The evening began with an exciting screening of a live-recorded performance of Macbeth featuring David Tennant and Cush Jumbo.
We analysed the differences between the stage performance and the play later in class, such as how actors made decisions to portray the characters in a different way or how the director made alterations to convey a different idea. At the start of the performance, Macbeth was shown covered in blood, contrasting to the written version where he is only talked about and seen later – subtly drawing the audience’s attention to Macbeth’s role as a bloody and ruthless warrior from the very start of the play. Likewise, Macbeth’s psyche was conveyed very clearly throughout the play; being lost amongst the ensemble as well as intense lighting at times showed his gradual descent into madness.
My friends and I thoroughly enjoyed the very Jacobean banquet of pizza and ice cream topped with skittles, and a Macbeth quiz which strengthened our memory of the play.
Our overall study of Macbeth this term has been very interesting, allowing us to learn how the events during Shakespeare’s time of writing influences this play – for example, how Macbeth was heavily influenced by the Gunpowder Plot in 1606, serving as a political warning against regicide and a form of flattery to King James I. The witches’ prophecy that Banquo’s descendants will be kings is a compliment to James, who believed he was a descendant from the historical Banquo, thus Shakespeare portrayed Banquo as a virtuous character in Macbeth.
The detail and variety of themes such as masculinity, duplicity, and violence in the play means there’s always something more to discover and makes Macbeth a hard play to get bored of!
