S4K Macbeth

Last Tuesday, November 11, the English department teachers, (sans our fearless leader, Jayne, who was off being professionally developed) took the entire Year 9 group on a field trip to the city of Birmingham. Our destination: the Alexandra Theater to see a musical version of Shakespeare's Macbeth. The Year 9 students had studied Macbeth last year, so they were somewhat familiar with the basic concept of the play.

While I was looking forward to this trip, I was somewhat skeptical - as my last experience with local musical theater was not the best, having seen the production of A Slice of Saturday Night in the local Hereford theater which was little better than a high school musical; in fact, NHS theatrical productions proved a cut above this production. I had no idea how Macbeth could be adapted to a musical - and specifically for kids - so, quite honestly I was fully expecting this production to be a flop. My friend Jo and I shared our skepticism along the 1 1/2 hour bus journey into Birmingham.

I will say that I was pleasantly surprised by this "graphic novel come to life" interpretation of my favorite Shakespeare tragedy. The production was performed by the theater group known as Shakespeare For Kids (S4K). They adapt Shakespeare's plays to make them accessible to children of all ages. Indeed, our Fairfield students were some of the oldest students among the theatergoers, many of the seats were filled with much younger students.

The set, the costumes and the musical numbers appealed to these children, and yes, even to me. I was impressed by the authenticity of the langauge that was preserved, while at the same time interspersed with modern script to make the soliloquy's and monologues much more comprehensible for such a young audience; even if some had not yet studied it. The portrayal of the witches, in their full stereotypical "wicked witch" garb and cauldron brewing chanting were entertaining.

The characters of the witches, and their service in the role as the exciting force and master manipulators is enhanced by their "invisible" presence on the stage during a variety of group scenes.

The sexual manipulation by Lady Macbeth on Macbeth was carefully and tastefully done for a young audience. There were times where I felt the character of Lady Macbeth could have been more evil; conversely I felt that the role of Lady Macduff was not quite portrayed as "good enough."

The role of the Porter was brilliantly acted - a true jester-like character; complete with physical comedy and some great "knock-knock" jokes.

Truly I was very impressed with the overall performance of this play and look forward to sharing the experience with my students back home, as I purchased a DVD of the stage production - albeit a different cast.

Our Fairfield students were very well behaved and seemed to have been well entertained by the production.

Above photo from the S4K publicity site.