EDUCATION PACK
Welcome
Nau mai, haere mai. Welcome to Mr & Mrs Macbeth of Heathcote Valley Road. Backstage farces hold a particular kind of delight for us “theatre people” and we know that this brilliant farce from Gregory Cooper will delight you too.
It is wonderful to have long-time Court collaborators and theatrical powerhouses, Mark Hadlow and Lara Macgregor, back in The Shed. Who better to embody professional actors, facing the unexpected calamities, drama, and comedy of theatre, relationships, and life?! There is something so satisfying in seeing two such accomplished actors spark off each other and dig into a vibrant script with the confident verve that comes from craft and a trusted scene partner. Some frequent and some new collaborators are found in the superb design team, who have put their thoughtful and intelligent creativity to work to strikingly capture Mr & Mrs Macbeth of Heathcote Valley Road in set, sound, lights, and costume. This production has also been a great opportunity to partner with Whakatū, Nelson-based, The Professional Theatre Company.
Gretchen La Roche
Executive Director
Alison Walls
Artistic Director
Theatre is full of ghosts, traditions, and superstitions (including not saying the title of “the Scottish Play”!), perhaps because there is a kind of magic in the echoes of past performances, the characters and stories brought to life anew and fleetingly each time, and in the spark and crackle between performers and audience. Amidst all that is sublime, there is plenty of the ridiculous— perfect fodder for unrestrained comedy—as you shall see!
Mr & Mrs Macbeth of Heathcote Valley Road is also about a relationship: a pair of collaborators in life and art. It is amazing to reflect on the many relationships and collaborations at the heart of The Court Theatre and what we do. This show is the first production of the year with Gretchen La Roche as Executive Director and an opportunity to celebrate the evolution of the theatre and our friends, colleagues, and collaborators, old and new.
We are grateful as always to our season sponsor Ryman Healthcare, to our show sponsor Christchurch Casino, to the whole Court company, extended friends and whānau, and to our audiences. Enjoy the show!
Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa.
There is nothing in the world like live theatre – and we have everything in our region to create first-class performances that will thrill audiences and create real opportunities for our talented theatre professionals.
The Professional Theatre Company is Nelson’s brand-new home of storytelling. Stories about us. Stories from afar. Stories to make us think, grow and laugh. Unforgettable shared experiences, powered by the brilliant professional talent right here in our region.
The Professional Theatre Company is collaborating with the Theatre Royal, Whakatū, Nelson with the intent of developing a strong strategic relationship for the benefit of Nelson/Tasman and Marlborough communities.
Enjoy a rollercoaster ride of comedy, drama, poignancy and explosive conflict, as these two-stage dynamos reveal the highs and lows of partnerships, on and off the stage. Mr & Mrs Macbeth of Heathcote Valley Road will appeal to all, including people who hated Shakespeare at school!
About The Play:
We spoke with Mark Hadlow about how the idea for the play came about: The play was an idea that hit me like a lighting bolt. I was on an airport bus heading through Courtney Place in Wellington. The bus went past Downstage Theatre, the now defunct professional theatre company home for over 60 years. A tragedy it’s gone…..
Anyway flash, the idea was two actors, married professionals for 30 years and they were about to open that night with a production of Macbeth. Only problem was that the husband Tom wasn’t playing Macbeth.
I rang Greg with the idea and said would you be interested in creating the written version of this and as a two hander for myself and Lara. He said yes, I rang Lara and again not a hesitation, it was a done deal. So I wasn’t really drawn to it, I was struck by lightning to it.
The Cast
Tom - Mark Hadlow
Jo - Lara Macgregor
Voice of Timmy - Bob Bickerton
Production
Director - Gregory Cooper
Set Design - Mark McEntyre
Lighting Design - Sean Hawkins
Costume Design - Pauline Farley
Music Composition and Sound - Bob Bickerton
Choreographer - Natalia Harrington
Props Coordinator - Aisha Cumming
The Professional Theatre Company
Production Manager - Steve Thomas
Court Theatre Stage Manager - Jo Bunce
Lighting and Sound Operators - Giles Tanner, Geoff Nunn
Wardrobe Assistants - Rae Thomas, Georgina Stephens & Linda Hansen
Set Construction - Jason Stewart Builders & ET Engineering
The Court Theatre Workshop - Matthew Duffy, Seth Edwards-Ellis, & Edward Roche
The Court Theatre Wardrobe Department - Daniella Salazar & Findlay Currie
The Court Theatre Properties Manager - Julian Southgate
Photographer - Martin de Ruyter & Charlie Rose Creative
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS - Matt Short, taylor Boutique, & Sarah Louise.
RUNNING TIME - 2 hours (including 20-minute interval)
CONTENT ADVISORY - This production features strong language, lighting and fog/smoke effects.
Photography and videography of this production is strictly prohibited.
Mr & Mrs Macbeth of Heathcote Valley Road staged at The Court Theatre 18 May to 22 June 2024
Director and Writer Gregory Cooper
Gregory’s career began as an improvisor and actor at The Court Theatre in 1993. His previous Court Theatre credits include The CompleteHistoryofNewZealand,TheUnderpants,TheHoundofthe Baskervilles,NiuSila,UncleVanya,EasyMoney,AChristmasCarol, Elling,LesLiaisonsDangereuses, and The Wind in the Willows.
His other theatre credits include The Complete History of Christchurch, The Complete History of World Rugby; Howzat! The Complete History of Kiwi Cricket (CCC Summer Theatre season), Le Sud (Auckland Theatre Company), Niu Sila (Fortune Theatre), and The Complete History of the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN).
He wrote MAMIL (MiddleAgedManinLycra), The Streaker, Mr & Mrs Macbeth of Dodson Valley Road, and co-wrote the suffragist rock musical ThatBloodyWoman. His directing credits include MAMIL(MiddleAged Man in Lycra), Hamlet: The Video Game (The Stage Show), Steel Magnolias (The Court Theatre), 2Graves (LAF) and the pantomimes Cinderella and Beauty&TheBeast (GMG Productions).
Set Designer
Mark
McEntyre
Mark is best known in the theatre world for his set designs for Tawata Productions, Pacific Underground, NZ International Festival of the Arts, Melbourne Arts Festival, Christchurch Arts Festival, Taki Rua Productions, The Court Theatre, and The Auckland Theatre Company.
Mark has represented New Zealand in the Prague Quadrennial of Scenography and Theatre Architecture. The last two years have been busy designing for a range of productions including The Court Theatre’s productions of FlagonsandFoxtrots and RENT, and Tawata’s production of NgāRorirori at Circa.
Mark has teamed up with Tony De Goldi to form the GOM Design Collective. As a team they have designed the production of Dawn Raids, a collaboration between Pacific Underground and Auckland Theatre Company, Lucia di Lammermoor for Wellington Opera, The Court Theatre’s production of Appropriate, and OlePepelo, leGaoi,malePala’ai for production company IKENSO in collaboration with Auckland Theatre Company and Auckland Arts Festival.
Mark is currently working on the design of Transmission Beta for Stuart McKenzie and Miranda Harcourt. This project will be staged at Circa Theatre in May.
Mark is also the Academic Manager of Performing Arts and a supervisor in the post graduate programme Masters of Creative Practice, Ara, Te Pūkenga.
Costume Designer Pauline Farley
Pauline is a graduate of the Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology (Bachelor of Visual Arts and Design).
Her previous credits include CHONA (Nelson Professional Theatre Company), SummerShakespeare,TheTwits (Body in Space), BloodBrothers, and DangerousLiaisons (Theatre Alive). For many years Pauline has worked with Community Theatre groups in New Plymouth, Queenstown and Nelson and still never looses the thrill of seeing her costumes come to life on stage.
Pauline is excited to be a part of The Professional Theatre Company, working with Mark, Greg and Lara, and looking forward to seeing her work on The Court Theatre stage for the first time.
Lighting Designer Sean Hawkins
Sean has been working professionally as a lighting designer for 15 years and has a Diploma of Entertainment Technology from Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama School. Sean has worked internationally as The Head of Lighting at Soho Theatre in London’s West End and was previously employed as House Technician at The Court Theatre for 5 years.
He has designed more than 25 productions for The Court Theatre, and his experience ranges from children’s theatre to full scale musicals to lighting installation pieces. Highlights include Songsfor Nobodies,StagWeekend,Hamlet:TheVideoGame(TheStageShow),ExittheKing (The Court Theatre), Di and Viv and Rose (Fusion Productions), Cabaret, and AComedyofErrors (NASDA).
He has also been responsible for designing a number of well-known items including the large, illuminated tunnel in the Tīrama Mai celebration and the St Andrews College graduation performance of “Stairway to Heaven” that went viral at the end of 2023. Sean and Mark Hadlow have worked together for many years, as Sean is responsible for the touring lighting design of MAMIL(MiddleAgedManinLycra) working together in a director/designer team on a number of productions. Sean is very excited to bring this wonderful piece of theatre to The Court Theatre stage.
Sean is currently employed at The Light Site, Christchurch’s premiere lighting company for events and theatre.
Music Composition & Sound Design
Bob Bickerton
Bob Bickerton is a Whakatū, Nelson-based musician, composer and recording engineer with a long career in the New Zealand performing arts industry. In his own words, he says he simply makes music happen and has produced a myriad of concerts and festivals and has performed music right around New Zealand.
His fascination with synthesis, love of orchestral music and passion for traditional Celtic music collide in this production to create a multi-faceted soundscape.
Stage Manager Jo Bunce
Jo graduated from Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama School with a diploma in technical production in 1996 and has been working in theatre for over 25 years. She freelanced for many years in Te Whanganui a Tara Wellington as a lighting designer/operator and stage manager as well as working overseas in London and Edinburgh. She has also worked in film and was an on-set production assistant for KingKong.
Jo is the Head Stage Manager at The Court Theatre and has been involved in over 50 Court Productions going back to 1996 including Cabaret,Othello,Art,TheSeagull,Amadeus,PacificPost,TheMotorCamp,Endofthe Rainbow,BloodBrothers,OneMan,TwoGuvnors,NiuSila,TheLadykillers,Waiora:TeUKaiPo-The Homeland,SteelMagnolias,VenusinFur,EasyMoney,StephenKing’sMisery,Elling,LesLiaisons Dangereuses,FreshOffTheBoat,AStreetcarNamedDesire,LadiesNight,Frankenstein,TheGirlontheTrain, FlagonsandFoxtrots,SenseandSensibility,Appropriate, and AgathaChristie’sMurderontheOrientExpress.
Jo graduated from the University of Canterbury with a Bachelor of Arts in 1994.
Lighting and Sound Operator Giles Tanner
Giles is a graduate of Hagley Theatre Company (Diploma in Performing Arts), where he concentrated on technical production, and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Philosophy from the University of Canterbury.
Currently Head Technician at The Court Theatre, Giles has worked on more than 50 Court productions including Amadeus,WhentheRain StopsFalling,Constellations,EducatingRita,Waiora:TeUKaiPo-The Homeland,TheEvents,VenusinFur,TitusAndronicus,IntheNextRoom,orTheVibratorPlay,StephenKing’s Misery,HedwigandtheAngryInch,Once,TheWindintheWillows,AStreetcarNamedDesire,TheGirlonthe Train,SenseandSensibility,DanceNation, and AgathaChristie’sMurderontheOrientExpress.
Giles was one of 2023’s The Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi Out of the Limelight Awards, recognising dedicated theatre practitioners in Aotearoa.
Lighting and Sound Operator Geoff Nunn
Originally from Manchester, Geoff has been in New Zealand since 1994. He is a qualified baker and at first worked in the hospitality industry as a chef and then restaurant manager from Queenstown through to Mount Maunganui. He then decided on a complete change in career and went to Circo-Arts for a year and then studied for two years with The Hagley Theatre Company.
Geoff joined The Court Theatre on a casual basis in 2000 and has since worked as an actor, drama tutor, designer, technician and stage manager, becoming a full-time technician in 2005 and taking over the head technician position in 2008. In 2010, Geoff took up a scholarship to work and train as an early childhood educator. After the earthquake he set up his own small catering company which ran for 12 years in Christchurch. He has done lighting designs for NASDA, St Andrews College, Halswell School and The Light Site. Geoff is back on the full-time company list at The Court Theatre since the start of 2023. Geoff has also directed shows for Original Scripts Theatre School, The Hurunui Theatre Group and Christchurch Boys High School.
Synopsis:
Mr & Mrs Macbeth of Heathcote Valley Road is set in the dressing room of Jo & Tom Macbeth before the opening night of a touring production of Macbeth they are co-funding and co-producing. They have been married for nearly 30 years and have performed together hundreds of times, becoming particularly well known for playing their famous namesakes Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.
But tonight things are different. Tom has been replaced in the titular role by Ian (pronounced Iron), a buff, young reality TV star, celebrity influencer and wellness guru. Reduced to being an understudy and enduring five weeks of watching a talentless actor mangle his monologues and manhandle his wife has pushed him to the brink. Believing there’s no chance of him having to performing, Tom has turned to the whiskey bottle to help him through the lowest point of his illustrious career.
As the countdown to curtain up moves closer, the stakes are raised when Jo discovers Taika Waititi is in the audience looking to cast his new Amazon series of Macbeth. Tom discovers his wife has plunged a metaphorical stake through his heart when he finds out she was the one responsible for replacing him with the ‘celebrity parrot’. Feeling betrayed and fuelled by single malt, he decides to confront his celebrity nemesis. Unaware of Ian’s habit of downward dogging himself right by his dressing room door, one kicked open door to the head sends Ian to A&E and Tom to the last place he expected to be… on stage playing Macbeth.
But, the show must go on, even when the lead actor’s semi-sozzled and struggles to remember his lines at the best of times. And if Jo can get her husband through perhaps the most important performance of their lives, it may not justsave their careers, it may end up saving their marriage.
Notes from The Playwright
The idea for the play came from my longtime friend and colleague Mark Hadlow… who also stars in the play! In 2022 he called me with an idea for a play called Mr & Mrs Macbeth of Dodson Valley Road, (Mark lived in Dodson Valley in Nelson at the time), and he wanted this to be the first show for a theatre company he was in the process of establishing in Nelson. Having worked in the theatre industry for over 30 years I had often thought about writing a play to expose all the passion, conflict, comedy, temper tantrums and ridiculousness that goes on behind the scenes and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to do so. Often there’s way more drama offstage than on.
One thing I’ve always loved about live theatre is that split-second moment between backstage and onstage. Actors can be fighting, not talking to each other, breaking up with each other and then suddenly they’re on stage and everything changes instantaneously to a different world. There’s a thing called ‘Doctor Theatre’ where actors can be coughing and sneezing and throwing up, but when they’re on stage their body suddenly ‘acts well’ and everything is fine, until the moment the show’s over and everything kicks in again. It’s very powerful and I wanted to see if I could recreate that unique experience for the audience. Hopefully the second half of the show where the action repeatedly switches between the dressing room and the stage gives them some feel for what its like.
I was also interested in looking at the impact of ageing and how senior practitioners deal with an industry that has fundamentally changed with the advent of social media, self-publicity, online content creation, streaming, social media etc. And the impact ageing can have on the ability to learn and recall lines, something I know a lot of older actors struggle with.
And finally I wanted to communicate the power that live theatre can have, not only for an audience but also for the people that do it, that when you’re both really invested and in the moment and genuinely present and ‘playing’ with each other, perhaps ‘Doctor Theatre’ can have the power to heal relationships offstage as well.
The Director’s Vision
We sat down with Greg Cooper to discuss his vision for the play and how the director’s focus shifts as opening night draws closer. What preparation do you do to prepare for the rehearsal process?
Lots of chats with the designers first of all to establish a clear vision for the aesthetic of the play. Being able to communicate this to the actors on day one is important. The tricky part with Mr & Mrs Macbeth of Heathcote Valley Road is being able to switch from the dressing room to the stage and back again instantaneously and this couldn’t be done with changing set, so the only option was light and sound. I’d seen a framework set design using LED strips from a UK production online and thought this idea would work really well, as the set itself can become part of the lighting design, and there’s no walls to mask or hide anything. Without any walls we could go hard with back light and side light which I’ve always loved and haze.
I’ve worked with Mark and Lara many times and they are both very experienced directors as well as actors, so I wanted to make the rehearsal process as collaborative as possible. They’ve been doing it long enough to know when something isn’t working and we all trust each other to speak up when it isn’t. I have ‘pre-blocked’ before rehearsals a few times when time is limited, but I usually like to discover the broad shape of the play in the room with the actors rather than telling them, ‘walk there, stand there etc’. They are both onstage almost all the time in quite a confined space and they are playing characters who have lived together for a long time so it was important to find that ‘dance’ quality of people who know each other very well.
Also, because this was a new script that had never been performed before and I had written it specifically for Mark and Lara, their input into the dialogue and rhythms etc was crucial. If scenes weren’t working, we’d essentially workshop them and then I’d rewrite that night and try the new version the next day. We’ve updated it again for The Court Theatre season and I imagine we’ll discover more things during this production that will be added to the script for future shows.
What are your key focus points during the rehearsal process?
I’m pretty old-school, so my first focus is just making sure I’m creating good ‘pictures’ with the blocking. The right characters are in focus, nothing looks fake or played out to the audience, nice angles, depth, nothing that looks like blocking. I don’t like sitting round talking about the play for long, I like to get it up on the floor as soon as possible as that’s when everyone starts making discoveries. Connecting the words to the movement is so important so you need to get moving ASAP.
Once that’s done the focus shifts to the inner workings of the characters. Are the intentions clear, is the story telling clear, are we hitting the right beats and shifts, are we constantly refreshing the ear of the audience to keep them engaged, dynamics, all that sort of stuff.
How does the Director’s attention shift when entering into production week?
Your attention shifts to the lighting and sound designers mainly. Costume and props will have been pretty much sorted in the rehearsal room. So it’s working with your LX and SX people to achieve the aesthetic you’re after, setting levels, building cues, working transitions.
The director will still give notes to the actors after each dress, but the stage manager has taken over responsibility for the actors in the main by production week. It’s always a crazy week, but incredibly exciting as everything (hopefully) coalesces to create something close to the initial vision for the show.
Classroom Activity:
Connecting the Playwright and Director’s Intentions
Close Reading Activity:
Read through the playwright’s note and the Q and A with the Director with the following in mind:
• Highlight ideas that comment on where the idea for the play came from and what inspired its casting
• Circle comments that relate to the way the show was staged and brought to life
• Underline and annotate ideas that comment on themes, symbols and motifs and answer the question - “Why this play, why now?”
Once you have done this, annotate around these highlights, circles and underlines with your own ideas and how you might use this evidence when constructing your report or answer questions in your exam.
Storyboarding Activity:
As you read the director’s vision, choose one scene that pops out from how they have described their process, this could be based around character, design or an important theme.
• Sketch the moment over three storyboards, breaking down the beats of the moment.
• Annotate the details of the scene, thinking about how the director has directed the actors, what they might have asked of the designers and what they are asking the audience to think about.
• Add notes about how the Playwright’s ideas have been brought to life by the Director.
• Share your storyboard with a peer and discuss details that you might have missed or ideas that you could extend on.
Save these storyboards and annotations to unpack in your report or to support your sketching and annotation in the exam.
The Characters
Tom Macbeth. Tom is a veteran performer who has been in the business for more than 30 years alongside his wife Jo. Tom has been relegated to playing the understudy for Macbeth in the show he and his wife have co-produced. Tom suspects his wife may be a little too friendly with the young actor I-an, who has replaced him as the lead role, not realising that Jo only brought I-an into the production due to threats from their investors to pull funding for the show.
Jo Macbeth. Jo is a seasoned professional actor who has been, alongside her husband Tom, in the business for over 30 years. The play takes place on the opening night of a touring production of Macbeth that Jo and her husband Tom have co-produced. Jo plays Lady Macbeth, and Tom, much to his chagrin, is understudying the role of Macbeth. The reason being, a famous reality TV star has been employed to play Macbeth in the hopes this will bring more punters in to see the show. Jo spends most of Act One trying to prepare to go on stage. and Act Two on stage, but not in the ways she anticipated.
The Cast - Tom Mark Hadlow ONZM
Mark Hadlow, ONZM, has been a professional actor and director for over 40 years. Performances on stage, in film, television, corporate entertainment, and voice overs in the thousands have established him as a robust and credible industry professional.
Mark is particularly devoted to live performance and has worked at nearly all the professional companies in New Zealand, from 2nd spear carrier on the right to supporting characters and finally leads in many, many productions, making him a draw card on any stage.
MAMIL(MiddleAgedManinLycra) written by good friend Gregory Cooper has been playing to New Zealand audiences for 8 years and accumulated a following of over 65,000 people and still counting. Return seasons in most main centres have been as packed as the first time.
His film career has seen him performing in many Peter Jackson movies such as The Hobbit, King Kong, Mortal Engines, and Meet the Feebles, a cult spectacular. A film made in Motueka by Stef Harris partnered Mark up with long-time friend and colleague, Jed Brophy, to play the co-leads in Blue Moon, which has won multiple best film awards around the world at film festivals.
In 2020, Blue Moon was invited to play at the Cannes Film Festival and Mark won Best Actor in the IPFF in Italy in 2022. DieLikeaShark, a film produced by mate Shane Rangi saw Mark pick up best supporting actor for his role as a South African kick boxing coach.
Covid having decimated the entertainment industry, especially live theatre, has been the driver for Mark in establishing the Professional Theatre Company in Whakatū, Nelson, to reengage with the community on how important live theatre performance is for the future of local professional talent and our next generations of up-and-coming talent.
The Cast - Jo Lara Macgregor
Lara works as an actor, director, and performance coach around New Zealand.
She studied acting in New York City with Uta Hagen, Anthony Abeson and Tony Greco and subsequently worked for ten years as an actor in the U.S.
She holds a Post-Graduate Diploma in Directing from The National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney and has directed over 40 productions in the last decade.
In 2009, Lara was appointed Associate Artistic Director at The Court Theatre, and in 2010 became Artistic Director at Fortune Theatre in Dunedin. Her directing and acting highlights at The Court Theatre include Misery,WhentheRainStopsFalling,ThingsIKnowtoBeTrue,TheCuriousIncidentoftheDogintheNightTime and the musical RENT.
She currently free-lances across all disciplines with multiple companies including South Pacific Pictures, Auckland Theatre Company, The Court Theatre, Circa Theatre, Centrepoint Theatre, The Actors’ Program, the Pan Asian Theatre Collective, and the University of Otago Theatre Studies.
Recent Film and TV acting credits include Deborah in BadBehaviour, (Dir: Alice Englert), Mrs Roidern in One ofUsisLying, Sgt Gillian Carmichael in Clickbait on Netflix, and currently Moira Pierce on Shortland Street.
Lara is Chairperson for He Waka Eke Noa Charitable Arts Trust, and has played an integral part in supporting the development of The Factory Theatre and Kete Aronui venues in Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland.
Lara is represented by the wonderful team at Gail Cowan Management.
Lara is dressed by
Talking with the Actors
We spoke with Mark as he explains his approach to this character and his wider views on the production.
How have you approached this character?
I’ve approached Tom really by correlating bits of my own career path with his. Aspirations, highs and lows and his experience as a professional actor over 45 years. This has endowed Tom with the vulnerability and insecurities one might expect in this industry. This influences Tom’s Professional and private life, impacts on Tom’s emotional and physical development and more importantly, his psyche.
The relationship between the two main characters is the key aspect of the play. How did you go about developing and communicating that relationship?
The relationship that Tom and Jo have is fundamental to the story. Without a history, there would be very little to create the play and the foibles and the conflicts and the passions of their respective characters. Lara and myself have a very similar professional relationship as friends and working colleagues. Over 15 years we have played husband and wife in 5 different productions and films. With this parallel combination it has been invaluable building the trust and the confidence to be completely open and trusting of each other as actors, and convey that with the characters of Tom and Jo.
What has been challenging about this production?
The challenge now is to get The Court Theatre’s production which has a huge potential audience and create an even bigger opportunity for Mr &Mrs Macbeth of Heathcote Valley Road from the first production we did in Nelson a year ago, to go on to nationwide exposure.
As an actor I always strive to challenge myself, always searching for the truth and the reality of your character so it is believable. Comedy, drama, tragedy or musical, the characters have to be believable. That comes from experience, and to have a chance to do further seasons of the play is such an advantage. Not only for employment, but it exemplifies a good audience experience who will want to come back again because it’s a great story. And it is wholly New Zealand content. Like professional sport, professional acting is only good if it’s teamwork. And good performances in good plays support the Company and provide employment because punters want to buy tickets and see good plays.
What advice would you give a high school student thinking of pursuing acting?
There is the finest of lines now between working as a full-time professional actor and having to do another job to maintain your career development to be an actor. And really any other work in professional theatre. The industry is under threat, I won’t colourise the present circumstances as they exist, but if you know you have a really deep knowledge and desire you want to be a professional actor, then believe it and follow your passion. It will not be easy.
My strongest advice is be prepared to work as hard as you can in as many jobs as you can to get experience and self-worth and commit to your goal 100%.
I cannot advise that a career in this business is not fraught with pain and frustration, but if……. by some measure of your resilience and your courage you make it, then go for it. No regrets.
Talking with the Actors
In this interview with Lara, she unpacks the process she goes through as and actor when approaching a unique character such as Jo Macbeth as well as what it is like to work with long time acting partner Mark Hadlow.
What drew you to this play?
This play was commissioned by The Professional Theatre Company and written by Greg Cooper specifically for Mark and I. So really, I didn’t have a choice. You could say I was literally and figuratively drawn into this play.
How have you approached this character?
Character development is such a different process when you have a play written for you. It’s quite disorientating - because you have far less to do. Two central threads connecting Jo and myself are - I’ve been in the industry over 30 years. I have actually played Mark’s (Tom) wife on five other occasions, most significantly Lady M to his Macbeth (the production which was the inspiration for this play). There was nothing about the character I had to think about in terms of my usual character development, say in the way I had to create the character of Annie Wilkes (Misery) for example. I just had to be me, and bring my technical skills to refining the comedy, the Shakespeare, and the vocal and physical demands of the play.
The
relationship between
the
two
main characters is fundamental to the story.
How did you go about developing and communicating that relationship?
As mentioned above, Mark and I have played husband and wife five times in five different productions. We’ve known each other for over 15 years, so we understand each other really well. As if we’ve really been married! Greg has known and worked with us for that same length of time - in fact he and Mark go back even further - and (dare I say it) his observations on how Mark and I are in a rehearsal space is spot on. As actors, Mark and I have ultimately not had to think at all about communicating the relationship because it just IS. All we’ve had to do is work directly with what’s on the page.
What has been challenging about this production from an actor’s perspective?
Trying not to laugh at Mark in the show! Really, the challenges are hard to pin-point on this play. Working with two dear friends is such a joy because the level of comfort and acceptance is equal to that of family. If I had to identify anything, I’d say it takes some technical aptitude to be able to flip from contemporary language/ character to Shakespearean language/ character seamlessly.
What advice would you give a high school student thinking of pursuing acting?
Make sure the dream to act is a burning one. Identify your ‘uber’ goal and make sure the choices you’re making in your life align with it. Research acting schools and attend open days so you can be sure the school aligns with you before you audition. When preparing for your audition - seek advice and guidance from someone you trust in the industry. You’re not alone. If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again and remember - acting isn’t about fame, it’s about artistry.
Classroom Activity:
Unpacking the characters of Mr & Mrs Macbeth of Heathcote Valley Road
Create an acting profile for each of the characters. Prior to starting read through each of the interviews from Mark and Lara, using the following close reading guidance:
• Highlight comments that point to how the actor made choices about voice, body, movement and space.
• Circle the motivations for how they have brought their characters to life.
• Underline comments that discuss how the actors related to each other on stage.
Now construct your character profile using the following template:
Character description: name, age, their personality
Costume and makeup: colour, material, what this says about their personality, how it impacted posture and movement
Relationships: who they are connected too and why, how they view other people
Motivations: what motivates their character and where do you think these motivations are coming from? Is there evidence from the previous activity that could support this?
Actors use of body, voice, movement and space: think about what makes these actors choices unique
Favourite quote: discuss why
Supporting evidence from the actors interview: what other information would be useful in your report or in your exam answers.
Playing with these characters in their original context
Take the details from your character profiles and a scene that inspired you in the performance. In a group take the characters and take their storyline, placing it back in the Elizabethan Era. Devise or improvise a short scene that has fun with this concept - you could use the language of the time, or keep it contemporary, but it is important to play with the features of the form. You could include some of the following drama conventions or Elizabethan features in your scene:
• Soliloquy
• Asides
• Chorus
• Soundscape
• Frozen image
• Any features you have been exploring if you have been learning about Elizabethan Theatre.
Designing Mr & Mrs Macbeth of Heathcote Valley Road
Set and Lighting
We sat down for a chat with The Professional Theatre Company’s Production Manager Steve Thomas and Writer and Director Greg Cooper to discuss the set and lighting used in the play.
How does the set add to or assist the director and actors in communicating the main themes of the play?
The alloy set frames with LED strip lighting allows the Director to convey a sense of mood throughout the play. At times the actors portray various emotions they experience and the set communicates these emotions to the audience effectively.
What were some of the main challenges with this set design?
One challenge was designing the set to fit differing sized theatre spaces we planned to perform in. Selection of materials was a challenge. We decided to use aluminium for the set frames as alloy is light and easy to set up, dismantle and tour. The set can be broken down into small sections that fit easily into a small furniture trailer.
When designing a set, what are some of the key points the designer must consider?
• Complimenting the Writer’s and Director’s artistic vision
• Supporting the actors and their movements on stage
• Establishing location and mood
• Aiding the audience’s understanding of the story
• Integrating with other design elements i.e. lighting, sound, costumes and any special effects
• Cost is always a consideration!
What advice would you have for a high school student looking to pursue set design in the future?
Get involved with your local drama club, society or school productions. Attend as many theatre shows as you can to experience theatre in its pure form and reach out to professional set designers for advice. You’ll be surprised how keen they are to share their experiences and help you.
There are two states or locations in this play. The dressing room and onstage. How did you differentiate those two spaces?
For the dressing room location, we wanted to keep that relatively naturalistic when it came to lighting. This then allowed us to use the strip lighting framing the set to add to the mood and atmosphere of certain tense or poignant moments. We also used a backlight when Jo Macbeth gives her soliloquy slowly rising from her chair and moving forward as she transitions into Lady Macbeth. This created a beautiful and ominous silhouette adding to the tension of the scene.
In contrast, we purposely underlit the ‘onstage’ scenes when Tom or Jo are performing. We mainly lit those scenes using footlights and side lighting only which created a dim shadowy look that worked well to counterbalance the comedy of the situations the characters find themselves in. Adding fog to these ‘onstage’ moments also helped to create a brooding atmosphere that helped to make the comedy elements even more funny due to the contrasting atmosphere that doesn’t always match the onstage action.
Costume
Greg Cooper shares his thoughts on the costuming for Mr & Mrs Macbeth of Heathcote Valley Road.
The first time we see the two main characters, they are entering the dressing room prior to getting ready for their production of the Scottish Play.
Their clothing at this time was intended to look largely naturalistic and expected for two older characters at their stage of life. Tom’s clothing shows a move towards comfort over fashion. Jo maintains a more fashion conscious wardrobe (kindly supplied by Taylor Botique). Both outfits perhaps give a nod towards the direction their careers have taken with Jo still in the limelight and working hard to maintain her career while Tom is not as sure of himself as his career hasn’t progressed in the manner he assumed it would.
When it came to creating the costumes the characters wear playing Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, Greg and Pauline looked at many different versions of Macbeth that have been created over the years from stage productions through to Hollywood movies.
There was a thought to dress them comically with pantaloons and oversized cod-pieces and while this would have made for easier laughs and comical moments, there was a clear feeling that the characters of Tom and Jo wouldn’t have staged a production of Macbeth like this and any attempt to wedge it in would have jarred with the rest of the play. Eventually they decided on a classic looking red dress for Lady Macbeth and for Macbeth’s amour, inspiration came from the 2015 movie starring Michael Fassbender where leather was used rather than steel amour.
Sound Design
We sat down with Bob Bickerton, the sound designer for Mr & Mrs Macbeth of Heathcote Valley Road. Scan the QR Code to find a recorded interview where Bob speaks about his experiences creating the sound for the show as well as his experience in the wider sound design industry, and gives some valuable insights for young people thinking about pursuing a career in sound design.
Writing Sound Design for Mr & Mrs Macbeth of Heathcote Valley Road
When I was approached by Mark Hadlow to create sound design for Mr & Mrs Macbeth of Heathcote Valley Road (Macbeth), I was a little reluctant. The synopsis basically features two ‘states’. A contemporary setting back stage where the actors are on uncertain ground with their marriage and an ‘on-stage’ setting of Macbeth in medieval Scotland. Added to that, there was a wide range of emotions being explored, anger, humour, tragedy - the full package really. So how do you align a music genre with all of that? Well there’s a reason orchestral music is used so much in movies, plays, documentaries and TV series, it is utterly flexible in terms of the emotional response it draws out of an audience and is generally ‘agnostic’ in terms of its recognised genre. In general, there were two broad areas of sound design required for Macbeth, both designed to support what was happening on stage and all defined by the playwright Gregory Cooper. In this article I’ll focus on the music first and talk a little about the sound effects at the end.
Let me start by saying a few words about my approach to writing for a play such as Macbeth and this is something that is used a lot in film a media writing.
First I try to assess how many ‘emotive hooks’ I need. A good example of this would be a movie like Lord of The Rings. Whilst there’s getting on for two or three hours of music in any one movie, break it down and you just have a handful of tunes! So there’s a tune that’s used when Frodo and Sam are thinking back about the Shire (played on a whistle), another when orcs are marching (big brass parts), etc. The good news about this is repetition! These tunes need to be repeated and used again (perhaps with variation), so that they become associated with a certain emotion and so give the audience a cue as to how they should be feeling. Just imagine if the above examples were reversed; Massive brass sinister music when Sam’s talking about eating apple pies in the shire, or the beautiful heart-wrenching Irish-style lament when orcs are decapitating the good men of Rohan. It simply wouldn’t work. With Macbeth, I ended up using around 3 of these emotive hooks, one of which was used a lot of the time. Let me go through some of the music tracks to explain what I mean.
The House Music - First of all I tried to think about what the audience’s expectations might be of the play when waiting for it to commence. Given the promotion around the play, I thought that they would probably not know quite what to expect. Is it Macbeth or not? Is it just about the actors backstage? To add to this sense of uncertainty, and hopefully to build to a surprise moment at the top of the play, I explored house music that was mysterious, creating a soundscape of uncertainty. Some months before I composed Macbeth I recorded a thunderstorm that came through Nelson. It included thunder and an excellent recording of rain hitting the deck. I used this as a bed for the house music and mixed in some drone type sounds from a Spitfire Sample Library by Icelandic composer Ólafur Arnalds. This string patch has lots of movement in it which melded with the storm very well. Added to that I ‘improvised’ a solo cello part throughout using a motif I developed later in the play as the main suspension ‘hook’. This was enhanced with some ethereal ‘horn’ sounds made on a Moog Subsequent 25 synthesiser. I also used a Moog Mother 32 synthesiser to create wind sound and then, after a minute or two, I introduced a slow and low pitched pulse (again on the Mother 32) which added to and built the tension. In lots of ways, this is my favourite piece from the whole play!
ACT 1 - Overture
The play opens with Mark stubbing his toe in a darkened dressing room vocalising suitable expletives along the way. Now humour often relies on the unexpected to work, so I thought I’d try writing an ‘epic’ overture which would fool the audience into thinking there would be something very grand and serious at the top of the play - only to be met by Mark’s swearing! It seems to work. So for the overture I used Spitfire’s BBC Symphony Orchestra. Starting with a slow motif (variations on which are used later) we quickly transition into a common feature of the play which uses pulsing basses with ostinato violas and strings playing the melody, supported on the repeat by French horns and bass trombone.
With this I was reminded of some of the Eastern European gypsy orchestras that use this short bowed bass rhythm in their music, perhaps a nod to what was/is happening in the Ukraine, but I’ve also added supporting synth bass (M32).
Incidentally, Spitfire have a free version of the BBC Symphony Orchestra which is a great way to start orchestral programming.
ACT 1 - Underscore
There’s a few variations on the ACT 1 underscore and the elements used include strings taking the melody, sometimes bassoon taking the melody (I feel bassoon used like this gives the impression of im pending doom). On occasion we used the bass pulse from the overture and also the viola ostinato and then spread sporadically we have horn-type sounds from the Moogs.
ACT 1 - Betrayal
This short piece is quite different and reflects the fact that Mr Macbeth has completely lost the plot. This is fun and is essentially random improvised orchestral samples, which include percussion, wind (clarinet), synth and some strings - plus effects including tape delays with variable timing. Given it represents a moment of madness, I thought I’d have one myself!
ACT 1 - Finale
This short piece is a more rhythmic version of what’s gone before and includes ACT 2’s percussive transition, leading into what will come after interval. It uses staccato strings and big cinematic horns.
ACT 2 - Overture
Almost the same as ACT 1 Finale (for continuity) except with the addition of an atmospheric ‘storm’ soundscape, giving a nod to the world of Macbeth on stage and the transition.
ACT 2 - Transition
So an important sound cue in ACT 2 is the transition which indicates a change from one state on stage to another. It is simply three notes played on timpani and is repeated unchanged when required to mark a transition. This audio cue along with a lighting state change lets the audience know we’ve moved between stage and backstage or vice versa.
ACT 2 - Underscore
The underscore in ACT 2 has many variations and they are far more atmospheric than those in ACT 1. They are heard when the actors are on stage playing Macbeth, some have storm sound scape (if the scene is outside), others don’t (inside the castle). It is related actually to the House Music, with evolving strings pads using the Ólafur Arnalds library, synth, horn type sounds, occasional harp, even uilleann pipes, sometimes with a reverse delay and a subtle version of the bass pulse from ACT 1 underscore.
ACT 2 - Finale and Dance
Many elements come together in the finale piece. We have a prolonged underscore that carefully builds (starting with harp and bassoon) followed by strings and Moog storm sounds, rolling bass drums and horn sounds from the Moog Subsequent 25. On a seperate track we have drum and battle sound effects, which is cued over the underscore from on-stage dialogue. Finally we go into the dance track - the heart throb track! This developed in different forms, but we settled on a 6/4 timed piece led by cello, which quickly develops with ostinato violas again and building to a wonderful full-string conclusion (which we never get to hear in the play because the actors finish that scene before the end).
End of Show
Well, I wrote three tunes to be played on the Scottish War Pipes for the end of show music, but we didn’t get round to recording them, so I used a set of tunes I had recorded some years earlier played by Alex Davidson - at this point it’s essentially party time, so it doesn’t matter too much what’s played!
The Sound Effects
Classroom Activity:
Close reading activity
Split the class into groups, each will cover an area of design: Set, Lighting, Costume and split Sound into separate parts; Sound Effects and Music.
In those groups read through the designer’s notes, highlighting and circling ideas or commentary that interest you. Once you have read through, transfer your highlighted ideas to a large piece of brainstorm paper and annotate in the following way:
• Make detailed notes about what this looks like on stage - how the technology was used, colours, specific terminology, how actors interacted with that design element
• Sketch what this looked like to support your annotations
• Make notes about how the drama elements were built and/or enhanced through these design choices
• Construct a starter sentence that interweaves the quote from the designers note and directly links this to what was happening on stage.
Repeat this for all your highlighted and circled ideas. Take photos or hand them to your teacher so that the work can be saved for the whole class to draw from when it comes to revision or report construction.
Classroom Activity:
Connecting Director and Design Choices
In pairs choose one design choice that you found compelling or grabbed your eye during the performance. With the design notes in hand, as well as referencing the director’s note, answer the following question. (You can do this practically; sketching, in role, a presentation, a detailed brainstorm or in writing - choose the medium you can express yourself through the best)
What did this design choice make you think about and feel during the performance? What message do you think the director and designer was trying to communicate?
Exploring the source material
“In 1603, at about the middle of Shakespeare’s career as a playwright, a new monarch ascended the throne of England. He was James VI of Scotland, who then also became James I of England. Immediately, Shakespeare’s London was alive with an interest in things Scottish. Many Scots followed their king to London and attended the theaters there. Shakespeare’s company, which became the King’s Men under James’s patronage, now sometimes staged their plays for the new monarch’s entertainment, just as they had for Queen Elizabeth before him. It was probably within this context that Shakespeare turned to Raphael Holinshed’s history of Scotland for material for a tragedy.”
By Barbara Mowat and Paul Werstine
Editors of the Folger Shakespeare Library Editions
The
Curse of The Scottish Play!
The “Curse of the Scottish Play” refers to the superstition that William Shakespeare’s play “Macbeth” is cursed and that speaking its name inside a theatre, outside of actually performing it, can bring misfortune and disaster. This belief is supported by numerous anecdotes of accidents, injuries, and even deaths occurring during productions of “Macbeth.”
Origins of the Curse:
Witchcraft: Some attribute the curse to Shakespeare’s use of real spells and incantations in the witches’ scenes, which apparently angered actual witches, who then cursed the play.
Historical Accidents: The play’s history is dotted with accidents. The first performance reportedly saw the actor playing Lady Macbeth die, and other productions have experienced various mishaps, adding to the curse’s legend.
Dark Themes: The play’s violent and dark content is also thought to contribute to its cursed nature, creating an ominous atmosphere that invites bad luck.
Examples of the Curse:
In 1937 Laurence Olivier was preparing for opening night at the Old Vic when he suddenly lost his voice and a heavy weight fell from the wings of the theatre and nearly killed him. A few days later the theatre manager Lillian Baylis died of a heart attack. This production was particularly fraught: one of the swords used in the fight scene slipped out an actor’s hand during a performance and flew into the audience, injuring a patron.
In 1942, three actors died during a production of “Macbeth” in London starring John Gielgud, one even died on stage!
Peter O’Toole nearly drove off a cliff while rehearsing his 1980 “Macbeth” with his Lady Macbeth being involved in a motorcycle accident. This production was marred by more mis-fortune, from bomb threats to stolen family heirlooms.
How to Lift the Curse:
If someone accidentally says “Macbeth” in a theatre, there are various acts that can be performed to counteract the curse. Some actors will insist that you have to go outside and run around the theatre three times, while others think you can get by with turning around on the spot three times and spitting on the ground. Here are some of the common methods:
• Leave the Theatre - The offender must immediately exit the theatre building.
• Turn Around Three Times - Once outside, they must turn around three times to the right.
• Spit Over the Left Shoulder - This act is meant to ward off evil spirits.
• Utter a Shakespearean Curse - They should then recite a line from another Shakespearean play, often from “Hamlet”: “Angels and ministers of grace defend us!”
• Knock on the Door and Ask to Be Let Back In - They must knock on the theatre door and wait to be invited back inside, symbolizing a cleansing of the bad luck.
Famous quotes and lines from Macbeth used in the play
Lady Macbeth (Act 1, Scene 5)
Original:
“Look like th’ innocent flower, but be the serpent under ‘t.”
Modern Translation: You should look like an innocent flower, but be like the snake that hides underneath the flower.
Macbeth (Act 2, Scene 2)
Original:
“What hands are here? Ha! They pluck out mine eyes. 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.”
Modern Translation:
(looking at his hands) Whose hands are these? Ha! They’re plucking out my eyes. Will all the water in the ocean wash this blood from my hands?
No, instead my hands will stain the seas scarlet, turning the green waters red.
Macbeth (Act 5, Scene 5)
Original:
“To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day To the last syllable of recorded time, And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more: it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.”
Modern Translation: Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow. The days creep slowly along until the end of time. And every day that’s already happened has taken fools that much closer to their deaths. Out, out, brief candle. Life is nothing more than an illusion. It’s like a poor
actor who struts and worries for his hour on the stage and then is never heard from again. Life is a story told by an idiot, full of noise and emotional disturbance but devoid of meaning.
Lady Macbeth (Act 1, Scene 5)
Original:
“Come, you spirits
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full Of direst cruelty. Make thick my blood. Stop up th’ access and passage to remorse, That no compunctious visitings of nature
Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between Th’ effect and it. Come to my woman’s breasts, And take my milk for gall, you murd’ring ministers, Wherever in your sightless substances
You wait on nature’s mischief. Come, thick night, And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell, That my keen knife see not the wound it makes, Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark, To cry “Hold, hold!”
Modern Translation:
Come, you spirits
that asist murderous thoughts, make me less like a woman and more like a man, and fill me from head to toe with deadly cruelty! Thicken my blood and clog up my veins so I won’t feel remorse, so that no human compassion can stop my evil plan or prevent me from accomplishing it! Come to my female breast and turn my mother’s milk into poisonous acid, you murdering demons, wherever you hide, invisible and waiting to do evil! Come, thick night, and cover the world in the darkest smoke of hell, so that my sharp knife can’t see the wound it cuts open, and so heaven can’t peep through the darkness and cry, “No! Stop!”
Classroom Activity:
Playing with the source material:
Divide into pairs and use the source material above. Take turns and bring to life the historical version and then contemporary version.
• One person can direct, as the other acts out the monologue
• Staging the original text - think about the way Shakespeare was originally staged; breaking the fourth wall/talking to the audience, acting on a thrust stage to groundlings and the galleries, large gestures, reference to heaven, earth and hell. Take note of the blank verse and prose, finding the rhythm of the text.
• Staging a contemporary version - think about how you can adjust the direction and acting style to reflect the contemporary nature of the text. Think about body language, whether you break the fourth wall or not, and use of simple set.
• Present both pieces to another pair and discuss your choices with each other.
Themes From The Play
A note from Greg Cooper
I didn’t write it with any specific themes in mind, my main intention was to create a great comedic vehicle for Mark and Lara to be dynamite on stage together with. But often with themes, they just appear subconsciously as you write and it’s not until you’ve finished that you discover them. I don’t think there’s any specific way these themes are communicated. Hopefully they are just organic parts of the story. I don’t like plays where the themes are explicit from the start, or included in the press release, for me the story should come first and then the themes emerge from that.
Ageing/Career expectation is one of them, probably because I’m having to deal with it myself. Being involved in an industry that has dramatically changed in so many ways and constantly having to evolve and re-evaluate your role and what you can contribute. Trying to keep creating work that is relevant and that people will want to spend money to see. This combined with the expectations of where ‘one should be’ in their career by the time they get to a certain age. Being a freelance creative/artist is never easy and you’re constantly questioning yourself and abilities, and it’s often the most successful looking people who are the most insecure and vulnerable about their abilities when they’re not on show.
As I mentioned before, theatre is all about listening. I think Alan Rickman put it best with something like, “All I want to see in an actor is the accuracy of their listening.” So, just wanted to explore that theme I suppose, of how we cannot love another if we stop listening to them. And how easily we can fall into the trap of stopping listening to someone when we’ve been with them for a long time… I suppose it’s similar to when actors ‘phone it in’ when they’ve been doing the same show for a long time. Peter Brook called it deadly theatre I think and it crosses over to create deadly relationships and deadly lives when we forget to exist in the present.
Probably something to do with mortality as well!
Common Themes between Macbeth and Mr & Mrs Macbeth of Heathcote Valley Road
Ambition:
Just as Lady Macbeth demonstrates her ambition at all costs, leading to murderous deeds and eventually her and her husbands downfall, so does Mrs Macbeth demonstrate similar ambitious qualities, working towards the success of the play at all costs, even the replacement of her husband in the lead role. Thankfully, that is where the similarity ends, with ambition giving way to reconciliation and forgiveness rather than death and despair.
Violence:
Often in Shakespeare’s plays we hear about action that has happened, perhaps reported by a messenger or by a letter read out loud. This is especially true of the violence and murder in Macbeth; we see Macbeth and Lady Macbeth with blood on their hands after the murder of King Duncan and Macduff’s reaction when he discovers the body. Similarly, we see Tom Macbeth enter the dressing room with blood on his hands as he proceeds to describe what took place off stage that has led to this alarming development.
Madness:
Macbeth’s guilt about murdering his king, Duncan, and ordering the murder of his friend, Banquo, causes him to have guilty hallucinations. Lady Macbeth also hallucinates and eventually goes insane from guilt over her role in Duncan’s death. In Mr and Mrs Macbeth, Tom Macbeth slides down his own path of “madness” as he becomes more paranoid of his wife’s interactions with his acting replacement Ian (Not helped by a provocative photo sent from Ian to Mrs Macbeth with the tagline ‘Is this a dagger I see before me’…). Tom is eventually overcome by impotent rage which leads to the accidental injury of Ian.
Classroom Activity:
Discussing the themes
Connecting the themes to what is happening on stage
In small groups read through the themes outlined above. On large brainstorm paper make notes under the following headings for each theme:
• A moment on stage when the theme was exemplified. Provide lots of details, including what was physically happening on stage at the time, where the actors were and their use of techniques.
• How the use of technology highlighted the theme.
• Which character was connected to the theme, what did this tell you about their character?
• Sketch and annotate the moment in detail.
Devising with the themes
In small groups; choose one theme that you found compelling. Brainstorm how that theme appeared:
• In the performance you saw
• In the original text of Macbeth
• Socially and politically today
From your brainstorm, create a short devised performance based around the ideas you have discussed. Use the a selection of the following drama conventions, as well as at least two features from Elizabethan Theatre from the list below:
Drama conventions:
• Chorus of movement/voice
• Narration
• Flash Back / Forward
• Flocking
• Slow motion
• Spoken thought
Elizabethan Features:
• Asides
• Soliloquy
• Reference to heaven and hell
• Evesdropping
• Presentational acting (stylised use of body language and gesture)
• Status play
NCEA LEVEL ONE EXTERNAL ASSESSMENT ACTIVITIES
After viewing Mr & Mrs Macbeth of Heathcote Valley Road your teacher will support you to unpack the show with your peers and to construct an individual report which you will submit in October this year. The following questions and activities will support you to unpack the performance with the assessment specifications in mind.
You can find the specifications for both Level One externals via this link: Level One Assessment Specifications
Your report will be based around the following three points:
• Key message
• The use of drama components; techniques, elements, conventions and techniques
• Wairua of performance, which captures your personal response and experience of Mr & Mrs Macbeth of Heathcote Valley Road
You could aim to weave the three points throughout your report.
Unpacking key messages:
When you get back to class, sit in a circle with a small bean bag or ball that you can pass across the room.
• Pass the ball or small bean bag across the circle when you have a key message to contribute.
• Someone should take note of all the ideas put forward.
There might be an obvious overriding message but try to think of all the messages that were communicated throughout the play, so that you can have a deep and robust discussion about the play.
Your focus question is: “What do you think the key messages of Mr & Mrs Macbeth of Heathcote Valley Road were?”
• In groups or pairs choose one idea from the wider brainstorm.
• Write down how the message was communicated to the audience; through acting, directorial or design choices.
• Note down specific moments where the key message was highlighted to the audience (remember that this will be different from person to person, it is ok if your understanding is different from your partner).
• From your discussions do a short presentation back to the class about your key message, how it was highlighted in the show and why you thought it was important.
• Gain feedback and thoughts from your peers.
Individual activity: Choose one of the key messages that haven’t been touched on and complete one of the following activities to explore whether you had a personal reaction to it:
• A voice note or vlog discussing what the key message was, how it was highlighted and how you connected with it.
• A sketch with annotations of a specific moment that highlighted this key message.
• A short essay (200 words) about the key message and why you connected to it.
Exploring moments where drama components were used effectively:
Before you start discussing Mr & Mrs Macbeth of Heathcote Valley Road, make sure you understand what techniques, elements, conventions and technologies are. Break down a glossary of words with your teacher and make sure you know how to use them when you are talking and writing about live performance.
Split into four groups with each group taking one component each.
• Note down important moments in the performance where that component highlighted the key message
• Add brief sketches and annotate details of the moments as you discuss
• Add notes, quotes (from the actor/director/designer or from the play) and your own thoughts
Each group will share their information back to the class and upload all the information to a shared space; such as a google classroom, OneDrive or up on your classroom wall.
Individual activity: Looking at all the unpacking your class has done together around use of components, complete the following activity to support the construction of your report. Extending on the key message you have already used or a new one that means more to you. You can record this work in whatever way suits you best; writing, slides, vlog, voice note or in role (be creative)
• Choose a moment where this key message was highlighted by all or a combination of components
• Explicitly explain the moment and the use of components
• Add details, examples from the performance and quotes
• Use specific drama terminology in every part of your response
• Sketch and annotate if you think that will help you to elaborate your ideas
Wairua of performance:
As part of your reflection on Mr & Mrs Macbeth of Heathcote Valley Road and in the construction of your report you will need to explore your own personal response and the ‘wairua of performance.’ Your teacher will have access to the unpacking of this standard which gives you a more detailed explanation and can explore this with you in class.
“Personal response will be from their perspective, as either an audience member, or performer. They will also understand how the wairua of a performance is channelled through the performers, and how the use of drama components can influence how effectively it is projected onto the audience.” - 1.4 Unpacking
Questions to ask yourself to explore your personal response to the performance:
• What did you feel during the performance?
• What thoughts did you have during the performance?
• What have you been feeling since?
• What have you been thinking about since?
• What do you need to discuss further with your teacher, your family or your peers?
• What conversations have you had?
Group activity: In small groups, brainstorm all the moments that the audience visibly reacted during the performance.
• Why were they reacting to these moments?
• What was the actor doing at the time?
• What decisions did the designer and directors make in these moments?
• Did the audience’s reaction impact your thoughts, feelings or ideas at this moment?
Individual activity: Write or record a reflection based around the following prompt, incorporating responses to the questions above.
What thoughts, feelings or responses did the performance of Mr &Mrs Macbeth of Heathcote Valley Road prompt you to think about? How did the decisions that the director/designers made or the performance of the actor contribute to these thoughts, feelings or responses?
Once you have completed the activities outlined you can start to explore how you might use ideas, thoughts and evidence compiled to build your report. Remember it needs to be your own work and that you can present your ideas in a way that suits you best.
REVISION QUESTIONS FOR NCEA LEVEL TWO AND THREE
If you are a Level Two or Three student these revision questions are curated to support you to be able to answer your exam questions. You need to think carefully about the answers that come up as your work through the questions and how your thoughts, evidence and physical examples could be used in your exam responses.
The assessment specifications for both Level Two and Level Three are linked below:
Level Two: Level Two Assessment Specifications
At Level Two you “should be familiar with the use of drama elements, techniques, conventions, and technologies”. Questions may cover a combination of all four drama components.
Level Three: Level Three Assessment Specifications
At Level Three you will be expected to
• “Make connections between the director / designer’s concept(s) and the performance seen.”
• “Be familiar with the use of drama components such as elements, techniques, conventions, and technologies.”
• Think about wider context
• “the performance as a whole
• the playwright’s purpose
• the nature and/or purpose of theatre as an art form
• the social or historical context. Questions may cover a combination of drama components such as elements, techniques, conventions, and technologies.”
Questions to help you think about the actors creation of character and their use of techniques: (Answer the questions for one or more of the actors in the performance.)
• How did the actor use techniques to create his/her character? Give specific examples from the performance.
• How did the actors use their voice to create a connection with the audience?
• How did the actors use their body language and use of the space to build a
connection with the audience?
• Why was it important that the actor’s use of tone and pitch was empathetic with the subject matter of the performance?
• How did the actors use gesture and posture to communicate the characters age, thoughts and feelings?
• How did the actors use the space to create a sense of time and place in a specific moment in the performance?
• How did the actors use space/proximity and eye contact when breaking the fourth wall with the audience? Why was this important to the story being told?
• How did the actors use pace and body energy to move the story along? Give specific examples from the performance.
Questions to help you think about the use of conventions in performance: “strategies established to make meaning and connect to wider context.”
• Discuss a moment in the performance where a drama convention was used effectively to move the story forward.
• Explain how a convention or a combination of conventions were used in a performance. How did this use of conventions create a sense of mood or atmosphere?
• How did the use of a convention build tension during an important moment in the performance?
• Discuss how the use of a convention helped to create meaning in a moment in the performance?
• Discuss how the use of a convention or combination of conventions in a specific moment helped you think about the big ideas and themes of the play.
• What was the wider context (socially, historically, politically or geographically) that this moment linked to?
Questions to help you think about the directors choices and use of drama elements:
• Choose a moment in the performance where you think the director tried to build tension?
• How did the director build mood and atmosphere?
• Discuss what you think the director’s concept was and what key messages they wanted the audience to focus on.
• Discuss how the director collaborated with the designers to focus the audience on the key messages, ideas and themes of the performance?
• Discuss how the director created a sense of time and place in the choices they made around staging. Give physical examples from the performance.
• Discuss why you think this play is important for audiences to watch? Why this play, at this point in time?
• Discuss how this play heals, entertains, educates or transforms the audience and the directors role in communicating that message.
Questions to help you think about design and use of technologies: reference the design information in this pack to support your answer.
• How did lighting and the choices the designer made create mood and atmosphere?
• Describe the use of sound effects and how they enhanced an important moment in the performance.
• Make notes on the music choice and how it supported the story being told?
• How did sound give a sense of time and place to the performance?
• Discuss the significance of the props used in the performance and how they communicated the themes, ideas, messages and symbols.
• Make notes about the details and the purpose of the set? Why was it important in this particular type of story?
• Sketch, annotate and discuss a character’s costume and why it was important to the story being told.
Further resources:
Sound Design - https://www.bickerton.co.nz/
The Professional Theatre Company - https://www.theptc.co.nz/ Macbeth In 20 Minutes - https://cdn2.rsc.org.uk/sitefinity/education-pdfs/teacherpacks/edu-macbeth-teacherpack-2018.pdf?sfvrsn=2
No Fear Shakespeare - https://hibsenglish.weebly.com/uploads/7/2/3/6/7236232/ macbeth_no_fear_script.pdf
About Shakespeare’s Macbeth - https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/ macbeth/about-shakespeares-macbeth/
The Court Theatre’s Macbeth – https://courttheatre.org.nz/about-the-court/pastseasons/2015-16/macbeth/
Movie version of Macbeth 2015 With Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard. Official trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Q3EnDtbg8w Review: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/film/macbeth/review/ Elizabethan Theatre - https://thedramateacher.com/elizabethan-theatre-conventions/