(General welcomings in. Everything hopefully settles down and then – our fake students enter. They sit down at their exam chairs – and desks? The thoughts pop up from behind them and begin massaging shoulders, calming them down etc.)
BRUCE: You have 2 hours in which to complete the extracts in front of you. Your time begins now!
MARLON: Okay okay etc
PETER: Breathe in. And out. Okay.
HANNAH2: Okay, okay. That’s a really good letter A and its sunny outside. Ohmygod. Nope! We
need to focus on Macbeth.
MARLON: Right. Okay. There’s nothing. Let’s just have a look round – ohmygod she’s wrote loads!
PETER: Blah blah blah waffle waffle waffle. Lady Macbeth and power. Done. What does that even mean?!
HANNAH2: Art thou a man? Nope, cross it out.
PETER: Oh god the examiners here, don’t look, okay we’re looking.
(Fart joke)
BRUCE: You have five minutes remaining.
(Various states of panic. And then. Calm)
PETER: There’s a question two!
(Panic. The thoughts freeze. Chatting with TA along lines of look how stressed they are you don’t ant to be like that.)
KATHRYN: Hi guys! We’re N2C and we’re here today to help you in your exams in July so hopefully you don’t end up like our fake students here.
(Does someone else say something here? Maya?)
HANNAH1: This is an interactive performance so we want you guys to get involved.
IZZY: So, let’s take you out of the exam hall so we can talk to you about Macbeth properly.
(We do as is said)
HANNAH2: What can you remember about the play? Remember, Macbeth starts off as the hero?
JOEL: Yeah he does but he’s not even in the beginning, I don’t get it.
HANNAH2: Right that’s because he’s described as the hero by the Captain in Act 1, Scene 2.
BELLA: Oh yeah. He got called “Valour’s minion” didn’t he?
LAUREN: That’s right. So, shall we take a look at that scene? The battle?
(Battle. Shouting and the like. Translations of the lines – Kathryn, Izzy, and Hannah2. And then - )
JOEL: So the brandished steel that smoked with bloody execution, that’s his sword right?
(Is there something here?)
ALEX: Okay, but I still don’t get how he turns into the villain if he was so good to begin with.
IZZY: Well, he kills Duncan, Banquo – although Fleance escapes – and Macduff’s entire family.
BELLA: Everybody was killing everybody back then though so why does that make him a villain?
KATHRYN: He kills the king and that’s regicide. Don’t you remember the Divine Right of Kings?
(Non-committal mutterings)
PETER: And he killed children!
BELLA: When?
PETER: After he finds out Macduff is a threat to him, Macbeth kills his family.
JOEL: Oh yeah! And all his chickens!
ALEX: They are the kids you idiot.
(PETER: Shall we have a look at how villainous Macbeth is portrayed? - ??)
(Act 4, Scene 3 – murder of the children and stuff with translations – Bruce and Hannah2)
ALEX: Wow, look at all the chickens.
JOEL: That’s not funny, this is terrible. Macduff thought they were safe when he left them.
BELLA: And they should have been.
JOEL: He must have been devastated.
BRUCE: He was devastated. Let’s take a look at Macduff’s reaction in Act 4, Scene 3. Peter you can be Macduff and I’ll be Malcolm.
(Small scene)
MARLON: Macbeth did this to show his ultimate power over Macduff but in doing so set himself up for tragedy as Macduff would only want revenge.
JOEL: I don’t get it.
MARLON: This is Macbeth. Macbeth indirectly murders Macduff’s family. Macduff wants revenge so kills Macbeth. Do you get it now?
BELLA: Yeah. Okay so, I get he was a hero that became a villain. Why did he turn evil? I don’t get it. What made him that way?
MARLON: There are lots of different ideas about why Macbeth turned evil. Let’s have a look at the Lady Macbeth interpretation in Act 1, Scene 7.
ALEX: Why are they standing behind those chairs?
LEAH: This is our Character Mixing Desk! It shows the different emotions that a character may feel throughout a scene which in turn gives different interpretations. On our first slider we have:
PETER: Ambition.
LEAH: On our second slider we have –
MARLON: Guilt.
LEAH: And our third and final slider –
LAUREN: Morality.
LEAH: So, let’s set the sliders where we think Macbeth is throughout the scene. Joel, would you like to give it a go?
(Joel sets them wrong because his character is a fool)
LEAH: Shall we have a look at Act 1, Scene 7 and see if you all agree with where Joel has put the sliders?
(1,7 – Bruce acts it guilty and nervously. Pauses at – I dare do all that may become a man, who dares do more is none)
LEAH: Let’s pause it there and take a look at those sliders again. So Joel was saying that Macbeth has high ambition, no guilt, and questionable morals. Does that seem right from watching the scene? With the people sat around you have a quick discussion about where you think the sliders should be. We’ll come around to help you.
(Interacting with audience for 60 secs. Quotes from the scene are on our powerpoint – reference these in the discussion.)
LEAH: Alright, so that was some great discussion. Shall we set the sliders to where they should be?
(Each section is responsible for each slider – Alex = ambition; Bella = guilt; Joel = morality. We ask our TA for where the sliders should be.)
LEAH: Okay, shall we continue the scene?
(The scene continues, Bruce seems a lil angrier?)
HANNAH2: That was brilliant guys. But, do you think the Macbeth sliders stay the same throughout the scene or do they change? Have a quick chat with the people sitting around you. We’ll be over to help.
(Feedback. Setting the sliders??)
HANNAH2: So, we’ve seen Macbeth’s character development throughout the scene, what about Lady Macbeth? It’s clear that from Macbeth’s changes that Lady Macbeth has a clear impact but her character on the sliders could be perceived as – having extremely high ambition, having really low
guilt and morality.
MAYA: But, does this change in Act 2, Scene 2. Let’s have a look at that scene.
BELLA: Which scene is that?
JOEL: Macbeth just killed Duncan.
LAUREN: What is this dagger which I see before me?
(Proceeds to stab Hannah2. Only the students react – facilitators stay deadpan)
ALEX: Can we do it in English this time?
??: Shakespeare is English.
BELLA: Proper modern day English
MARLON: Yeah, that’s a good idea. So for this we’re gonna put you in teams and have you closely look at the scene using the quotes that are on the board behind us.
??: This is Joel’s team.
(Joel’s quote)
??: This is Bella’s team.
(Bella’s quote)
LAUREN: And this is Alex’s team.
(Alex’s quote)
MAYA: So, what we want you to do is find the modern day English version of the Shakespearean quote to win some points for your team. We good? Let’s go!
JOEL: Wait! What’s that quote in red?
MAYA: I’m glad you reminded me. That bad boy is your bonus quote.
KATHRYN: (whatever the line is)
MAYA: If you find this quote you get some extra points for your team.
JOEL: What do we get if we win?
HANNAH2: A GCSE in English.
MAYA: Alright guys let’s go.
(Modern version of 2,2 – Izzy and Peter)
The major thing that has been changed since writing this script is the way that we have facilitated 1,7 and 2,2 as per our discussion concerning 2,2 as talked about in my previous TIE blog. The issue that I had was the way in which we introduced 1,7 - instead of saying how Lady Macbeth influences Macbeth before 1,7, Marlon simply introduces the sceen so we can see how Macbeth starts off in his character development. Leah, as the main facilitator in 1,7 has the sliders to introduce themselves and what they mean so that our TA can better understand where we are coming from. When I enter as the facilitator at the end of 1,7 I mention the quotes on the board from the beginning, middle and end of the scene and ask our TA how they think Macbeth's character has changed overall. It's after I've receieved feedback concerning this, that I talk about Lady Macbeth and then how she involved herself in Macbeth's character development which leads onto 2,2. This is a much better way of introducing our ideas in my opinion and this was the major change during the last few weeks.
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