PLAY ON - PROJECT MACBETH

OCTOBER 2020 - october 2021

PROJECT MACBETH

We worked with four Southwark Schools, their teachers and students to raise engagement, attainment and understanding of Shakespeare in the classroom. We delivered teacher continual professional development with Cheek by Jowl's Learning department, digital resources and a full scale theatre production of Macbeth with fantastic results.

THE REHEARSAL PROCESS AND SCRIPT

A pandemic production: between October 2020 and June 2021 seventeen aspiring actors aged 12 to 25 rehearsed Shakespeare’s Macbeth on zoom and in the rehearsal room. The company worked with novelist and playwright Sarah May on a new version of Shakespeare’s tragedy, bringing into focus the acutely relevant themes of misuse of power and the legacy of tyranny. Alongside the original text, we developed key improvised scenes in response to these themes. Enabling Play On’s young company to ground the production in their own worldof today.

THE PRODUCTION

Play On’s Macbeth was one of the first live performances at Theatre Peckham when the venue was finally able to re-open in June 2021 following lockdown. What an electric moment for our young company, performing to sold out schools and public audiences. Transformative and unforgettable.

We were fortunate to work with a stunning creative team on Project Macbeth. Natalie Johnson designed set and costume. Lighting was by Jonathan Samuels and Helen Skiera created the production’s sound in collaboration with the company.

A huge thank you to Theatre Peckham for all their amazing support. For enabling this adventure in live performance and helping us to shine Shakespeare’s light in dark times.

SOME WORDS from the audience

I really enjoyed the play, really enjoyed it all Schools Audience Member

Our pupils really enjoyed the play; setting it in a modern setting was intriguing for them and helped them to understand the characters a little more easily.  The play focused on the most important scenes, editing out parts that were not pertinent to the pupils' understanding of the characters or themes. The witches were incredible: scary, hysterical, entertaining. Teacher of English and Assistant Principal Community Compass School.

I have been taking to students from this school to the theatre over the last eight years and I have never seen them so engaged in the play and the performances. Teacher of English, Elm Green School

We live locally and had never been to a theatre Peckham performance before... we saw it advertised  and thought it would be nice to go to the theatre after lockdown. We found the whole experience very enjoyable and were on a total high afterwards. Audience member  

TEACHER CONTINUAL PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND LEARNING

We delivered three full day CDPL sessions working with a blend of 15 teachers and PGCE students to share our 5 step approach over the year with Cheek by Jowl’s Associate Director Marcus Roche. Teacher’s from Compass School Southwark, Elm Green, City Heights Academy and St Thomas Apostle worked along PGSE students from University of Roehampton School of Education to develop classroom tools for approaching the play. Compass School demonstrated that in one class of 30 students each one made an average 10-15% increase on their year 10 mock grade having worked with the new approach.

SOME WORDS FROM THE TEACHERS

The use of strategies for how to explore text will actually come in very helpful when it comes to revising how to teach a scheme of work, thank you

It gave me the confidence to be honest about the complexity of the language. Excellent resources and activities!

It really stripped back Shakespeare for me and I felt fully engaged with these methods/exercises and I am excited to try them out

AND FINALLY FROM CHEEK BY JOWL

Project Macbeth culminated in a production at Theatre Peckham, which was performed beautifully by the young cast of 17 actors to exceptional production standards. To see the joy in their performances and sense the eager audience reactions is to understand the importance of projects such as this, not just in engaging the whole community but also in breaking down barriers to access Shakespeare and the classics.

Cheek by Jowl is delighted to have led the CPDL workshops as part of Project Macbeth, in collaboration with Play On Shakespeare, Theatre Peckham and Southwark Schools Learning Partnership.

Our Associate, Marcus Roche, brought the Cheek by Jowl methodology to a group of teachers and aspiring young performers, who then worked with Project leader and teacher, Ben May, to incorporate those tools and practices into the teaching of Shakespeare’s texts in the classroom.

For Cheek by Jowl, a key part of our mission is making classic texts more accessible, which aligns perfectly with the ideals of Play On Shakespeare. Niamh O'Flaherty - Executive Director - Cheek by Jowl