Drama club - Synopsis of Macbeth

Cast Handout for Macbeth

Synopsis of the play:

Scotland is at war with Norway and Macbeth and his friend, Banquo, are great generals for the Scottish army.  Macbeth battles heroically for his king, Duncan, and the Scots are victorious.  On their way to meet the king, Macbeth and Banquo encounter a coven of witches who predict that Macbeth will become the Thane (Lord) of Cawdor and then, the King of Scotland.  They also predict that Banquo will father a “line of kings”.  Macbeth sends a messenger to tell his wife about the prophecy.

Macbeth and Banquo meet Duncan and his lords and Duncan declares that Macbeth will take over the title “Thane of Cawdor”, because the original Thane of Cawdor has betrayed the Scottish cause.  Macbeth and Banquo are shocked, because it appears the witches’ prophecy is coming true.  Duncan tells Macbeth he plans to visit him at his castle.

Macbeth has sent a letter advising Lady Macbeth of the witches’ prophecy.  Lady Macbeth starts to think about how they can make the prophecy come true.  The Macbeths welcome Duncan to the castle and in the night, they kill him.  In the morning, after Macduff discovers the body of Duncan, Malcolm and Donalbain run away, making it look like they killed their father.

Macbeth discovers that his crime cannot end.  He needs to get rid of Banquo, so that he can ensure that his children inherit the throne.  He hires murderers to kill Banquo and his child, Fleance.  The murderers kill Banquo but Fleance escapes.

Macbeth returns to the witches for more information.  They give him three warnings – he should beware of Macduff, he need fear no one “of woman born”, and he will reign until Birnam wood moves to his castle (Dunsinane).  After hearing these predictions, he feels confident, but tells his associate, Lennox, that, just to make sure, he will kill Macduff and his entire family.  His henchmen go to Fife, Macduff’s castle, but Macduff has fled to England, leaving his family behind.  The murderers kill Macduff’s family.

Macduff and Malcolm have assembled an army and they attack Macbeth at his stronghold in Scotland.  Lady Macbeth, consumed with guilt, has gone insane and commits suicide. Malcolm’s soldiers decide to use the branches from Birnam Wood to camouflage their arrival at Dunsinane and Macbeth’s servants tell him the forest is moving towards the castle.  Macbeth fights bravely and ultimately encounters Macduff.  “I’m not afraid of you, because I cannot be harmed by anyone ‘by woman born’,” he tells Macduff.  But Macduff has the last laugh – he was delivered by Caesarean birth (“ripped from his mother’s womb”) and he defeats Macbeth and Malcolm takes over the throne of Scotland.

Strange Garments

Journals for the week!  Remember to answer all the questions.

Theatre Production:  I hope you have read the play by now.  Choose one character from "Macbeth" and write about how the "gender-fluid" idea might play itself out through that character.  How would you costume that character?  Would you try to make that character look like the character's gender or the actor's gender?  Think of the colour palette we have been discussing -- black, grey, white and red.

Macbeth says "I dare do all that may become a man; Who dares do more is none" and Lady Macbeth answers, "When you durst do it, then you were a man".  How does gender fluidity influence how the audience might understand that exchange?

Director/Scriptwriter:  What are your ideas about the adapted script?  You've chosen the poem.  What do you plan to do with it?  (It's not carved in stone, so just write your random thoughts about it at this point.)

Acting 11/12:    What emotion is the most powerful one?  What is your experience of that emotion?  (Tell the story.)  Describe how you felt (physically) when the emotion took hold of you.  What actions did you take when you experienced the emotion?

Drama 9/10:    What is the funniest movie or tv show or play you have ever seen?  Summarize the plot.  Try to explain what was so funny about it.

Drama 8:  On a scale of 1 - 5 (with 5 being perfect, and 1 being terrible), rate your ability to work in a group.  Explain your rating.  What qualities do you have to offer your group?  How could you improve?   Are you a good leader?  Explain why or why not.  Write about an experience you had working in a group (it can be a good one or a bad one) and then what you learned from the experience.

Fight, Flight or Freeze

No journals this week, because we spent Friday out of class.  I hope all of you took some time to lounge around, read a book (yes, READ A BOOK -- not stare vacantly at your screens), walk in the park, or go to a play -- I went to a couple of plays -- more on that later.)

It was great to see many of you and your parents on Thursday night, although it was certainly the strangest "Meet the Teacher" night in my twenty plus years of teaching.  That European ambulance sound really tested my ability to project.  Ms. O'Neill and I had planned to see a "pick of the Fringe" show after "Meet the Teacher" and if we were going to make the curtain, we had to leave the school at 7:56, but of course, in all the kafuffle, our exit was delayed.  Please tell your parents that I'm sorry if I rushed out, and if they want to ask any questions or share any concerns, to get a hold of me in one of the ways that is listed on the handout.  If they email me, I will usually respond within the day.

We had an excellent presentation about adolescent anxiety on Friday morning.  All of us experience anxiety from time to time (it can be helpful -- long ago, when we were trying to survive in the wilderness, strong fear responses' increased adrenaline and heart rate helped us fight attackers, flee predators, or, like squirrels unfortunately do in the middle of the road, freeze in order to remain unseen -- of course, it doesn't work with squirrels in the middle of the road -- the cars aren't looking for them and kill them with impunity.)  However, if the anxiety becomes overwhelming, if it prevents a person from doing what he or she wants or needs to do, then it can be a problem.  But the good news is that it is a problem that has solutions.  One thing you can do, if you think you are having a problem with anxiety, is to talk to someone about it.  It can be a friend, or a family member, or your counsellor at school, or an adult you trust.  You can try to reduce the number of things you feel like you "have to do" (that's a lesson I had to learn -- to say no sometimes).  You can explore meditation and relaxation techniques (I think we'll do a bit of this in Drama).  The person who presented the session told us about an interactive website called "mindcheck.ca" and also a downloadable app called "Mindshift" which acts as a portable coach and provides you with tools to help with intense emotion, worry, conflict, panic, test anxiety and fears about presentations.  Anxiety is NOT a manifestation of weakness and it is important to know that, like anything that goes wrong physically, you can get help if only you ask.

I saw two more Fringe shows (the Fringe is over and these shows were chosen as the best of the Festival).  On Thursday night, we did make the curtain and saw "The After After Party" which was about two girls who don't get invited to parties in high school and how they deal with it.  The show was great fun and the actors were outstanding, very energetic and physical and funny.  I liked the characters and wanted things to turn out for them.  One lesson you can take from shows like this (and there are many of them) is that lots of kids struggle in high school to fit in and sometimes it feels like you are the only one on the outside looking in, but you aren't.  High school can be really hard socially, but it gets a lot easier as you get older.  I did not enjoy my time as a student in high school and felt like I didn't have any friends and would never figure things out, but once I got to university, I think I started to manage a lot better and now I am quite a happy person.  Anyone who tells you that high school is the best time of your life is not telling you a universal truth.  It's different for everyone.

Yesterday, I saw "Curious/Contagious" which was such a creative experience with shadow puppets and dance and movement and music and two overhead projectors!  The story was about a unicorn who sells his soul to a multinational conglomerate and then is infected by an insidious virus.  It sounds crazy and it was crazy but in a terrific way.  The actors were just fantastic and it seemed like there were about ten of them, but it was only two.  It really was the pick of the Fringe for me.  I love it when people go completely outside the box like these two actors did.  They wrote all the music and played the viruses extraordinarily and it was beautiful and poignant and funny and great for all ages and such a terrific theatrical experience.  The company that produced the show is called Mind of a Snail and they will be participating in the Vancouver Puppet Festival in October, so let's keep our eyes open for their shows next month.

I met "Jamesy" from "2 for Tea" in the lineup for "Curious/Contagious" and he mentioned that he and James have rented the Waterfront Theatre for a couple of weeks in October and might be able to do a performance for a bunch of enthusiastic drama students, so I am going to see if we can arrange a field trip to see their new show "James and Jamesy in the Dark".  That would be great fun.  They would be willing to do a little workshop as well, he said.  What a great experience that would be!

Falling into the Fringe

The Fringe Festival is almost over -- I hope some of you were able to take in some performances.  As I said before, it can be fun just to stick a pin in the program randomly and see whatever you get.  That's what I did last night.  Even if the show is putrid, you can still get something out of it.

Last week, I saw "2 for Tea" with James and Jamesy and it was great fun.  Jamesy is a great physical comedian with stunning control of his character and his physical attributes -- he is like a dancer (perhaps he has some dance training -- he can hold his leg out straight for a LONG time and he had this great shtick when he sat down that even the people they chose from the audience were able to incorporate into their little performances -- lovely) and he and James play very well together.  James is a bigger, beefier fellow with a big open face.  The premise is simple -- two friends get together once a week for tea.  They got people out of the audience to play the general of the British army (to whom they wanted to serve tea, with dire consequences) and Jamesy's parents.  It was very entertaining and just what my friend and I needed after a challenging week of back to school!  It was light and funny but also rather touching and sweet and I liked James and Jamesy's relationship -- I believed they were friends and even their conflict (which was based on Jamesy calling James "Jamesy"!) was handled with sweetness and a little bit of an edge.  I was gratified that, even though the story was simple and they were going for the laughs, they were able to give us performances that struck several notes, which is what life is like, I think.   I liked the contrast between the two characters and their precise movements and the use they made of the audience and their set and costumes and even the little jokes they made about how the stage was spiked.

Last night, we saw "The Dance Teacher" and this was the one I just chose randomly.  It was about a guy who is a dance teacher and how he molested his students.  The playbill said one of the things that was worth seeing about the show was that you would leave wondering if he had actually done it.  But in the play, they said they had video evidence to show that he had, indeed, done it.  And in fact, he confessed.  When I chose the show, I read that the cast was great, but afterward I didn't think so.  The guy who played Justin, the main character, was very handsome and he had some good moments -- mostly when he was quiet and just sitting there and you could imagine what he was thinking.  (Note to self -- you don't have to TELL the audience everything, and, in fact, you shouldn't -- let them figure out stuff for themselves.)  But the other actors played one note each (this might be the fault of the script which was very pedestrian, obvious, repetitive and solemn).  Even the gestures were repetitive -- everyone seemed to be grabbing each other's faces.  And there was no dancing.  I think when you call a play "The Dance Teacher" there should be dancing.   There were a number of moments when I think they were trying to shock us, but that's what it seemed like -- "oh, look how shocking we are!" and everyone seemed to be constantly in everyone else's personal space in a way that didn't work theatrically, but just made it seem like they weren't using the stage.  And there were lots of those "soap opera" moments, when someone would say something shocking or angry (there was NO HUMOUR in it at all -- none, nothing -- all super solemn) and then the other person would walk away and look out at the audience.  When you see a show like this, the best part is afterward when you can discuss it.  As you can sense, I hated it.

The Fringe continues today.  If you have time, pop into Vancouver and take in a show.  Here are a few which have had some good reviews:

Space Hippo (at the Waterfront on Granville Island) from 1:15 to 2:15 (about saving the planet)
Marrow (at the Havanna Theatre on Commercial Drive) from 4:00 to 4:50 (about two sisters with a secret)
Curious Contagious (at the Waterfront) from 8:05 - 9:05 (about a virus taking over a unicorn's body -- appropriate for all ages, apparently)

Happy Fringing!

Journal #2 - Can we separate the art from the artist?

There is no journal this week for Grade 8, because most of them are at camp!  I hope it has been a heap of fun for all of you and that you come back as a unified class with lots of shared experiences and memories.   It was fun for me to meet the kids who participated in the in-house camp -- I hope some of you think about joining the drama club.

For all of the rest of you, here's a philosophical question for all of you to ponder.

Can you separate the art from the artist?  Many of you have probably heard about Nate Parker's new movie called "Birth of a Nation" which is about the Nat Turner slave rebellion in the southern United States in 1831 (I would highly recommend the great novel about it by William Styron called The Confessions of Nat Turner).  The movie was a huge success at the Sundance Film Festival.  After the festival, it was discovered that when Nate Parker (who directed, wrote and starred in the film) was 19 (about ten years ago), he was accused of rape.  It was when he was at college and he and his friend were at a party where there was a lot of drinking and his friend's girlfriend was intoxicated and unconscious and they apparently took advantage of her when she was in that state.  There was a trial and Nate Parker was acquitted and his friend was convicted, but later the friend was also acquitted on appeal when the victim did not testify.  She later committed suicide.  At first, when the story was reported, Nate Parker said that he had been a "dog" and was still learning about gender relationships and was sorry about the woman's suicide, but now at the Toronto Film Festival, Parker is deflecting questions about his past and trying to focus attention on the film.

Many people are now suggesting that they don't want to see the film because of Parker's past.  What do you think?  This question arises often, because artists are often not exemplary people -- many of them do bad things, many of them struggle with demons, sometimes of their own creation.

Should you not enjoy a work of art because it's created by a person who has done something you find reprehensible?  Is the work of art separate from the person who creates it?  What expectations do we have of artists?  Write your thoughts on this issue.

Welcome to the world of the journal!

These are your first journals of the new year!  (Resolve to answer each question in a complete and timely way!)

Drama 8:

What should Ms. Kosar know about you?  Obviously, you will want to share stuff about Drama -- do you have a lot of background in theatre or performing (even musical performances, dance recitals, speech contests,  athletic performances are of interest to me).  Do you have stage fright?  What do you look forward to in Drama this term?  Is there anything that concerns you about the class?  Whatever you'd like to share, I'll be interested to read.

Drama 9/10:

Write about a news story that you think would make a dramatic play.  It can be a specific story (like Justin Trudeau "photobombing" that wedding to Tofino this summer) or it can be something broader (like the American election or the concept of climate change).  Describe how you would dramatize the story.  Give details.

Theatre Production 11/12:

One of the things a theatre production person does is to solve problems.  Here's a problem we are presented with in Macbeth.  Macbeth is holding a dinner for a bunch of Scottish nobles.  Unbeknownst to them, Macbeth has just had his best friend, Banquo, (who is a Scottish noble, expected at the dinner) killed.  Everyone arrives and Macbeth's wife is welcoming the guests, and Macbeth sees the ghost of his friend arrive.  Only Macbeth sees the ghost.  How would you stage this scene?  How do you think the ghost should look?  (Think of what you'd do in our theatre, because that's where we're going to stage it.)  Have you ever seen a ghost in a movie or a play?  Does that help you imagine what you could do?

Directing and Scriptwriting 12:  Have you ever directed anyone before?  Describe the circumstances. What do you imagine are the most difficult things about being a director?  (Name at least four things.)  What skills and knowledge do you bring to the class that will help you work with the actors?

Acting 11/12:  Who is your favourite actor or actress?  (Don't say you don't have one.  If you've taken Acting at this level, you need to be aware that there are good and bad actors out there and you need to try to learn from their performances and think about how you can create real-seeming characters on stage like they do.)  Explain why you think they're good.  Describe their performance in a film, play or television program and focus on what they've done to impress you.

Try to remember to bring something to write with tomorrow and something to write in.

Drama 8, here is the Shakespeare we'll be working on over the next couple of weeks:

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man, in his time, plays many parts.

Remember, "women" is pronounced "wimmen".

Tips for making society run smoothly

We went shopping yesterday.  Many of you know how much I love THAT (not.)  But it was relatively painless, except we bought socks somewhere (we always need socks, it seems) and now we can't find them anywhere.  Hence, your first tip!  Check your bag!  Make sure that everything you bought makes it into the bag!  (Because, especially since I hate shopping, you do not want to have to go back, especially on a rainy day like today when everyone will be lined up at every checkout (like yesterday even though it was a Friday) and people will be wandering aimlessly looking at stuff and I can't imagine why anyone would want to do that.  For me, it's go in, get what you want and get out!  (And then go to the bookstore or have lunch somewhere.) And of course, what is the point in going back to the store?  Will they trust me that I did not receive the socks I bought?  Why would they?  I could be a sock scammer, who takes the socks out of the bag and then returns the next day and says, "oh, I didn't receive the socks I bought" and then get two packs of socks for the price of one!

Next tip . . . identify yourself on the phone, when you phone someone.  Don't assume they know who you are, because they probably don't.  Someone phoned me this morning (and you probably know I hate the phone even more than shopping) and she just started talking and I thought she was one person and she turned out to be someone else.  I don't think she knew that I thought she was someone else, and I didn't tell her (I should have because she never says who she is) so I'm to blame for the situation as well.  And it isn't enough to say "it's me" because everyone is me to themselves.

Tip #3:  I'm not going to explain it, because you will all know what I mean.  Take a creative risk once in a while (like my French meal turned out pretty well and I'm reading Macbeth and thinking about how we are going to stage it this fall -- exciting!)

Final tip for today . . . and it's a very Kosar tip.  Try to see the silver lining.  It is easy to look on the dark side, but there is usually another (better) side to see that will benefit you and everyone around you.  On Wednesday, I donated my husband's tools (he had a huge number of tools and the boys and I don't know how to operate any of them and Mike decided they should be donated to Habitat for Humanity, which builds houses for people who might not otherwise be able to afford them) to Habitat for Humanity.  They came and took a truckload of stuff and are coming back in a couple of weeks to get the rest.  It was hard to see them dismantling the benches and things that Mike had used to build all the beautiful furniture that he made.  The men who did the pickup were very nice and the gentleman who was in charge was very sympathetic about Mike's death and our loss but it brought back a lot of painful memories, of course, and I knew it would, which is probably why it took me so long to have it done (over a year).  But after I felt badly for a while, I remembered Mike telling me to donate the tools.  He grew up in a family that always struggled financially and he appreciated the work that Habitat for Humanity does.  He wanted to help and not just let the tools sit there and gather dust.   When he was alive, he was able to use those tools to build beautiful things, many of which we have in our house and he was always very proud of the work he did, proud that he was able to do such creative and positive work, proud of being self-taught, and he loved wood and the smell of sawdust and planning out what he was going to build and how he was going to build it.  He would be proud and happy that the tools he used in his business were going to continue to be used to make people's lives easier and better.  Sad and tragic things will happen to all of us in our lives but we need to focus on the lovely things we experience.  We lost Mike but we had him in our lives and each day we think about him, his laugh and his smile, and his kindness and thoughtfulness, his enthusiasm and creativity, and we know how lucky we are.