NMC Campus Observer

Foul Whisperings, Strange Matters: Get Inside MacBeth’s Head

NMC Virtual Worlds : Oct 8, 2008 10:56am

We’ve done enough teasing leading up to this, so it is time to unveil the new sim NMC Virtual Worlds has been working on. You are invited this Saturday, October 11 at 5:00 PM PDT (check local time) for the launch of Virtual MacBeth or Foul Whisperings, Strange Matters:

You can find Virtual MacBeth at:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Macbeth/44/54/54

Virtual Macbeth is an island in Second Life which is dedicated to the exploration, adaptation and performance of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. The island was designed by Angela Thomas (virtual worlds content designer), Kerreen Ely-Harper (director) and Kate Richards (producer). Funding was provided by Literature Board of The Australian Council for the Arts, and investor partner, the New Media Consortium (see full credits).

Macbeth is the story of a serial killer, a story that tales place on the battlegrounds and copses (small forest) of a windswept heathland and within the uncanny domestic spaces of the protagonists’ castles. The presence of the paranormal is strong: it symbolises 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: the arrival grove, Macbeth’s head, the “what if?” copse and the teaching studios. In general, the island has a feeling of being windswept heathland. In addition to being windswept, the heath has areas where fog is thick and “dirty”, to resonate with the foul imagery from the play.

In addition to the Second Life experience, the team has produced additional resources included on the Virtual MacBeth wiki including an illustrated guide to the island as well as Teaching Resources:

If you post any photos to flickr, please tag them virtualmacbeth and/or share them in the group photo pool

We hope you can join the team for the launch or visit on your own and “get inside” MacBeth’s head- it should be a most unique experience!

Originally published at NMC Virtual Worlds

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