's mangled bodies in pieces around it. Enter the three Witches.
First Witch
Where hast thou been, sister?
The SECOND WITCH holds up the heads of three soldiers we recognise from the earlier battle scenes – two male, one female. She smiles, and her voice drips with irony.
Second Witch
Killing swine.
Third Witch
Sister, where thou?
First Witch (babbling)
A sailor's wife had chestnuts in her lap,
And munch'd, and munch'd, and munch'd:--
'Give me,' said I:
'Aroint thee, witch!' the rump-fed ronyon cries.
Her husband's to Aleppo gone, master o' the Tiger:
But like a rat without a tail,
I'll do, I'll do, and I'll do.
(she screams the next lines in a rage that is terrible to behold)
I will drain him dry as hay:
He shall live a man forbid:
he shall dwindle, peak and pine:
Though his bark cannot be lost,
Yet it shall be tempest-tost
(suddenly calm and smiling)
Look what I have.
Second Witch
Show me, show me.
First Witch
Here I have a pilot's thumb,
Wreck'd as homeward he did come.
There is the sound of men approaching.
Third Witch
Macbeth doth come.
Enter MACBETH and BANQUO and a few guardsmen; all are in high spirits, celebrating their victory. One of them passes MACBETH an enemy's standard. MACBETH accepts it with a smile. The guardsmen all head off in a different direction, waving goodbye as they go. MACBETH looks down at the standard and smiles.
MACBETH
So fair…
He looks up, and sees the wrecked vehicle and it's dead crew, his sentence drying up as he does so. He looks down, sadly.
MACBETH
And foul a day I have not seen.
BANQUO claps a friendly hand on MACBETH'S shoulder, trying to comfort him. The two exchange looks; they're soldiers. This is just what happens in war.
BANQUO
How far is't call'd to…. (he notices the WITCHES, and his words drift off) Forres?
(quietly, concerned, to MACBETH) What are these
So withered and so wild in their attire?
They look not like the inhabitants of the earth,
And yet, are on it…
MACBETH and BANQUO both shoulder their weapons, and proceed to aim at the WITCHES.
BANQUO
Live you? or are you aught
That man may question?
The WITCHES move towards MACBETH and BANQUO, assertively, confident of not being shot. It is quite intimidating. BANQUO goes to say something, but before he can, the FIRST WITCH is on him, has taken his gun away, ejected its clip, and is holding him in an embrace that's just a little too close for comfort. MACBETH turns and aims at her, but the SECOND WITCH grabs his weapon, knocking the shot up into the air, missing BANQUO'S head by millimetres. The FIRST WITCH doesn't react. MACBETH goes to draw his sword, but the THIRD WITCH appears out of nowhere behind him, and has a knife to his throat.
The FIRST WITCH leans in close to BANQUO, who tries to say something, but she steps back, and puts a finger to her lips. She picks up his weapon, and absently starts to reassemble it.
BANQUO (cautiously)
You seem to understand me,
By each at once her chappy finger laying
Upon her skinny lips.
MACBETH (aggressively)
Speak, if you can: what are you?
The FIRST WITCH loads a bolt into the chamber of BANQUO'S weapon, and aims it at MACBETH'S head. She shoots, casually missing him, and giggles. MACBETH flinches, but is clearly more angry than scared.
First Witch
All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of Glamis!
The SECOND WITCH steps forwards and takes the gun off of the FIRST WITCH, who pouts sullenly.
Second Witch
All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, thane of Cawdor!
The THIRD WITCH leans forwards. There is an extreme close up of her whispering in his ear.
Third Witch
All hail, Macbeth. You shall be king hereafter.
Now MACBETH looks scared. BANQUO dives at the SECOND WITCH and gets his gun off her. He aims at her head, and indicates that she should pass MACBETH'S weapon back to him. She does so, reluctantly, as the FIRST WITCH giggles excitedly in the background. The THIRD WITCH relinquishes her hold on MACBETH, and he and BANQUO stand, back-to-back, guns raised, as the WITCHES begin to walk around them, threateningly.
BANQUO
(hissing through his teeth to MACBETH) Good sir, why do you start; and seem to fear
Things that do sound so fair? (shouted at the WITCHES) In the name of truth,
Are ye fantastical, or that indeed
Which outwardly ye show? My noble partner
You greet with great predictions
of royal hope;
To me you speak not.
If you can look into the seeds of time,
And say which grain will grow and which will not?
Speak then to me.
BANQUO fires off a couple of shots at the SECOND WITCH, causing her to freeze, suddenly cautious– she wasn't counting on BANQUO not being scared of her.
BANQUO (aggressively)
I will neither beg your favours nor fear your hate.
First Witch (worried for her sister)
Hail!
Second Witch (cautious)
Hail!
Third Witch (measured and calm.)
Hail!
First Witch
Lesser than Macbeth, and greater.
Second Witch
Not so happy, yet much happier.
Third Witch
You shall beget kings, though be none.
So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo!
First Witch
Banquo and Macbeth, all hail!
The WITCHES all stop and turn their backs on the men. They are clearly no longer worried about them. MACBETH suddenly runs forwards, desperate to know more.
MACBETH
Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more!
By Sinel's death I know I am thane of Glamis;
But how of Cawdor? the thane of Cawdor lives!
and to be king?
It stands not within the prospect of belief,
No more than to be Cawdor. Say from whence
You owe this strange intelligence! Say why
Upon this blasted place you stop our way
With such prophetic greeting! Speak, I charge you!
The WITCHES vanish into the smoke.
BANQUO
Whither are they vanish'd?
MACBETH
Into the air. Would they had stayed!
SCENE 3B. A wrecked building a little further on. There are fewer corpses, though the area is still a smoking ruin.
BANQUO stops, grabs MACBETH'S arm and stops him too. He stares at MACBETH, and asks him in complete bafflement.
BANQUO
Were such things here as we do speak about?
Or have we eaten on the insane root?
MACBETH just looks blankly at BANQUO, and shrugs. There is a moment. Then, suddenly both men collapse in fits of laughter.
MACBETH
Your children shall be kings.
BANQUO
You shall be king.
MACBETH
And thane of Cawdor too: went it not so?
BANQUO
To the selfsame tune and words.
They collapse on the floor, and laugh until they can laugh no more. MACBETH offers his hip flask to BANQUO, who accepts. They both sit, giggling, wiping the tears from their eyes. The noise of concrete falling snaps them both back to alertness. They hold up their guns.
BANQUO
Who's here?
Enter ROSS and ANGUS. MACBETH and BANQUO are visibly pleased to see them, and run over to greet them.
ROSS (beaming)
The king hath happily received, Macbeth,
The news of thy success; and when he reads
your personal venture in the rebels' fight,
His wonders and his praises do contend
Which should be yours or his. (He holds up three of four letters of dispatch to show MACBETH)
As thick as hail
Came post with post; every one did bear
Your praises in his kingdom's great defence,
And pour'd them down before him.
ANGUS
We are sent
To give thee from our royal master thanks;
to herald thee into his sight.
ROSS
And, for an earnest of a greater honour,
He bade me, from him, call you thane of Cawdor.
MACBETH is stunned. BANQUO is too. ROSS picks up on the mood, and, embarrassed, assumes it's because he's not address MACBETH correctly.
ROSS
In which addition, hail, most worthy thane!
For it is thine.
BANQUO (to himself)
What, can the devil speak true?
MACBETH
The thane of Cawdor lives: why do you…
ANGUS (interrupting)
He who was the thane lives;
But under heavy judgment bears that life
Which he deserves to lose.
He labour'd in his country's wreck;
treasons capital, confessed and proved,
Have overthrown him.
MACBETH (to himself)
Glamis, and thane of Cawdor! (he pauses, suddenly dark)
The greatest is behind.
(To ROSS and ANGUS)
Thanks for your pains.
(To BANQUO)
Do you not hope your children shall be kings,
When those that gave the thane of Cawdor to me
Promised no less to them?
BANQUO looks at the ground, and takes a moment, before coming back to MACBETH, and speaking in a very sincere tone of voice. This is real advice he desperately wants MACBETH to listen to.
BANQUO
It's strange. (He pauses, trying to find the words.)
oftentimes, to win us to our harm,
The instruments of darkness tell us truths.
They… Win us, with honest trifles, to betray us
In deepest consequence. (He looks really concerned, then turns to ROSS and ANGUS)
Cousins, a word, I pray you.
MACBETH (to himself)
Two truths are told,
As happy prologues to the swelling act
Of the imperial theme. (To ROSS and ANGUS) I thank you, gentlemen.
(to himself) This… it cannot be ill. But it cannot be good.
If ill, why hath it given me earnest of success,
Commencing in a truth? I am thane of Cawdor:
If good,
SCENE 3C. DUNCAN'S private chamber. POV shot. A dagger, held in MACBETH'S hand advances on the sleeping DUNCAN.
MACBETH (V/O)
Why do I yield to that… suggestion?
That horrid image unfixes my hair
And makes my seated heart knock at my ribs…
SCENE 3D. The wrecked building.
MACBETH (to himself)
Present fears
Are less than horrible imaginings:
This murder yet is but fantastical, but
Shakes so my single state of man that function
Is smother'd in surmise, and nothing is
But what is not.
BANQUO (To ROSS and ANGUS)
Look, how our partner's rapt.
MACBETH (to himself)
If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me,
Without my stir.
(suddenly dismissive) Ah! Come what come may,
Time and the hour runs through the roughest day.
BANQUO (politely)
Worthy Macbeth? We stay upon your leisure.
MACBETH (apologetically)
Give me your favour: my dull brain was wrought
With things forgotten. Let us toward the king.
They all go to leave. MACBETH taps BANQUO lightly on the shoulder, and beckons him to listen.
MACBETH (whispering)
Think upon what has chanced, and, at more time,
let us speak
Our free hearts each to other.
BANQUO (nods, concerned but pleased by MACBETH'S suggestion)
Very gladly.
MACBETH
Till then, enough. (Cheerfully) Come, friends.
Exeunt