Theater at Monmouth 2014 Shakespeare in Maine Communities Tour Teacher Resource Guide Inside This Guide 1 From the Page to the Stage 11 On William Shakespeare 2 Double Trouble Synopsis… 12 On Elizabethan England 3 Who’s Who in the Play 13 Performance in Shakespeare’s Time 4 About the Play 14 Verse and Prose 5 Don’t Know Much About History 15 Before the Performance 7 Something Wicked This Way Comes 16 After the Performance 9 Cause and Effect 17 Resources for Teachers & Students 10 Collaborating on Concept Theater at Monmouth's production of Macbeth is part of Shakespeare in American Communities, a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest. FROM THE PAGE TO THE STAGE This season, Theater at Monmouth’s Shakespeare in Maine Communities Tour brings classic literature to students across Maine with a 90-minute version of Macbeth. The text was adapted to streamline the plot and help students connect more strongly to Shakespeare’s verse, themes, and relevance to a modern audience. Shakespeare in Maine Communities’ workshops and extended residencies offer students the opportunity to study, explore, and view classic literature through performance. TAM’s Education Tours and complimentary programming challenge learners of all ages to explore the ideas, emotions, and principles contained in classic texts and to discover the connection between classic theatre and our modern world. Teacher Resource Guide articles and activities were developed to help students form a personal connection to the play before attending the production; Common Core-aligned activities are included to explore the plays in the classroom before and after the performance. The best way to appreciate Shakespeare is to do Shakespeare. That means getting students up on their feet and physically, expressively, and vocally exploring his words. The kinesthetic memory is the most powerful—using performance-based activities will help students with a range of learning styles to build a richer understanding of the text and identify with the characters and conflicts of the plays. Thank you for taking some of your classroom time to teach your students about Macbeth! If you need more information to support your preparation for the production, please call 207.933.2952 or email [email protected]. Portrait of Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth by John Singer Sargent Enjoy the show! Dawn McAndrews Producing Artistic Director Theater at Monmouth 1 DOUBLE, DOUBLE, TOIL AND TROUBLE! A synopsis of what happens in the play Returning from victory on the battlefield where they have crushed a rebellion against King Duncan and invasion from abroad, his generals Macbeth and Banquo are accosted by three mysterious women. These “weird sisters” greet Macbeth as Thane of Cawdor—a title belonging to one of the vanquished rebels—and predict he will become king. But the future successors to the throne, they say, will be Banquo’s descendants, not his. Part of this prophecy seems to be fulfilled shortly afterwards, when Duncan rewards Macbeth by bestowing on him the newly executed Cawdor’s title; Macbeth’s prospect of becoming king, however, seems dimmed when Duncan names his son Malcolm as his successor. Urged on by his wife, Macbeth decides to take matters into his own hands. He murders Duncan as he sleeps, while Lady Macbeth contrives to throw suspicion on the king’s own attendants. Fearing for their safety, Malcolm and his brother Donalbain flee, and Macbeth assumes the throne. Fearing Banquo’s suspicions, Macbeth orders his murder and that of his son, Fleance—but that deed, far from bringing him peace, has consequences as terrifying as they are unexpected. Haunted by the specter of his guilt, Macbeth consults the sisters, who assure him that he need fear no man born of woman and that his position will be secure until a nearby wood is seen to move. Meanwhile, as Macbeth’s rule degenerates further into a reign of terror, the exiled Malcolm returns with English troops to claim the throne. Too late, Macbeth realizes that the sisters’ prophecies are riddled with deadly ambiguity, and that the destiny he has pursued is a double-edged sword, forged by his own murderous hand. Engraving by John Raphael Smith after the painting by Henry Fuseli of The Three Witches from Macbeth. 2 WHO’S WHO IN THE PLAY There are seven actors in TAM’s 90-minute production of Macbeth. To play all the roles written by Shakespeare, some of the actors will need to double—a convention also used in Shakespeare’s time. Here’s how the doubling works in our production: Drew Johnson: Macbeth A hero, beloved warrior, champion of the nation. Noble, reliable, honorable. In private, he’s a good friend to his friends, a patient and dedicated partner to his wife. Never takes more than his due. Winds up crossing all of his own boundaries, betraying himself, and everyone he loves. Nobody would have seen this coming. Greg Boover: Banquo/ Messenger/ Young Siward Charismatic, warm, has a good sense of humor. The kind of friend who takes you out for coffee when you’re having a bad day. A bit of a live wire, fun at parties. Has a jealous streak. Deep inside, he wants to do the right thing. It would be a shame for anything bad to happen to his guy. Your friends would all miss him. Wendy Way: Duncan/ Porter/ Old Man/ Murderer/ Doctor The kind of guy who has received more “#1 DAD” mugs from the boys he has spiritually adopted than from his own kids. Charismatic, noble, and fair. Beloved authority figure. Reminds you of your favorite memories of your father. Pamela Mae Davis: Lady Macbeth/ Seyton Just adores entertaining! The greatest, most charming hostess you have ever seen. Radiant, sparkles, lights up every room. Conceals her deep-rooted ambition, her opportunism, and her fascination with black magic. Michael Dix Thomas: Witch 1/ Angus/ Murderer/ MacDuff Power purveyor of the Dark Arts. Knows ancient secrets and old ways, works with pleasure and good humor. You can’t ever be sure whether you can trust him or not. Marjolaine Whittlesey: Witch 2/ Donalbain/ Rosse/ Lady MacDuff Learning the ancient secrets and ways of magic, eager to please and wreak havoc. Testing the boundaries of her power. Feisty and treacherous in equal measure. Lillian Meredith: Witch 3/ Lenox/ Murderer/ Malcolm/ Gentlewoman Professional manipulator of nature. Possesses a deep connection to the earth and the spiritual world. Feeds on the chaos of war, political intrigue, and self-doubt. 3 ABOUT THE PLAY Sources for Macbeth Shakespeare’s principal source was Raphael Holinshed’s Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1587), the Scottish part of which was derived from the Scotorum Historiae of Hector Boece (1526). Shakespeare picked incidents from various reigns and altered the events for dramatic purposes. Holinshed’s Chronicles gave him much of his information on witchcraft, including the scene in which the weird sisters prophesy to Macbeth and Banquo. Shakespeare would have been familiar with the many books on Scottish history that appeared after the accession of James I (formerly James VI of Scotland) to the throne of England. He would also have read James’s Daemonologie (1599) and A Counterblast to Tobacco (1604). A 1605 Latin play by Matthew Gwinne, Tres Sibyllae, performed before King James at Oxford, may also have inspired Shakespeare. At the performance, James was saluted with the words, “Hail, thou who rulest Scotland! Hail, thou who rulest England! Hail, thou who rulest Ireland!”—lines that resemble the weird sisters’ first words to Macbeth. The Real Macbeth The historical Macbeth (c.1005-1057) was king of Scotland from 1040 to 1057. His wife was Lady Gruoch, a granddaughter of Scottish king Kenneth III and formerly the wife of Gilcomgain, Thane of Moray. After Gilcomgain’s death in battle, Gruoch fled County Ross with her son, Lulach. Macbeth, Thane of Ross, became her protector and, in 1035, her second husband. Although Shakespeare portrays Duncan as an elderly man, he was actually under 40 when he was killed—in battle, not in bed—by Macbeth. His sons Malcolm and DonaldBane were no more than 10 at the time. Macbeth, who reigned for 17 years, was by all reports a good king. In 1057, Duncan’s son Malcolm returned to Scotland and killed Macbeth in a battle in Aberdeenshire—nowhere near Dunsinane. Macbeth in Performance One of the first performances of Macbeth took place before King James I at Hampton Court on August 6, 1606, in honor of the state visit of the Danish king Christian IV. The earliest known eyewitness account of the play comes from Simon Forman, who saw it in April of 1611, in which Richard Burbage is believed to have played the title role. In 1663, William Davenant produced an adaptation in which much of the original text was omitted or changed and to which musical numbers were added. The text was partially restored in 1744 by David Garrick, who played the title role for many years. Kilts and tartan plaids were introduced in Charles Macklin’s production in 1773. Besides David Garrick, notable Macbeths have included Charles Macklin, John Philip Kemble, Edmund Kean, Edwin Booth, Henry Irving, John Gielgud, Laurence Olivier, Ian McKellen, and Patrick Stewart. The director, actor, and filmmaker Orson Welles presented a celebrated “voodoo” version of Macbeth in 1936. The Macbeth Curse Macbeth has been considered unlucky since its very first production—perhaps because the text supposedly contains an actual witches’ incantation: the famous “Double, double, toil and trouble.” The play is notorious for the superstitions surrounding it. It is true that some productions of the play have been marred by fatal or near-fatal incidents.