TARA ARTS - EDUCATION RESOURCE PACK
Tara Arts
in association with
Queen’s Hall Arts & Black Theatre Live
presents
Shakespeare’s
MACBETH
NATIONAL TOUR 2015
Tara Arts People, Words & Art: Connecting Worlds
www.tara-arts.com
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CONTENTS
Shakespeare’s Macbeth and the National Curriculum
About Tara Arts
About Black Theatre Live & Queens Hall Arts
About Tara Arts’ production
Classroom activities
Background - Shakespeare’s Macbeth
Classroom activities
Macbeth in different cultures
Classroom activities
Shakespeare’s life and works
Speaking Shakespeare’s verse
Classroom activities
Creative team & Cast biographies
Classroom activities
Would you like to have been an actor in Shakespeare’s day?
Classroom activities
You can be a Theatre Critic, writing about performance
Classroom activities
Join our networks & follow the tour - Shakespeare’s Macbeth
2015 dates & venues
Further Resources & Research
Feedback form
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4-5
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10-11
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13-15
16-18
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21-22
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Tara Arts
Artistic Director
Executive Director
Associate Director
General Manager
Captial Administrator
Finance Officer
Development Consultant
Jatinder Verma
Jonathan Kennedy
Claudia Mayer
Alexandra Wyatt
Martina Ferry
Xiao Hong (Sharon) Zhang
James Shea
With thanks to Freya Edgeworth for research & preparation of this pack.
Tara Arts, 356 Garratt Lane, London, SW18 4ES
Tel: +44 (0)20 8333 4457
[email protected]
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SHAKESPEARE’S MACBETH & THE NATIONAL CURRICULUM
Tara Arts’ production of Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth is suitable for study at Key Stage 3 and 4
including teaching across the national curriculum in:
English & Theatre Studies
Critical Understanding: Engaging with the ideas and themes in the text, understanding and
responding to the main issues, assessing the validity and significance of information and ideas from
different sources, and analysing and evaluating spoken and written language to appreciate how
meaning is shaped.
Music
Understanding musical traditions and the part music plays in global culture: exploring how ideas,
experiences and emotion can be conveyed through a range of music from different times and
cultures, investigating ways music can be combined with other art forms, analysing how thoughts,
feelings, ideas and emotions can be expressed through music.
Citizenship
Range and Content: Political, Legal and Human Rights, responsibilities of citizens, morals
and ethics. How economic decisions are made including where public money comes from and
who decides how it is spent. How actions individuals, groups and organisations take
influence decisions affecting communities and the environment.
CLASSROOM EXERCISES & ACTIVITIES are indicated throughout this Education Resource Pack
This Education Resource Pack has been designed to give teachers and students information about
the play, Tara Arts’ production, and practical classroom games and exercises linked to the National
Curriculum to support student visits to see the theatre production on tour. We have assembled a
range of activities to help you reflect and work creatively through presentation, discussing, role
play and performance, improvisation, and writing.
Playing the Flame (1979)
The Little Clay Cart (1986)
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A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1996)
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ABOUT TARA ARTS
Tara Arts was founded in 1977. Its mission is to creatively reflect the “infinite variety” of modern
Britain – People, Words & Art: Connecting Worlds.
From its home-base of a small-scale theatre in south London,
the company:
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Produces & tours European and Asian classics and
modern plays
Tours great stories of the world for children in junior
schools
Encourages new audiences to engage with the arts
Supports the development of young and mid-career
artists
Hosts Research & Development sessions for new work
Tara Arts is a pioneer in providing Black, Asian and Minority
Ethnic artists a voice and a space to share their respective
cultural heritages with all audiences. It has been instrumental
in inspiring and mentoring a range of existing BAME theatre
companies, including Tamasha, Kali Theatre Company and
Yellow Earth.
Tara Arts was the first BAME company to be invited to present its work at the National Theatre, in
1989.
The company’s range of associated artists include: Hanif Kureishi CBE, Ayub Khan Din (East is
East), composer Nitin Sawhney, Sanjeev Bhaskar (The Kumars at No 42), Naveen Andrews (The
English Patient and LOST), Sudha Bhuchar (Tamasha Theatre) and Alex Wheatle MBE.
Jatinder Verma (Artistic Director) is one of the co-founders of Tara Arts. In 1989 he directed his
adaptation of Moliere’s Tartuffe at the National Theatre with an all-Asian cast. For over 35
years, his creative vision has led Tara Arts’ ongoing success.
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Photos of previous Tara Arts productions
Journey to the West (2002)
The Tempest (2008)
A Taste for Mangoes (2002)
The Black Album 2009
Tara Arts is renovating its theatre in south London to re-open in December 2015, as a small-scale
production house. Tara Theatre will be the first ever National centre for cross-cultural theatre
with a distinct East-West aesthetic: in the fabric and design of the building and the theatre
produced and staged there.
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ABOUT BLACK THEATRE LIVE
Black Theatre Live is a pioneering national consortium of 8 regional theatres
led by Tara Arts, committed to effecting change for BAME touring theatre
through a sustainable 3-year programme of national touring, structural
support and audience development.
Black Theatre Live is a partnership of Tara Arts, Derby Theatre, Queen’s
Hall Arts (Northumberland), Lighthouse (Poole), Theatre Royal Bury St.
Edmunds, Theatre Royal Margate, Stratford Circus (London) and Key
Theatre (Peterborough).
Black Theatre Live expects to work with emerging and established BAME
companies across England to commission and tour high quality productions to
the consortia theatres over the coming 3 years.
Black Theatre Live will shape a dynamic national programme of mid- and small-scale tours. Its
structured audience development and community engagement programmes will include live digital
streaming and cinema relay.
We are delighted to receive Arts Council England’s support to transform the national landscape of
BAME touring theatre in the coming years.
Joyce Wilson, Area Director, London, Arts Council England, said: ‘"We are really pleased to be
supporting the Black Theatre Live national consortium, which is being led by Tara Arts – a
National portfolio organisation. The consortium’s work will make a strong contribution towards
affecting lasting infrastructural change for BAME touring theatre through the creation of a
sustainable 3-year programme of national touring and audience development. It is wonderful to
see organisations working together in this way to develop audiences, support greater community
engagement and promote greater diversity. "
www.blacktheatrelive.co.uk/
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ABOUT QUEEN’S HALL ARTS
Queen's Hall Arts (QHA) is the charitable company that manages the venue, Queen’s Hall Arts
Centre, Hexham and provides an art service to a large part of rural Northumberland.
The Queen’s Hall is a magnificent early
Victorian building which faces Hexham
Abbey (dating from 647AD).
From its
christening as an arts centre in 1983 until the
hand over to the charitable organisation,
Queens Hall Arts in 2001, the building was
under local authority control. The building is
shared with Hexham Library and the Little
Angel Café, both tenants of Queens Hall Arts.
Queen’s
Hall’s
resident
theatre
company Théâtre Sans Frontières is based in
offices at QHAC and opens all of its shows in
the Theatre.
Queen’s Hall Arts Centre boasts a 350-seat theatre and two galleries all managed by Queens Hall
Arts.
QHAC has established itself as a strong base for an extensive range of artistic activity, attracting
the best international and national artists from music, drama, dance and national touring comedy
to non professional shows put on by local community groups.
In addition to programming within the building, QHA delivers an extensive outreach service
bringing workshops and performances to communities throughout Northumberland.
Queen's Hall is also home to Hexham Book Festival and Judith King of Arts & Heritage. QHA
receives regular financial support from Northumberland County Council, Arts Council England and
Northern Film & Media.
http://www.queenshall.co.uk/
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ABOUT TARA ARTS’ PRODUCTION
Tara Arts in association with Queen’s Hall Arts & Black Theatre Live presents
Three outrageous drag-queens* cook up an explosive brew of treachery, ambition and passion,
setting an Asian family off on a path of bloody self-destruction. Tara Arts brings Indian movement
and music to Shakespeare’s text, offering a powerful contemporary take on his darkest play.
* hijras in modern India and Pakistan
Robert Mountford (Much Ado, RSC, Silent Witness) stars as Macbeth, with Shaheen Khan (Rafta
Rafta, NT, Bend it Like Beckham) as Lady Macbeth.
Classroom activities
1. VISUAL ANALYSIS: What does our publicity poster tell you about the play?
2. LANGUAGE ANALYSIS: What does Lady Macbeth’s famous line mean? “look like th’ innocent
flower, But be the serpent under’t...”?
3. ROLE PLAY: One of the best ways to understand Shakespeare’s language and characters is to
perform his plays. Not only will this make learning Macbeth more fun, but it will make it
interesting and clearer. In threes, stand up and perform the opening scene with the witches.
Check out the trailer for the production of Macbeth on tour online here:
http://tara-arts.com/touring/shakespeares-macbeth
produced by Damn Fine Media
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BACKGROUND – THE STORY OF MACBETH
The Tragedy of Macbeth, commonly known as
Macbeth, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare and
is his most frequently performed play.
Macbeth is assumed to have been written 1606
during the reign on James I. Shakespeare’s dark and
most cynical plays were written when James I was in
power, which reflects how distrusting and
pessimistic the people were feeling after Elizabeth I.
1606 was a year after the famous Gunpowder plot
which was a failed attempt to blow up James I and
Parliament. The Jacobean era was a time of
uncertainty and change for England.
Shakespeare’s Macbeth is considered one of his
darkest plays due to its great emotional intensity. It
is a relentless tale of ambition, showing the lengths
people will go to in order to gain power. But
Macbeth’s desire is proved to be futile: once he plots
and kills, the consequences of his actions drive him
to paranoia, madness and eventually death.
Shakespeare’s exploration of the human psyche
has made Macbeth a figure of doom and warning, and can act as a warning of how excessive
ambition can lead to horrific outcomes.
Fun facts about Macbeth:
 Macbeth actually existed. He was fatally wounded at battle on August 15 1057, which was 17
years after he was crowned King
 Macbeth’s real name was Mac Bethad mac Findlaich (McBeatha in modern Gaelic) and means
‘Son of Life’. Lady Macbeth’s real name was Gruoch.
 There are 17,121 words in Macbeth, making it Shakespeare’s shortest play
 If you say Macbeth in a theatre, it is deemed bad-luck and you are meant to walk three
times in a circle anti-clockwise and say a rude word, or spit.
 Because of the superstition in some theatre’s about saying Macbeth out loud, it is often
referred to as the ‘Scottish Play’ instead.
Photo credit: Wikipedia
Classroom activities
1. CLASS DISCUSSION: How are Shakespeare’s plays dramatic and interesting?
2. GROUP DISCUSSION: How is evil presented in Macbeth?
3. ROLE –PLAY: In groups of 3-4, create a tableau of images in freeze frame of what you think are the most
important moments in the play. The images should reflect themes and points of interest, as well as a strong
sense of character understanding. Try to attach a quote from the play matching the image. Show each
other your work and reflect on how the other actors are combining character and theme.
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MACBETH IN DIFFERENT CULTURES
Shakespeare’s plays are as relevant to us today as they were over 400 years ago, and because of
their relevance to the world today, they are performed and studied worldwide. This is because
they address the fundamental aspects of human nature and emotions; such as love, anger,
jealousy, friendship, ambition.
Shakespeare is continually being re-interpreted and re-invented. Shakespeare’s works also have
had an immense impact in film, radio, opera, and novels, exploring different takes on his plays.
For centuries, different countries and places have been applying their own ideas and
interpretations of his works. This creates more diversity and dynamic, and transforms the plays to
a completely new and exciting territory. Through applying influences of various cultural values,
political ideologies, and theatrical ideas into performance, it not only means we are learning
about the world around us, but that we are challenging and questioning the critical issues and
ideas in the text. We are keeping Shakespeare alive.
There have been notable productions recently involving different cultures. Verdi’s opera version
was performed at the Barbican Centre recently, set in the Congo. An Indian adaptation of
Macbeth, called Maqbool, was made for film.
This article from The Guardian captures the importance of Shakespeare in other cultures
http://www.theguardian.com/stage/theatreblog/2014/nov/14/shakespeare-foreign-production
Photo credit: The Barbican
Classroom activity
1. GROUP DISCUSSION: How does the play Macbeth relate to today?
2. GROUP DISCUSSION How would an audience in village India or China see the play? Would their
responses be different to yours?
3) INDIVIDUAL RELFECTION: Why is it important to watch different productions from
different cultural perspectives on stage, TV and film?
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TARA ARTS PRODUCTION OF MACBETH
There are approximately 8.4 million Asians (including those of mixed Asian ancestry) living in the
UK today. Our production is set in modern Britain, in an extended Asian family. As migrants and
descendants of migrants, Asians share with all other migrants a sense of another place - a sense
of the "ancestral homeland", which is often the source of another culture, language and faith.
Similarly, in Macbeth, the Witches are from 'another place' - the spirit world of trickery,
witchcraft & prophecy. In our production, the Witches are played as Hijras. Hijras are
centuries-old distinct communities of transsexual/transgender people living in India, Pakistan
and Bangladesh.
In India alone, there are estimated to be about 1 million Hijras. They have their own distinct
rituals and culture. Vivacious and colourful, their presence at births and marriages is seen as a
sign of good luck by the wider society. They believe themselves to have sacred powers, many
tracing their ancestary to Ardh-Narishwar - the ancient Indian God who was half-man and halfwoman. Proud of being a community on the borders of gender, they are happy to bless and
curse in equal measure!
South Asian society as a whole tolerates these communities...and is wary of their percieved
ability to prophecy and curse.
Classroom activity
1. INDIVIDUAL DIRECTORIAL WORK: If you were a director, how could you characterise the witches
without making them a stereotype? Can you think of people who are shunned in society?
2. INDIVIDUAL DESIGN WORK: Design a costume for a Hijra. Be careful not to confuse Hirjas
with drag queens.
3. GROUP DISCUSSION: What is the function of the witches, and why does Shakespeare
open the play with them? What is the significance of having the witches’ supernatural
power in the play?
Photo credit: Declan Walsh, The Guardian http://souciant.com/2013/08/of-sarees-and-superstructures/
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SHAKESPEARE’S LIFE & WORKS
Year
Shakespeare’s Life
1564
Shakespeare Born
Shakespeare Married
1582
1583
1585
1587-1592
1593
Works
Birth of daughter Susanna The Queen's Company formed in
London
Birth of twins, Judith and Hamnet
Departure from Stratford Establishment in London as an The Comedy of Errors; Titus
actor/playwright
Andronicus; The Taming of the
Shrew; Henry VI, 1,2,3; Richard III
Continues to work in London as an actor and playwright
Venus and Adonis; Begins writing
the Sonnets, probably completed
by c.1597 or earlier; Two
Gentlemen of Verona; Love's
Labour's Lost
The Rape of Lucrece
1594
1594-1596
Founding member of the Lord Chamberlain's Men
1596
Hamnet dies aged 11. Aged just 32 years old Shakespeare A Midsummer Night's Dream;
writes…..
Romeo and Juliet; Richard IIl The
Merchant of Venice
1597-1599
Purchases New Place, Stratford
1599
The Globe Theatre built on Bankside. Shakespeare is a Henry IV,1,2; The Merry Wives of
shareholder and receives about 10% of the profits
Windsor; As You Like It; Much Ado
About Nothing; Henry V; Julius
Caesar
1603
The Lord Chamberlain's Men, now The King's Men, perform
at court more than any other company
1601 Shakespeare's father dies
Shakespeare's mother dies
Twelfth Night; Hamlet; Troilus &
Cressida; All’s Well That Ends
Well; Measure for Measure;
Othello; King Lear; Macbeth;
Antony and Cleopatra; Coriolanus;
Timon of Athens
1600-1608
1608
Prosperity and
playwright
recognition
as
the
leading
London
1609-1611
1609 Publication of the Sonnets
1623
April 23, 1616 Shakespeare dies and is buried at Holy
Trinity Church, Stratford
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Pericles Prince of Tyre,
Cymbeline; The Winter's Tale, The
Tempest
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SPEAKING SHAKESPEARE’S VERSE
Most characters in Shakespeare’s plays speak in a special rhythm. It is a pattern that is also found
in poetry, especially in a type of poem called a sonnet.
The pattern is called an iambic pentameter. Speaking in the rhythm will help students'
understanding of Shakespeare’s meaning.
To work out what that means, let’s split the words up. The first bit - iamb - means two beats, the
first is light (or unstressed) and the second is heavy (stressed). It sounds like dee-dum. Try clapping
it. A light beat and a heavy beat. That’s iambic.
The next bit - pentameter - has pent in it. What else has got pent in it? Pentagon? Pentangle? So
you might have guessed that pentameter has something to do with five. The next part is meter.
Well a meter measures things, the gas maybe or the amount of time you’ve paid to park the car.
OK, so that gives us five measures of iamb. What does that mean? Well, it’s 5 dee-dums. Clap the
rhythm as you speak.
Dee-dum dee-dum dee-dum dee-dum dee-dum
Classroom activity
1.Mark the stressed and unstressed syllables of this extract:
Then live, Macduff; what need I fear of thee?
But yet I'll make assurance double sure,
And take a bond of fate: thou shalt not live
2. Read out this extract. What is the effect on listeners?
Try a conversation in iambic pentameter:
Come in, sit down and make a cup of tea
I don’t mind if I do, you’re very kind
Can you make up your own iambic pentameters?
Try speaking aloud this speech from Macbeth: you might find it helpful to highlight the iamb…..
Out, damned spot! out, I say!—One: two: why,
then, 'tis time to do't.—Hell is murky!—Fie, my
lord, fie! a soldier, and afeard? What need we
fear who knows it, when none can call our power to
account?—Yet who would have thought the old man
to have had so much blood in him.
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Classroom activity
1. LANGUAGE ANALYSIS: You might have noticed that the punctuation breaks the iambic
pentameter. What does this tell us about Lady Macbeth’s state of mind?
2. ACTING ALAYSIS: Watch these versions of the scene.
Judi Dench: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dgbbtUbgcM and Kate Fleetwood:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Eb2t-fXD8E
Note the actress’ body language, facial expression, eye contact, vocal pitch and dynamics. Who is
she speaking to? Where are her thought changes?
3. PERFORMANCE: Work in groups to direct and perform this extract, bearing in mind the function
of the two other characters and her mental state.
http://nfs.sparknotes.com/macbeth/page_180.html
4. Perform part of the scene to the rest of the class. Individually, write down what you liked about
your friend’s performance, and how they communicated the scene to the audience. Write down
ways they could make their performance even better. Share your ideas.
Exhibition Panels – Black British & Asian Shakespeare
by kind permission of the University of Warwick,
see page 24.
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SHAKESPEARE’S LANGUAGE IN MACBETH
In preparation for the tour, Tara Arts undertook a word count of Macbeth. Every word in the play
was counted to see how many times it occurred in the text. It revealed some fascinating results.
 ‘Love’ appears 26 times, only between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth
 References to ‘Time’ appear the most – 241
 ‘Throne’ appears only 3 times
Classroom activity
1. The word ‘Throne’ is used only three times in the play. Is the play about Kingship or Ambition?
2. Why is Time important in the play?
3. What is the significance of only Macbeth and Lady Macbeth using the word 'Love'?
4. Analyse the meaning behind the following key quotations from Macbeth.
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.
Fair is foul and foul is fair
Let not light see my black and deep desires
Look like th’ innocent flower, But be the serpent under’t
Had he not resembled
My father and he slept, I had done’t
That which hath made them drunk
Hath made me bold. What hath
Quenched them then given me fire.
This is a sorry sight. (as he looks at his hands)
Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the green one red
It will have blood; they say, blood will have blood
But I must also feel it as a man
Yet I will try the last: before my body
I throw my warlike shield: lay on, Macduff;
And damn’d be him that first cries, ‘Hold, enough!’
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CREATIVE TEAM & CAST BIOGRAPHIES
Director: Jatinder Verma
Jatinder Verma is co-founder and Artistic Director of Tara Arts. Most recently Jatinder directed
Tara’s production of The Domestic Crusaders written by Wajahat Ali. In 2009 he directed Hanif
Kureishi's The Black Album for the National Theatre and a UK Tour. He first worked at the National
in 1989, with an acclaimed version of Molière's Tartuffe. In 2012 he directed the Tara Arts
Christmas pantomime, Dick Whittington Goes Bollywood and Alex Wheatle's Uprising which toured
the UK.
Designer: Claudia Mayer
Claudia Mayer trained with Percy Harris at Motley and has worked freelance in opera, ballet and
theatre. Work for Tara Arts includes: Miranda, Marriage of Figaro, An Enemy of the People, The
Merchant of Venice, Journey to the West (a trilogy), A Ramayana Odyssey, The Domestic
Crusaders and two large- scale events in Trafalgar Square.
Classroom activity
1. INDIVIDUAL WORK: Imagine you are directing Macbeth. Create a presentation, addressing the
following:
- Why do you think it’s an important play to perform?
- What characters, ideas and themes in the play interest you?
- How would you communicate these to an audience? (ie. set, lighting, costume)
- Which historical period would you set your production in, and where would you set it?
- Choose your cast from your class peers and/or well known actors and actresses. Who would
you cast and why?
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CAST of 9 actors including live music
Robert Mountfort
Character: MACBETH
Trained: RADA, where he won the Lilian Baylis Award
Shaheen Khan
Character: LADY MACBETH
Trained: Tara Arts
Classroom activity
1. GROUP DISCUSSION: How would you describe the relationship between Macbeth and Lady
Macbeth?
2. Look closely at Act 1 Scene 7, where Lady Macbeth persuades Macbeth to kill Duncan. What
strategies do you think the actress playing Lady Macbeth should use on Macbeth? Read the
scene in pairs, with a third person directing the characters on how to say the lines (ie. Angry,
seductive)
3. What is Macbeth’s journey through the play? Create a timeline of his emotions.
Mitesh Soni
Character: BANQUO / Sergeant / Seyton / Chorus
Trained: Guildford School of Acting
Awards: 2012 Manchester Theatre Award- Best Ensemble- Arabian Nights.
Ralph Birtwell
Character: DUNCAN / First Witch / Doctor / Murderer / Chorus
Trained: LAMDA
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Deven Modha
Character: MALCOLM / Second Witch / Fleance / Macduff’s son / Chorus
Trained: Birmingham School of Acting
Shalini Peiris
Character: LADY MACDUFF / Messenger-Servant-Attendant-Gentlewoman /
Porter / Chorus
Trained: Arts Ed London
Umar Pasha
Character: MACDUFF / Murderer / chorus
Trained: Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
Awards: James Bridie Award for Best Actor 2013
John Afzal
Character: ROSS / Third Witch / Murderer / Chorus
Trained: Bretton Hall
Classroom activity
1. ROLE PLAY What is your favourite scene from Macbeth? Perform it in groups in class and talk about
why it is significant to the play, and discuss what you think the character’s sub-text is.
2.INDIVIDUAL WORK Choose a character and create a profile for them: write down their attributes,
their personal objectives, their internal and external conflicts, what other characters say about them,
and what they say about themselves, what has happened to them in the past, where they’re from –
everything that contributes to the character.
CHARACTER INTERVIEWING: each character should be ‘hot seated’ whilst other members of the group
question the character they are playing.
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WOULD YOU LIKE TO HAVE BEEN AN ACTOR IN SHAKESPEARE’S DAY?
Did you know that all the women in Shakespeare’s plays were played by young men or
boys? In Macbeth, the Witches are played by both male and female actors. Unlike performing in a
modern English theatre, Shakespeare’s theatre, the Globe in London, was built with an open roof
so it could get very chilly! There were no electric lights or digital special effects.
The scenery was very basic so Shakespeare relied on his words to paint a picture for his audience.
When you were given your part to learn, it was written on a roll of parchment. It was too timeconsuming to write out the whole play for each actor so you would just have your own role
written out (on a roll – get it!). You would learn your part and the cue, which would be the last
words spoken by the previous speaker, and you would have to listen really carefully to what was
being said to know when to speak.
There were about 26 actors in Shakespeare’s company at any one time. They would have been
employed in several different plays, possibly performing two or three different plays in the same
week. Could you have learnt all those lines?
The audience could be as big as 2,500 people. An
actor needed a loud voice to project the dialogue
to the whole audience. If the audience didn’t like
what they saw they would boo or pelt the stage
with oranges but if they did like the performance
they would cheer and clap wildly.
The Groundlings were audience members who
stood on the ground, often for 3 or 4 hours to
watch the performance. They were very close to
the actors on stage and would often call out, like
street theatre is today but very different from an
in-door theatre with a roof!
Drawing of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in
London.
Classroom activity
Imagine you are an actor in Shakespeare’s Macbeth. (You will have to imagine you are all men or
boys, sorry, but those male actors had to imagine they were women, so you may have to pretend
to be a man pretending to be a woman!) Write a letter home explaining what part you play and what it’s
like in Shakespeare’s company.
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BE A THEATRE CRITIC - WRITING ABOUT PERFORMANCE
Theatre Critics write about plays they have seen at the theatre, they write reviews. These reviews
often appear in newspapers such The Guardian, The Times and The Independent.
WRITING ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE
You will need to justify the following: Why does a director make certain choices? How do the
lighting, costume and set help to tell the story? Watch carefully and write notes after the play.
These questions will help you:
THE STAGE
Q: What can you see on the stage?
COSTUME
Q: What colours and styles are being used?
Q: What else do the costumes tell us about the characters?
LIGHTING
Q: What colours and shades of colour are being used?
Q: What levels of brightness are being used and why?
Q: When do the lights change?
THE PERFORMERS
Q: Which actors do you think were well-cast and why?
Q: Did main characters have a good on-stage relationship? How did their performance help you to
understand the play?
Q: How do the actors use the set?
Q: How do the actors relate to the audience?
THE MUSIC
Q What did music make you think and feel?
AND LASTLY BUT MOST IMORTANTLY
Q: What does the play make you think, feel, want to talk about?
REVIEW QUOTES FROM TARA ARTS’ MOST RECENT SHAKESPEARE THE TEMPEST
“A coherent, physically disciplined vision where the text is spoken with revealing clarity” The Guardian
“Robert Mountford is a majestic, vulnerable Prospero, one of the best in my long experience...
Never has the value of synthesising east and west been more ably demonstrated” Hexham Couran
Classroom activities
1. Write a short article on the production for a newspaper of your choice. When writing, comment on how
the actors support the themes of the piece, and how the set design, costumes, and lighting create
atmosphere.
2. Create a news report for the BBC on Macbeth.
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JOIN OUR NETWORKS & FOLLOW THE PRODUCTION ON TOUR
TaraArts
BlackTheatreLive
@Tara_Arts
@BlackTLive
SHAKESPEARE’S MACBETH 2015 DATES & VENUES
Wed 25 to Fri 27 February
QUEENS HALL, HEXHAM
Beaumont Street, Hexham, Northumberland, NE46 3LS
Box Office: 01434 652477
Web: www.queenshall.co.uk
Tue 3 March
LAWRENCE BATLEY THEATRE
Queens Square, Queens Street, Huddersfield, HD1 2SP
Box Office: 01484 430528
Web: www.thelbt.co.uk
Fri 6 and Sat 7 March
THEATRE ROYAL MARGATE
Addington Street, Margate, CT9 1PW
Box Office: 01843 292795
Web: www.theatreroyalmargate.com
Tues 10 March
BUXTON OPERA HOUSE
Water Street, Buxton, Derbyshire, SK17 6XN
Box Office: 0845 127 2190
Web: www.buxtonoperahouse.org.uk
Thurs 12 to Sat 14 March
TALIESIN SWANSEA
Taliesin Arts Centre, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea, SA2 8PZ
Box Office: 01792 60 20 60
Web: www.taliesinartscentre.co.uk
Tues 17 and Wed 18 March
THE LIGHTHOUSE POOLE
21 Kingland Road, Poole, Dorset, BH15 1UG
Box Office: 0844 406 8666
Web: www.lighthousepoole.co.uk
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Fri 20 & Sat 21 March
ARTSDEPOT
5 nether Street, Tally Ho Corner, North Finchley, London, N12 OGA
Box Office 020 8369 5454
Web: https://www.artsdepot.co.uk/
Thurs 26 to Saturday 28 March
STRATFORD CIRCUS
Theatre Square, Stratford, E15 1BX
Box Office: 0844 357 2625
Web: www.stratford-circus.com
Tues 7 to Sat 11 April
WINDSOR THEATRE ROYAL
32 Thames Street, Windsor, Berkshire, SL4 1PS
Box Office: 01753 853 888
Web: www.theatreroyalwindsor.co.uk
Tues 14 to Sat 18 April
THEATRE ROYAL BURY ST EDMUNDS
6 Westgate, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, 1P33 1QR
Box Office: 01284 769505
Web: www.theatreroyal.org
Tues 21 to Sat 25 April
DERBY PLAYHOUSE
15 Theatre Walk, St Peter’s Quarter, Derby, DE1 2NF
Box Office: 01332 59 39 39
Web: www.derbytheatre.co.uk
Shakespeare’s Birthday Sunday 26th April 2015
Tues 28 and Wed 29 April
KEY THEATRE
Embankment Road, Peterborough, PE1 1EF
Box Office: 01733 207239
Web: www.vivacity-peterborough.com
Tues 5 to Sat 9 May
HARROGATE THEATRE
Oxford Street, Harrogate, North Yorkshire, HG1 1QF
Box Office: 01423 502 116
Web: www.harrogatetheatre.co.uk
Launch season spring 2016
Dates TBC
TARA THEATRE
Box Office: 020 8333 4457
Web: www.tara-arts.com
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FURTHER RESOURCES & RESEARCH
We hope the production has inspired you and the students to learn more about Shakespeare and
different cultures. Students are now encouraged to undertake their own research online and by
visiting theatres and their archives, here are some useful pointers.
Tara Arts see our digital theatre archive. This archive has been supported by the Heritage
Lottery Fund. http://tara-arts.com/show-archive
To discover other productions with Black and Asian actors and directors at the helm go to the
University of Warwick University who have introduced British Black and Asian Shakespeare
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/english/research/currentprojects/multiculturalshakespear
e/ with
BBAShakespeare
Exhibition Panels – Black British & Asian Shakespeare
by kind permission of the University of Warwick,
At some theatres on the tour we will present an exhibition with Warwick University, featuring
the heritage of British Black and Asian artists who have made Shakespeare their own.
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And of course
Shakespeare’s Globe http://www.shakespearesglobe.com/
Sparknotes http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/macbeth/
Digital Theatre http://www.digitaltheatre.com/
Royal Shakespeare Company http://www.rsc.org.uk/
Shakespeare Schools Festival http://www.ssf.uk.com/
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FEEDBACK FORM
If you have found this pack useful, please take a moment to give us your feedback.
What year group are your pupils in?
Which pages did you use with your pupils after the TARA performance?
Which resources will you use in future schemes of work?
Was the level of this pack appropriate for your pupils? (If no, explain how we
could have made it better).
Is there any other information you would have liked, in order to enhance your students’ experience
of the Tara Arts performance?
Any other comments?
Please return to Tara Arts at the address/fax or email below:
Freepost RRKJ-GLAR-ZCEG
Tara Arts
356 Garratt Lane
London SW18 4ES
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