macbeth - idaho shakespeare festival · macbeth is slow to agree to the plan, ... his career...
Post on 24-Jul-2018
220 Views
Preview:
TRANSCRIPT
Idaho Shakespeare Festival’s Study Guide for:
Idaho Shakespeare
Festival’s
Shakespearience
production is a part of
Shakespeare for a
New Generation, a
national program of
the National
Endowment for the
Arts in cooperation
with Arts Midwest.
January 23rd to
March 30th 2012
By:
William Shakespeare
Macbeth
2
Topic: Page:
Special Thanks……………………………………. 3
In this Study Guide……………………………….. 3
A Note from the Director…………………………. 4
About our Education Program……………………. 4
About the Playwright……………………..………. 5
The Context of Macbeth…. ..……..………………... 6
Macbeth Story Board……………………………. 7
The Curse of Macbeth……………………………. 8, 9
Meet the Cast……………………………………... 10
Dramatis Personae………………….…………….. 11
Fun Facts…………………………………………. 11
Questions for Discussion: Prior to the Show…….. 12
Questions for Discussion: After the Show…….… 13
Activity—Fifteen-minute Macbeth….…..…….… 14
Activity—T.V. Reporter………………………..... 14
Activity—Something Wicked……………………. 15
Activity—Play Poster…………………………… 16
Activity—Paraphrasing Passages……………..… 17
Activity—Shakespeare Insults!............................... 18
Activity—Selected Scene……………………… 19
Set Sketches by Russell Methany……………….. 20
Activity—Think Like a Scenic Designer………. 19
Activity—Memory Mnemonics Experiment!..... 22
Suggestions for Further Reading………………… 23
Suggestions for Further Study.………………… 23
Information on Idaho Shakespeare Festival …… 24
Table of Contents Macbeth: The Funnies
3
A Very Special Thank You:
As a part of the Idaho Shakespeare Festival’s educational programming,
Shakespearience performances have enriched the lives of over one million students
and teachers since 1986 with productions that express the unique and impacting voice
of Shakespeare. The magic of this art form is brought to schools across the State of
Idaho each Winter/Spring semester with assistance from a generous group of
underwriters:
Arts Midwest Boise City Department of Arts & History National Endowment for the Arts Home Federal Foundation Idaho Community Foundation and the following funds: Kissler Family Foundation Philanthropic Gift Fund Gladys E. Langroise Advised Fund Sara Maas Fund Perc H. Shelton & Gladys Pospisil Shelton Advised Fund Miles and Virginia Willard Fund Intermountain Gas Industries Foundation Idaho Commission on the Arts Idaho Humanities Council and National Endowment for the Humanities Laura Moore Cunningham Foundation Idaho Power OfficeMax Community Fund Wells Fargo Foundation Union Pacific Foundation The Whittenberger Foundation THANK YOU!
WELCOME!
You will find background information about William
Shakespeare and Twelfth Night to help you and your
students get the most out of the production.
This resource includes a range of information,
discussion topics, and activities. You should also have
received a box of study guide and resource materials
from the Shakespeare for a New Generation, a
national initiative sponsored by the National
Endowment for the Arts. If you have not received it,
please contact Renee Knappenberger, Director of
Education at renee@idahoshakespeare.org.
We encourage you and your students to share your
thoughts with us! Any letters, questions, or artwork
you send will be shared with the actors and artists
who created the 2010 Shakespearience production of
Twelfth Night. Our address can be found at the end
of this study guide.
Thank you so much!
In This Study Guide:
Idaho Content Standards Addressed in this
study guide:
humanities (hum), language arts (la), social studies
(soc), theater (th), and visual arts (va). History (hist),
music (mus)
4
About Our Education Program:
The Idaho Shakespeare Festival has become an integral part of the arts
education throughout Idaho. The Festival’s annual Shakespearience tour
brings live theater to more than 25,000 high-school students in more than 50
Idaho communities each year. Since it began touring in 1986,
Shakespearience has enriched the lives of nearly 500,000 students.
In 1999, the Festival assumed the operations of Idaho Theater for Youth
(ITY). This alliance has more than doubled the Festival’s annual educational
programming, resulting in the Festival becoming the largest provider of
professional, performing arts outreach in the state of Idaho. In addition to the
statewide Idaho Theater for Youth school tour, which brings professional
productions to nearly 30,000 students in grades K-6 across Idaho, the
Festival oversees year-round Drama School programs. This series of classes
in acting, playwriting and production, for students of all ages, enrolls over
300 Treasure Valley students each year. Look for upcoming student
productions throughout the summer, fall and spring.
For more information on any of the Festival’s educational activities, please
contact the Director of Education at the Festival offices, email at
renee@idahoshakespeare.org, or go to www.idahoshakespeare.org.
A Note from the Director: Macbeth is a haunted man. At the beginning of the play he
is visited by the three “weird sisters” (the witches) who prophesy
that he will become king. When Macbeth tells his wife of the
prophetic words, things start to get ugly- she insists that they kill the
present king in order to expedite their “fate”. Macbeth is slow to
agree to the plan, but finally gives in after some emotional bullying
from his wife. Once they have committed the assassination there is
no turning back. They never find peace again- committing the
murder sends them into a world of supernatural and psychological
horror- in order to cover up their crime they have to wreak more
havoc. One ill deed begets another.
To support the discord of Macbeth’s world we have underscored the
play with an eerie soundtrack. The nightmarish soundscape reflects
the personal lack of ease within each character and also foretells evil
deeds to come- in other words sometimes the music comments on
the action of the play and sometimes it telegraphs it. We only use
five actors in our adaptation of Macbeth, the sound becomes the
sixth character- ever present.
We also made a choice to use as few visual objects as possible-
leaving more up to the imagination. The actors use minimal
costumes to differentiate between the various characters that they
portray. Character transformations are executed with simple objects
like hats, jackets and glasses- the actors use their voices and bodies
in different ways in order to create different people. It was very
important to me that the actors be able to shift very quickly between
characters- that way we see Macbeth’s shifting reality. People
appear and disappear, they morph into other characters- at the blink
of an eye everything changes in front of Macbeth. You will notice
that umbrellas are used throughout the show- assisting us in many
ways. From a practical standpoint, the umbrellas serve as masking-
allowing us to hide certain moments from the audience and then
reveal them when we want to. From an artistic standpoint, umbrellas
are an aesthetically interesting object that can take on many different
forms, a weapon, a tree, a table, a bird, a cauldron- the list goes on. I
also find black umbrellas to be particularly menacing- they are dark
and shadowy, spiderlike, and unpredictable.
We have used our imaginations in creating this piece for you, now
we just ask that you meet us half way to complete the experience.
Enjoy! ~Sara Bruner
ISF’s Main Stage
production of
Macbeth in 2008
5
William Shakespeare was born in April 1564 in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon, on England’s Avon River. When he was
eighteen, he married Anne Hathaway. The couple had three children, one of whom died in childhood. The bulk of Shakespeare’s
working life was spent in London. He enjoyed success not only as a playwright, but also as an actor and shareholder in an acting
company. Shakespeare became a published poet in 1593 because at this time the theaters had been closed due to the plague, a
contagious epidemic disease that devastated the population of London. When the theaters reopened in 1594, Shakespeare continued
his career as an actor, playwright, and acting-company shareholder. His career spanned over about the next twenty years.
In the 1590s he wrote his plays on English history as well as several comedies and at least two tragedies (Titus Andronicus and
Romeo and Juliet). It is assumed that Shakespeare’s sonnets were also written at this time. In 1599, Shakespeare’s company built a
theater for themselves across the river from London, naming it the Globe. The plays that are considered by many to be Shakespeare’s
major tragedies (Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth) were written while the company was resident in this theater, as were such
comedies as Twelfth Night and Measure for Measure. Many of Shakespeare’s plays were performed at court (both for Queen Elizabeth
I and King James the 1), some were presented at the Inns of Court (the residencies of London’s legal societies), and some were
doubtless performed in other towns, at the universities, and at great houses when the King’s Men, Shakespeare’s acting company, went
on tour. Between 1608 and 1612, Shakespeare wrote several plays---among them The Winter’s Tale and The Tempest---presumably for
the company’s new indoor Blackfriars theater, though the plays seemed to have been performed also at the Globe and at court.
Shakespeare wrote very little after 1612, the year he probably wrote King Henry VIII. It was a performance of Henry VIII in 1613 that
the Globe caught fire and burned to the ground. Shakespeare retired from the stage sometime between 1610 and 1613 and returned to
Stratford, where he died in 1616.
Until the 18th Century, Shakespeare was generally thought to have been more than a rough and untutored genius. Theories were
advanced that his plays had actually been written by someone more educated, perhaps statesman and philosopher Sir Francis Bacon or
the Earl of Southampton, who was Shakespeare’s patron. However, he was celebrated in his own time by English writer Ben Johnson
and others who saw in him a brilliance that would endure. Since the 19th century, Shakespeare’s achievements have been more
consistently recognized, and throughout the Western world he has come to be regarded as the greatest dramatist ever.
About the Playwright: William Shakespeare
Folger Shakespeare Library
“Shakespeare, William” Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2001
6
The Context of Macbeth soc, hist
In 1603, at about the middle of Shakespeare’s career as a playwright, a new monarch ascended the throne of England. He was James VI of
Scotland, who then also became James I of England.
Immediately, Shakespeare’s London was alive with an interest in things Scottish. Many Scots followed their king to London and attended the
theaters there. Shakespeare’s company, which became the King’s Men under James’s patronage, now sometimes staged their plays for the
new monarch’s entertainment, just as they had for Queen Elizabeth before him. It was probably within this context that Shakespeare turned to
Raphael Holinshed’s history of Scotland for material for a tragedy.
In Scottish history of the eleventh century, Shakespeare found a spectacle of violence—the slaughter of whole armies and of innocent
families, the assassination of kings, the ambush of nobles by murderers, the brutal execution of rebels. He also came upon stories of witches
and wizards providing advice to traitors. Such accounts could feed the new Scottish King James’s belief in a connection between treason and
witchcraft. James had already himself executed women as witches. Shakespeare’s Macbeth supplied its audience with a sensational view of
witches and supernatural apparitions and equally sensational accounts of bloody battles in which, for example, a rebel was “unseamed . . .
from the nave [navel] to th’ chops [jaws].”
It is possible, then, that in writing Macbeth Shakespeare was mainly intent upon appealing to the new interests in London brought about by
James’s kingship. What he created, though, is a play that has fascinated generations of readers and audiences that care little about Scottish
history.
In its depiction of a man who murders his king and kinsman in order to gain the crown, only to lose all that humans seem to need in order to
be happy—sleep, nourishment, friends, love—Macbeth teases us with huge questions. Why do people do evil knowing that it is evil? Does
Macbeth represent someone who murders because fate tempts him? Because his wife pushes him into it? Because he is overly
ambitious? Having killed Duncan, why does Macbeth fall apart, unable to sleep, seeing ghosts, putting spies in everyone’s homes, killing his
friends and innocent women and children? Why does the success of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth—prophesied by the witches, promising the
couple power and riches and “peace to all their nights and days to come”—turn so quickly to ashes, destroying the Macbeths’ relationship,
their world, and, finally, both of them?
In earlier centuries, Macbeth’s story was seen as a powerful study of a heroic individual who commits an evil act and pays an enormous price
as his conscience—and the natural forces for good in the universe—destroy him. More recently, his story has been applied to nations that
overreach themselves, his speeches of despair quoted to show that Shakespeare shared late-twentieth-century feelings of alienation. Today, the
line between Macbeth’s evil and the supposed good of those who oppose him is being blurred, new attitudes about witches and witchcraft are
being expressed, new questions raised about the ways that maleness and femaleness are portrayed in the play. As with so many of
Shakespeare’s plays, Macbeth speaks to each generation with a new voice.
Shakespeare wrote Macbeth in about 1606 or 1607. It was published in the First Folio in 1623. Adapted from the New Folger Library Shakespeare edition, edited by Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine. © 1992 Folger Shakespeare Library
8
The superstition follows that any company performing the play will be beset with horrible luck should the name “Macbeth” be spoken
inside a theater, be it backstage, in the house, in the lobby, or especially in the dressing rooms. If an actor does happen to mention the name or
even quotes from the play while he is backstage, tradition requires him to leave the room, turn around three times, spit, then quote the line “Fair
thoughts and happy hours attend on you,” from Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. Instead of referring to Macbeth by name, theater
professionals have been known to call the play “the Scottish tragedy,” “the Scottish play,” “That play,” “the Comedy of Glamis,” “the Scottish
business,” “the Bard’s play,” or “the Unmentionable,” to name a few synonyms. It is also considered bad luck to use any sets, costumes or
props from a production of Macbeth.
Theater history is full of examples of bad luck besetting productions of Macbeth. The play was first performed before James I, a
descendant of both the historical Duncan and Banquo, who are killed in the play. During the original performance on August 7, 1606, Hal
Barridge, the boy actor cast as Lady Macbeth, collapsed from a fever and later died. Shakespeare himself had to step in and play the role on
short notice. Macbeth was rarely performed again for nearly a century. The day of its London revival in 1703 was noteworthy for one of the
most severe storms in English history. Because of its blasphemous content, the play was blamed for the storm’s calamities, and Queen Anne
ordered a week of prayer during which all theatres were closed.
Over the next two centuries the disasters continued, “the curse” taking its greatest toll after the Astor Place riots in New York City in
1849. During a performance of Macbeth by British actor William Charles Macready, the supporters of his American rival, Edwin Forrest,
clashed with police. Twenty-two people were killed, and some 150 more were injured.
Probably the most famous person to suffer the Macbeth curse was not an actor but a U.S. President assassinated by one. Macbeth was
Abraham Lincoln’s favorite play, and he spent the afternoon of April 9, 1865 reading passages aloud to a party of friends onboard the River
Queen on the Potomac River. The passages Lincoln chose happened to follow the scene in which Duncan is assassinated. Five days later
Lincoln himself was assassinated.
Probably the most famous person to suffer the Macbeth curse was not an actor but a U.S. President assassinated by one. Macbeth was
Abraham Lincoln’s favorite play, and he spent the afternoon of April 9, 1865 reading passages aloud to a party of friends onboard the River
Queen on the Potomac River. The passages Lincoln chose happened to follow the scene in which Duncan is assassinated. Five days later
Lincoln himself was assassinated.
In the 20th century numerous other calamities associated with the play have been recorded. In the early 1920’s Lionel Barrymore’s
portrayal of Macbeth received such harsh reviews that Barrymore never performed on Broadway again.
During the first modern-dress production at the Royal Court Theatre in London in 1928, a large set fell down, causing serious injury to
members of the company, and a fire broke out in the dress circle.
In 1937 the career of 30-year-old Laurence Olivier almost came to an abrupt end when a heavy stage weight crashed down from the flies
while he was rehearsing at the Old Vic, striking the backstage seat he had abandoned only moments earlier. The weight missed him by inches.
Days later, the opening of that production had to be postponed because the director and the actor playing Lady Macduff were in a traffic
accident on their way to the theater. And the theater’s proprietor, Lilian Baylis, died of a heart attack during the dress rehearsal. Professor
Margaret Cherne relates that in 1954, on opening night of another production of Macbeth, Baylis’ portrait fell off the lobby wall and crashed
down onto the bar. (Continued on
The Curse of Macbeth hist
9
(Continued from previous page)
Professor Cherne shared another story about Orson Welles’ African drummers in the Mercury Theatre’s voodoo Macbeth putting an
actual curse on critic Percy Hammond, who loathed the show. Hammond died within a week. Cherne also corroborated a sad tale of a
production done many years ago at the old Crawford Livingston Theatre in St. Paul, Minnesota. The lead actor playing Macbeth dropped
dead of heart failure during the first scene of Act III.
In a 1953 open-air production in Bermuda starring Charlton Heston, the soldiers storming Macbeth’s castle were to burn it to the
ground onstage. On opening night, the wind blew smoke and flames into the audience, who fled in terror.
There are numerous stories of cast members who chanted “All hail Macbeth!” in defiance of the curse, only to have storms disrupt
their performance and damage the theatre building.
Actor Adam Versenyi relates that while playing Angus in a production, he “watched from offstage while the actor playing Macbeth
suffered two aneurysms outside the brain as he was delivering the dagger speech. It was the best performance he ever delivered, but he
spent the following month in a hospital.”
When Peter Hall directed Paul Scofield and Vivien Merchant at Stratford in 1967, he urged the cast to put aside all thoughts of bad
luck. He collapsed with shingles shortly thereafter.
There are many origins for this superstition. One theory holds that Shakespeare used real witches’ incantations, taken from the
Scottish witch trials of the 1590’s, for the witches’ dialogue and songs in the play. Another hypothesis maintains that the play contains the
devil in the form of the Porter. Theater historian Thomas A. Pallen, however, notes that although Macbeth is Shakespeare’s shortest
tragedy (2,108 lines), there are more swordfights, stabbings and murders than any of his other plays. (Only The Comedy of Errors, with
1,778, and The Tempest, with 2,064, fewer lines.) Pallen adds that since the play is usually performed under low light levels to
accommodate all of the heath scenes and night-time banquets, the dim lighting makes accidents more likely, resulting in a higher incidence
of on-stage injuries.
Another non-superstitious theory regarding the origin of the Macbeth curse holds that the superstition actually began in the old days
of stock companies, which would struggle virtually at all times to remain in business. Frequently, near the end of a season, a stock
company would realize that it was not going to break even, and, in an attempt to boost ticket sales and attendance, would announce the
production of a crowd favorite: Macbeth. If times were particularly bad, even “the Scottish play” would not be enough to save the
company. Therefore, Macbeth often presaged the end of a company’s season and would frequently be a portent of the company’s demise.
Thus, the fear of Macbeth was generally the fear of bad business and of an entire company being put out of work.
Sources:
“Superstition and the Scottish Play,” Patrick M. Finelli, Ph.D.
“Cross Your Fingers – It’s Friday the 13th,” Shirley Mathews.
“That Play – The Real-Life Drama of Macbeth,” John White.
Supernatural On Stage: Ghosts and Superstitions of the Theatre, Richard Huggett, Taplinger Publishing, NY 1975.
10
Macbeth Cast & Crew
Nicole Frachiseur
Costume Designer
Sara Bruner
Director
Jodi Dominick
Assistant Director
Dakotah Brown
Actor
Luke Massengill
Actor
Sarah Gardner
Actor
Veronica Von Tobel
Actor
Matthew Webb
Sound Engineer
Noah Moody
Actor
11
Dramatis Personae:Macbeth: General in the King’s Army—Luke
Massengill
Lady Macbeth: Wife to Macbeth—Veronica
Von Tobel
Duncan: King of Scotland—Dakotah Brown
Banquo: General in the King’s Army—Noah
Moody
Lady Macduff: Wife to Macduff—Sarah
Gardner
Macduff: Nobleman of Scotland—Dakotah
Brown
Seyton: an officer attending on Macbeth—
Noah Moody
Fleance: son to Banquo—Sarah Gardner
Porter: Keeper of Macbeth’s castle—Noah
Moody
Ross: Nobleman of Scotland—Sarah Gard-
ner
Lord, Murders, Witches—Ensemble
Fun Facts! Macbeth is performed somewhere in the world once every four hours!
The average American has a vocabulary of about 10,000 words.
Shakespeare’s vocabulary was 29,000!
Shakespeare invented a lot of words including: bedroom, bump,
assassination, apostrophe, bloody, dislocate, frugal, majestic and
suspicious.
Shakespeare died on his 52nd birthday.
If you were to Google “Shakespeare,” you would get over 15 million
pages!
All of Shakespeare’s family members are thought to have been illiterate.
Shakespeare had no descendants after all his grandchildren died.
All the moon’s of Uranus are named after Shakespeare characters.
No portrait of Shakespeare was ever painted while he was alive.
The role of Hamlet has nearly 1,500 lines - almost as long as the entire
Macbeth’s
Scotland
12
Questions For Discussion: Prior to the Show
1. How much power do you believe you have over the direction of your life? Explain your answer. In general, which
situations or events in your life do you believe are the result of intervention from a higher power? Which situations or
events in your life are the result of your own influences or choices? How do you determine the answers to these
questions? Do you believe in supernatural forces working in the world? Why or why not? Can you describe an
experience that made you question the influence of the supernatural in your life? Do you believe that all events that occur
in the world can be explained? Why or why not?
2. How do you define ambition? Is ambition necessary for personal success? Why or why not? What is the difference
between desire and ambition? How do you respond when your desire for something is overwhelming? Have you ever
been obsessive about something you wanted? What did you do about this obsession? At what point does your desire
become addictive? What is the hardest part about controlling your desires?
3. Do you believe that every person has a conscience? Why or why not? Where does the concept of guilt come from? Are
guilt and conscience connected? If so, how are they connected? When you feel guilty about something, what do you do?
Can guilt cause such drastic hallucinations, as in the case of Macbeth? Why or why not?
4. Do women have the same opportunities as men in gaining power? Consider women in politics, high corporate positions,
or women who are married to men in power. Are they treated the same? Based on your answer, why do you suppose
Lady Macbeth is so concerned with her husband’s status? What could be her motivations to help her husband gain
power? Is her situation similar to that of women today? Why or why not?
5. What is morality? Do you believe there is a universal moral code? Why or why not? If you had to define the moral code,
what actions would you identify as moral and what actions would you identify as immoral? Explain your answer. What is
the driving principal that separates moral from immoral actions in your moral code?
6. Think of superstitions we have in our society today. Why do we have them? Macbeth is a play surrounded by
superstition as well. If the title is mentioned within a theatre, it is considered bad luck for the production. This
superstition is so deeply rooted that oftentimes, directors and actors will refer to it as “the Scottish play.” From what you
know of the plot of the play, why do you suppose that this superstition is attached to this work? Why are horoscopes and
psychic hotlines so popular in today’s culture? Are horoscopes and psychics important in a society? Why or why not?
13
1. Are the Macbeths entirely reprehensible? Are there no redeeming qualities about them? Why might Shakespeare
create characters that nothing good could be said about them, even in death, when in fact the first words used to
describe Macbeth in Act I are “brave,” “valiant,” and “worthy”? Pascal once said, “There is no man who differs
more from another than he does from himself at another time.” If this is true, it means that we all have some Lord
and Lady Macbeth within us. Do you believe Pascal’s statement has merit? If so, do you believe there are truly
evil people in this world? Does palpable evil exist? Can it exist within a good person? Why does evil seem to
take hold of some people but not others?
2. Scholars have noted that a reader can tell a lot about what Shakespeare thought of a character by what is said about
them after they have died. For example, Hamlet has flights of angels singing him to his rest. Brutus, even after
killing Julius Caesar, is called the “noblest Roman of them all.” Even Othello, after killing the innocent
Desdemona, is called “great of heart.” Yet in this play, Macbeth is called a “dead butcher” and Lady Macbeth “his
fiend-like queen.” Why do you think that other Shakespearean characters who behaved in no way innocently have
been given a kinder send off than the Macbeths?
3. Oftentimes Lady Macbeth is given the brunt of the blame the murder of Duncan, and she is viewed as a master
manipulator who simply controls her husband. If this is true, what responsibility does Macbeth actually bear for
the deed, given that even before he speaks with his wife about Duncan he commands the stars to “hide your fires;
Let not light see my black and deep desires”? Can someone make you do something that you truly do not want to
do? What responsibility do you have over your own actions?
4. Virtually every production of Shakespeare has lines or even entire scenes that are cut by the director. Did you
notice any cuts in the script from your reading of the play on the printed page? One notable cut is the character of
Hecate, which scholars widely agree was later added to the play by a lesser writer after Shakespeare’s death. Are
there other cuttings you observed or that surprised you?
Questions For Discussion: After the Show
14
The Fifteen-Minute Macbeth th, la
Activity!
Divide the class into five groups. Each group will select an act for their presentation and will construct a three-
minute version of their act. They must use lines from the act. Students will prepare their scripts. (Give a day of
classroom time for group work.) On the following day, the groups perform their scripts. Within fifteen minutes, an
abridged version will be performed. After the conclusion of Act V, have each group explain what events they chose
to include and those events which they chose to ignore.
T.V. Reporter th, la
You are a reporter for the television tabloid Entertainment Tonight. You have just seen a new production of
Macbeth at the Idaho Shakespeare Festival. Your job is to present a two minute “review” of the play and this
production.
Write a script and then present your report to the class and your TV audience. You can include:
1. Your opinion of the production
2. Your choices of the best from the production: costumes, scenic design, acting, best scene, best line
etc.
3. Your choices of these production elements that did not work.
4. Your recommendation to the audience. Should they see the play? Why or why not?
Act I Group:
Act II Group:
Act III Group:
Act IV Group:
Act V Group:
15
Something Wicked th, la
Activity! Copy this page!
“SOMETHING
WICKED THIS WAY
COMES” For centuries people
believed in supernatural
witches. This chart lists
some of the characteristics
that people believe witches
manifest. Identify the line
from the play which
supports these beliefs.
Example:
Trait:
Fly/Vansih
Quote:
“Hover through the fog and
filthy air”
16
In professional theater, there is often a person called the ‘art director’ who is responsible for designing all the advertising materials for a production,
including promotional posters, programs, etc. Using any art materials from the classroom or special materials from home (magazines to make a collage, etc.), have
your students design posters for Macbeth. They can advertise the Shakespearience! production, or use their imaginations and create their very own productions!
Below are three examples of posters for Macbeth you can share with your students for inspiration. Some information they may want to include:
The show’s title
The dates, times, and location the play is being performed
Contact information (phone numbers, addresses, or websites)
Names of actors appearing in the play (could be their friends, celebrities, anybody!)
A tagline or excerpts from imaginary reviews (“Two thumbs up!”)
A drawing or collection of drawings that highlights a character, scene, location, or theme from Macbeth that the student feels is important for a potential audience
member to understand about her production.
Play Poster va, th
Activity!
Three Different Examples:
17
Paraphrasing Passages la, mus, va, th
Many passages in Macbeth contain beautiful language; however, they are sometimes difficult for modern
readers. Select one of the following passages and write it in your own words. Finally, perform your selected
passage for the class. You might wish to dramatize the passage using visual aids, gestures and music. Or, you
may wish to join with other students for a group presentation.
Activity!
Copy this page!
MACBETH She should have died hereafter;
There would have been a time for such a word.
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
MACDUFF Despair thy charm;
And let the angel whom thou still hast served
Tell thee, Macduff was from his mother's womb
Untimely ripp'd.
Then yield thee, coward.
LADY MACBETH What beast was't, then,
That made you break this enterprise to me?
When you durst do it, then you were a man;
And, to be more than what you were, you would
Be so much more the man. Nor time nor place
Did then adhere, and yet you would make both:
They have made themselves, and that their fitness
now
Does unmake you. I have given suck, and know
How tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me:
I would, while it was smiling in my face,
Have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums,
And dash'd the brains out, had I so sworn as you
Have done to this.
BANQUO Thou hast it now: king, Cawdor, Glamis, all,
As the weird women promised, and, I fear,
Thou play'dst most foully for't: yet it was said
It should not stand in thy posterity,
But that myself should be the root and father
Of many kings.
18
Activity! COLUMN A COLUMN B COLUMN C
bawdy bunch-backed canker-blossom
brazen clay-brained clotpole
churlish dog-hearted crutch
distempered empty-hearted cutpurse
fitful evil-eyed dogfish
gnarling eye-offending egg-shell
greasy fat-kidneyed gull-catcher
grizzled heavy-headed hedge-pig
haughty horn-mad hempseed
hideous ill-breeding jack-a-nape
jaded ill-composed malkin
knavish ill-nurtured malignancy
lewd iron-witted malt-worm
peevish lean-witted manikin
pernicious lily-livered minimus
prating mad-bread miscreant
purpled motley-minded moldwarp
queasy muddy-mettled nut-hook
rank onion-eyed pantaloon
reeky pale-hearted rabbit-sucker
roynish paper-faced rampallion
saucy pinch-spotted remnant
sottish raw-boned rudesby
unmuzzled rug-headed ruffian
vacant rump-fed scantling
waggish shag-eared scullion
wanton shrill-gorged snipe
wenching sour-faced waterfly
whoreson weak-hinged whipster
yeasty white-livered younker
The Art of the Insult
Directions: Combineth one
word or phrase from each of
the Columns below and addeth
“Thou” to the beginning.
Make certain thou knowest the
meaning of thy strong words,
and thou shalt have the perfect
insult to fling at the wretched
fools of the opposing team. Let
thyself go. Mix and match to
find that perfect barb from the
Bard.
INSULT HURLER:
__________________________________
INSULT:
Thou ______________________________
__________________________________
__________________________________
DEFINITION:
You _______________________________
__________________________________
19
S
E
L
E
C
T
E
D
S
C
E N
E
For Your Class
The following scene work is included to complement your active exploration of Macbeth. The abbreviated scene is
relatively short and can be simply staged. This is the very first scene in the play where Macbeth first hears of the
prediction that there is power in store for his life.
Split the class into groups and ask each of them to perform their own version of this important scene. Allow them
to get creative with how they want to present their scenes to the rest of the class!
th
Thunder and lightning. Enter Witches
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.
ALL Fair is foul, and foul is fair:
Hover through the fog and filthy air.
Enter MACBETH and BANQUO
MACBETH So foul and fair a day I have not seen.
BANQUO How far is't call'd to Forres? What are these
That look not like the inhabitants o' the earth,
And yet are on't? Live you?
MACBETH Speak, if you can: what are you?
First Witch All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of
Glamis!
Second Witch All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, thane of Caw-
dor!
Third Witch All hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereaf-
ter!
BANQUO Good sir, why do you start; and seem to fear
Things that do sound so fair? I' the name of
truth,
Are ye fantastical
First Witch Hail!
Second Witch Hail!
Third Witch Hail Banquo!
First Witch Lesser than Macbeth, and greater.
Second Witch Not so happy, yet much happier.
Third Witch Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none:
So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo!
First Witch Banquo and Macbeth, all hail!
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,
A prosperous gentleman; and to be king
Stands not within the prospect of belief.
Speak, I charge you.
Witches vanish
21
Design a set for Macbeth!
Here is a stage drawing for reference
Copy this page!
Think Like a Scenic Designer! va, th
Activity!
22
Memory Mnemonics Experiment! sci Activity!
MNEMONICS:
Have you ever had to memorize a list of words or an equation for a test at school? Maybe it was a list of the planets or all the state capitals. Think about how many
words the actors in Othello had to memorize! Sometimes it can be difficult to remember long lists of words. This is where memory techniques can help. One memory
technique is called mnemonics. A mnemonic (pronounced nuh-MAH-nick) is a memory aid that uses systems of rhymes, acronyms, and diagrams to help you
remember names, dates, facts, and figures. An example of a mnemonic is the word scuba, which is not just a word—each letter in the word stands for something.
Scuba is an acronym for self-contained underwater breathing apparatus. Another example of a mnemonic is the rhyme "i before e except after c, or when sounding 'a'
as in neighbor or weigh." This mnemonic was designed to help a person remember the order of the letters "i" and "e" in different words. Mnemonics are a great
resource not just for you as students, but for actors trying to memorize lines, teachers to help remember students names, business people to remember a to-do list and
even the president to memorize a speech!
HISTORY:
The term mnemonic is derived from Greek. It is based on the word mnemonikos which means "of memory." This word refers back to mnema, which means
"remembrance." There are several different types of mnemonics. You can use music, name, expression, model, rhyme, note, image, connection, and spelling
mnemonics to help you remember just about anything.
PROCEDURE:
Gather six of your friends and separate them into two groups. One group will be the control group and the other will be the experimental group. The purpose of a
control group is to act as a constant and to highlight any effects the variables in an experiment may have on the experimental group. You will ask each member of the
control group to memorize the list below without using a mnemonic, then test them by asking them to repeat the list back. Next, you will ask each member of the
experimental group to memorize the same list of words, but using a mnemonic.
QUESTIONS:
LIST OF WORDS:
Fish Girl
Coffee Apple
Phone Glue
Scissors Dog
Cane Violin
Treacherous Elephant
Snow Number
X-ray Baby
1. Did the mnemonic help you remember the list
better than the control group, who did not use a
mnemonic?
2. What kind of mnemonic did you use?
3. Did you find the mnemonic to be helpful?
4. What areas of study might be a mnemonic device
be helpful?
5. Which words were the hardest to memorize with-
out a memorizing device? Why?
www.cartoonstock.com
23
Suggestions for Further Study:
Asimov, Isaac. Asimov’s Guide to Shakespeare. Wing Books. 1970
Asimov offers passage by passage interpretations and important information about characters and settings. This guide also has wonderful
maps that can be adapted for classroom use.
Bloom, Harold. Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human . Riverhead Books. 1998
There are terrific essays on each of the plays. Insights into the characters of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are interesting.
Burnett, Rebecca and Elizabeth Foster Shakespeare Persona: A Creative Approach to Writing. Sundance Publishers. 1985
This is a handbook of suggested creative writing assignments for various plays. Many ideas can be adapted to other plays.
King, Susan Fraser. Lady Macbeth. Crown Publishing. 2008
One of the newer historical fiction books about Lady Macbeth. She is portrayed as a Celtic queen who was crowned Queen of the Scots
and not merely the consort queen. The book gives a great sense of Scotland in the eleventh century. Prophecies and witches are woven into this
telling. Entertaining and informative.
Nostbakken, Faith Understanding Macbeth: A student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents. Greenwood Press. 1997
This book contains original source material and suggested discussion questions. Many of the articles are especially helpful for relating the
play to contemporary problems.
To watch in
relation to
Macbeth:
24
Idaho Shakespeare Festival
Charles Fee, Producing Artistic Director
Mark Hofflund, Managing Director
P.O. Box 9365
Boise, Idaho 83707
Telephone (208) 429-9908
Box Office (208) 336-9221
www.idahoshakespeare.org
The Idaho Shakespeare Festival has evolved into one of the region’s premier, professional theater arts organizations, directly serving over 115,000
individuals annually. It is governed by a volunteer member Board of Trustees, with additional Consulting Members, 2 co-equal executives and a
permanent staff of 10 employees. In addition, the Festival operates as an “artistic home” for over 130 artists and production staff, who are employed
during the summer and at other times of the year, such as during the Festival’s spring educational tours.
At the organization’s core is its outdoor summer season which presents classical repertory, focusing on the plays of William Shakespeare, in addition to
some contemporary works including musicals. The Festival’s Amphitheater and Reserve, now entering its 15th year of operation, is the venue for over
56,000 audience members who come to Boise from across Idaho and increasingly from other states and countries.
In addition to its seasonal productions, the Idaho Shakespeare Festival provides theater arts programming integrated into the curricula of approximately
95% of the school districts in Idaho, as well as serving parts of Oregon, Wyoming, and Nevada. Through its school tours, Shakespearience and Idaho
Theater for Youth, the Festival annually reaches over 50,000 children at all grade levels, particularly focusing on children in remote and rural
communities.
ISF’s School of Theater exemplifies the Festival’s attempts to foster life-long learning and appreciation of the theater, providing ongoing classes for
students ranging in age from pre-school to adult. The Festival’s Summer Apprentice Program and Residencies are also offered for extended theatrical
training. In the tradition of its highly-popular Family Nights, along with Matinees at the Festival serving over 55,000 students in the Amphitheater since
1993, the Festival donates tickets to over 100 non-profit and student groups, has created a special access program for both students and low-income
groups, and now makes low-cost access possible for children, young adults, and students of all ages throughout the summer season.
Festival staff members also participate in the community, serving on boards and assisting the activities not only of local and regional organizations, but
also participating at a national level, where Charles Fee is also Producing Artistic Director for Great Lakes Theater Festival (Cleveland) and Lake Tahoe
Shakespeare Festival, and Mark Hofflund served a presidential appointment to the National Council on the Arts (Washington, D.C.). Both Festival
executives have been community leaders in Idaho for the better part of two decades, and both maintain fulltime residency with their families in Boise.
ABOUT THE IDAHO SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL
top related