FOR THE SPRING OF 2018 MANCHESTER ACTORS COMPANY PRESENT SHAKESPEARE FOR KEYSTAGE 2

Transcription

1 FOR THE SPRING OF 2018 MANCHESTER ACTORS COMPANY PRESENT SHAKESPEARE FOR KEYSTAGE 2 We are touring with our latest production of William Shakespeare s dazzling action-andadventure tragedy MACBETH devised specifically for Keystage 2 pupils in Primary Schools, and which has universal themes that can be understood in any culture and time: a bloodthirsty tale of ambition, and the evils we will go to in order to get what we want. We follow the central character, Macbeth, as he plots and kills in order to become king; and as soon as he is crowned, we watch as his world falls apart around him. This is an abridged version of the entire play, concentrating on all the key scenes, characters and confrontations, and flows seamlessly. We have created a clear, condensed, working guide to Shakespeare's tragedy, particularly aimed at Year 3, Year 4, Year 5 and Year 6 Primary schools pupils. We are also touring this Spring with William Shakespeare s enduring classic tragic romance ROMEO AND JULIET, which contains some of Shakespeare's most beautiful and lyrical love poetry, and some of his best-loved characters. This presentation is devised specifically for KEYSTAGE 2 pupils, and we concentrate on the two main characters as Romeo and Juliet's romance is played out against a background of gang-warfare and street-fighting, as the bitter long feud between the Montague and Capulet families disrupts the city of Verona and causes tragic results for the young lovers. Revenge, love, and a secret marriage force the young starcrossed lovers to grow up quickly, and fate causes them to commit suicide in despair. This production is a clear, condensed, working guide to Shakespeare's tragedy, particularly aimed at Year 3, Year 4, Year 5 and Year 6 Primary schools pupils.

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3 MACBETH - ABOUT THE SHOW: From late-january through to early-may we are touring with our latest production of Shakespeare s dazzling action-and-adventure tragedy MACBETH, which has universal themes that can be understood in any culture and time: a tale of ambition, and the evils we will go to in order to get what we want. We follow the central character, Macbeth, as he plots and kills in order to become king; and as soon as he is crowned, we watch as his world falls apart around him. MACBETH is Shakespeare s shortest tragedy, and tells the story of an heroic Scottish general who receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders King Duncan and takes the throne for himself. His reign is racked with guilt and paranoia, and he soon becomes a tyrannical ruler as he is forced to commit more and more murders to protect himself from enmity and suspicion. Their actions swiftly takes Macbeth and Lady Macbeth into realms of arrogance, madness, and death. The play dramatises the corroding psychological and political effects produced when its protagonist chooses evil as the way to fulfil his ambition for power. He commits regicide to become king and then furthers his moral descent with a reign of murderous terror to stay in power, eventually plunging the country into civil war. In the end he loses everything that gives meaning and purpose to his life before losing his life itself. For this production we have created a clear, condensed, working guide to Shakespeare's tragedy particularly aimed at Year 3, Year 4, Year 5 and Year 6 Primary schools pupils. This is an abridged version of the entire play, concentrating on all the key scenes, characters and confrontations, and flows seamlessly. This detailed dramatic overview of the play will create a strong, lasting impact with pupils; and brings vividly to life the plot, the characters, and the themes of the corrupting power of unchecked ambition, use of the supernatural and superstition, and the guilt that sits like a permanent stain on the consciences of both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, one that hounds them to their graves. The whole 60 minute performance is very tight and compelling: accurately capturing the tense tragedy of Shakespeare s text. Performed by our talented ensemble of professional actors, this production will have a strong and lasting impact on the audience, and will bring the text to life. PLUS: after each performance we have a 30-minute, face-to-face interactive discussion with our young audience, guided by actors in the company, where we can talk directly to the main characters in the play by hot-seating MACBETH and LADY MACBETH and examine these characters' contrasting personalities, thoughts and motives, and help to explain/ expand/ explore the text by actively involving the young audience through a carefully structured range of drama and language activities as we unravel the plot, characters, themes, language and style of MACBETH. PLUS: Each performance of this classic tragedy comes complete with a FREE TEACHER S PACK to help maximise the impact of our visit with story and performance notes useful for both teachers and students. The pack contains lots of information, background notes, and suggested follow-on reading, writing, drama and art activities for use by both teachers and pupils long after our visit has ended. Each performance lasts 60 minutes, followed by the interactive discussion which lasts 30 minutes. All told a total of 1½ hours of compelling Shakespeare for Primary Schools.

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5 ROMEO AND JULIET - ABOUT THE SHOW: From Monday 26 th February through to Friday 4 th May, we are returning with our latest production of William Shakespeare s enduring classic tragic romance ROMEO AND JULIET, which contains some of Shakespeare's most beautiful and lyrical love poetry, and some of his best-loved characters. The romance is played out against a background of gang-warfare and street-fighting as the bitter long feud between the Montague and Capulet families disrupts the city of Verona and causes tragic results for the young lovers, Romeo and Juliet. Revenge, love, and a secret marriage force the young star-crossed lovers to grow up quickly, and fate causes them to commit suicide in despair. ROMEO AND JULIET is probably Shakespeare s most famous play, set against a violent background of hate and rivalry that is still recognisable in modern life. Set against a long history of family feuding between the Montagues and the Capulets, Romeo Montague falls hopelessly in love with Juliet Capulet, and from the very beginning fate has decided that the two of them are doomed... The couple have a feeling that things will go badly for them: Romeo thinks something is 'hanging in the stars', while Juliet says a 'faint cold fear thrills through my veins'. They believe their love can conquer their families hate, but it is proven to be too fragile, and because of their ill-fated star-crossed love a series of events, both comic and tragic, unfolds in a very short space of time as true love turns to tragedy. The play explores love either as spiritual friendships, or the romantic love between the main characters, but entwined within the love is death, conflict, loyalty, and fate... for fate has badly treated the lovers and their brief affair. For this production we have created a clear, condensed, working guide to Shakespeare's famous play aimed at Year 3, Year 4, Year 5 and Year 6 Primary schools pupils. This is an abridged version of the entire play, concentrating on all the key scenes, characters and confrontations, and flows seamlessly. This detailed dramatic overview of the text will create a strong, lasting impact with pupils; and brings vividly to life the plot, the characters, and the themes of love, fate and death. The whole 60 minute production is very tight and compelling, and packs quite an emotional punch: accurately capturing the tense drama of the play that explores the effect that fate plays in all our lives. Performed by our talented ensemble of professional actors, this production will have a strong and lasting impact on the audience, and will bring the text to life. PLUS: after each performance we have a 30-minute, face-to-face interactive discussion with our young audience, guided by actors in the company, where we can talk directly to the main characters in the play by hot-seating ROMEO and JULIET and examine these characters' contrasting personalities, thoughts and motives, and help to explain/expand/explore the text by actively involving the young audience through a carefully structured range of drama and language activities as we unravel the plot, characters, themes, language and style of ROMEO AND JULIET. This workshop can be tailored to meet your needs, so if there is any part of the play, or specific characters, that you would like the workshop session to concentrate on, then let the actors know before the session begins and we will do our best to meet your needs PLUS: each performance of this classic romantic tragedy comes complete with a TEACHER S PACK to help maximise the impact of our visit with story and performance notes useful for both teachers and students. The pack contains lots of information, background notes, and suggested follow-on reading, writing, drama and art activities for use by both teachers and pupils long after our visit has ended. Each performance lasts 60 minutes, followed by the interactive discussion which lasts 30 minutes. All told a total of 90 minutes of compelling Shakespeare for Primary Schools.

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

7 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS: Who is this show suitable for? Both MACBETH and ROMEO AND JULIET are devised specifically for Year 3, Year 4, Year 5 and Year 6 Primary schools pupils as a compelling introduction to Shakespeare. What space and equipment do you need the school to provide? We will use the School Hall, and make use of all the available space. We DO NOT need the school to provide any equipment, and we will bring everything with us. There is no set or equipment to erect. We need a school hall with a flat, empty floor space. The performance will be front-on. Set up time is approximately 25 minutes, and we would need the space to ourselves during this time. How does these performances help our audiences? As a theatre company, we believe that live entertainment is far more effective in the educational arena than DVDs, film or television, where involvement is passive, and so often quickly forgotten. A live performance has a much greater impact on learning, and stays in children s minds long after we have left the school. Both MACBETH and ROMEO AND JULIET are classic Shakespeare plays that were written to be seen performed and not read from a book, and our live performance concisely lifts the stories and the characters off the pages and brings the texts to life and makes it easier for young audiences to understand the plot, characters, themes, language and style of each of these great plays. After each performance we have a 30- minute, face-to-face interactive discussion, guided by actors in the company, we can discuss the contrasting personalities, thoughts and motives of the main characters, and help to explain/ expand/explore the text farther by actively involving the young audience through a carefully structured range of drama and language activities as we unravel the plot, characters, themes, language and style of these famous tragedies. This workshop can be tailored to meet your needs, so if there is any part of the play, or specific characters, that you would like the workshop session to concentrate on then let the actors know before the session begins and we will do our best to meet your needs. What can we expect from the performance? Our performance is a concise, abridged version of the entire story, performed by our group of talented actors. Concentrating on key scenes, characters and confrontations, the story flows seamlessly, and our detailed dramatic overview of this compelling story is constructed to create a strong, lasting impact with pupils: and brings the plot, the characters, and the themes of either play vividly to life. The whole 60 minute production is tight and tense: accurately capturing the tension and drama of Shakespeare s original plays. We are well known for our energetic, vigorous, physical theatre performances where close attention is paid to the language, bringing the performance alive as a dynamic, well-spoken display of theatre, and these productions will have a strong and lasting impact on anyone watching either these famous plays, and will vividly bring the text to life. Our TEACHERS PACK helps to maximise the impact of our visit with story and performance notes useful for both teachers and students. The pack contains lots of information, background notes, and suggested reading, writing, drama and art activities for both teachers and students to use after our visit has ended. How do we make a booking? Full details of how you can contact us to make a booking is contained on the next page.

8 HOW DO I MAKE A BOOKING? IF YOU WISH TO MAKE A BOOKING, OR GET MORE INFORMATION ABOUT MACBETH FOR KEYSTAGE 2 Or ROMEO & JULIET FOR KEYSTAGE 2 then either: TELEPHONE US on and speak to BRIAN or FAX US on or US at: brian@manactco.org.uk And we will talk you through the detail of the presentation, answer any questions you may have, and arrange all the details with you.

9 NOTES ABOUT MANCHESTER ACTORS COMPANY We have over 38 YEARS experience of bringing professional theatre to the north west and neighbouring counties... Providing an exciting, relevant, non-condescending and unpretentious theatre service in a full range of mostly non-theatre venues. We are well known for our energetic, vigorous, physical theatre performances where close attention is paid to the language, bringing the plays alive as a dynamic, well-spoken display of physical theatre, performed by some of the UK. s hottest young stage talent. Almost 100,000 school children watch our productions annually... FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES we have presented a series of theatre projects aimed at keystage 3 and keystage 4 students, which in recent years have included: MACBETH; ROMEO AND JULIET; THE TEMPEST; MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING; OF MICE AND MEN; AN INSPECTOR CALLS, A CHRISTMAS CAROL, FIGHTING FOR WORDS; DR.JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE. FOR PRIMARY SCHOOLS we have presented a series of both well-established favourites and new writing projects - aimed directly as a springboard for keystage 1 and keystage 2 classwork - all of which are always very well received by schools and their young audiences. In recent years, the established favourites have included: ALICE IN WONDERLAND; PINOCCHIO; ROBIN HOOD; ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS; THE FIREBIRD; THE SELFISH GIANT; BIG BAD WOLF; THE SWORD IN THE STONE; PUSS IN BOOTS; MOTHER GOOSE; TALES OF MOUNT OLYMPUS; TALES FROM ARABIAN NIGHTS; ALICE S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND; THE LEGEND OF KING ARTHUR; A CHRISTMAS CAROL; DICK WHITTINGTON; SLEEPING BEAUTY; BABES IN THE WOOD; ALADDIN; THE PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN... Whilst brand-new original projects have included: THE ENCHANTED TOYSHOP; DAREDEVIL DEXTER; POETRY IN MOTION; FANTASTIC FABLES; HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN; WATCH OUT MR. PUNCH; DANNY OCEAN UNDERWATER EXPLORER; MERLINS MAGIC STORYBOOK; BLOOMING POETRY; THE PIRATE QUEEN... In the past 5 years we have toured Primary School annually with special versions of Shakespeare s ROMEO AND JULIET and MACBETH devised specifically for Keystage 2. All of our primary school projects are hugely successful and each a total sell-out. HERE WE PRESENT OUR LATEST SHAKESPEARE PROJECTS FOR PRIMARY SCHOOLS. DURING THE SPRING TERM OF 2018 WE ARE TOURING WITH MACBETH FOR KEYSTAGE 2, AND ALSO ROMEO & JULIET FOR KEYSTAGE 2 WHICH ARE SPECIFICALLY DEVISED TO INTRODUCE SHAKESPEARE TO PRIMARY SCHOOL CHILDREN AT YEAR 3, 4, 5, and 6, TO LEAVE THE CHILDREN WITH AN ENDURING IMPRESSION OF THE MAGIC THAT SHAKESPEARE PROVIDES, BRINGING EACH OF THESE FAMOUS STORIES ALIVE THROUGH ACTIVE DRAMA, EXPLORING THE CHARACTERS AND PLOT, AND SHOWING HOW TO ENJOY THE LANGUAGE.