9th graders use theater to bring context, meaning to "Macbeth"

Holding sceptors, shaking rain sticks, and capped with crowns and black hats, ninth-grade students breathed life into the 400-year-old verse from William Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” as part of their literary studies.

Instructed by 9th-grade English teachers to consider intonation and blocking, students were asked to memorize individual scenes throughout the play and then theatrically present them with a small group of classmates.

From the introduction of the three witches in Act I, Scene 1 to Macbeth’s ghoulish feast in Act III, Scene 4, students used an assortment of props, some homemade, along with inflection and cadence, to lift the text into more magical storytelling. Following each scene, the students then reflected on which lines impacted them the most and why.

“I liked how Shakespeare uses thunder before something evil or supernatural appears,” commented one student. Another student pondered the confusion that just one word could create in the line, “What, good lord?” Yet another student remarked upon the line, “seek to know no more” – “You should want to know until there is nothing left to know,” explained a third student.

In order to prepare for this exercise, students read together and used a Harkness-style discussion to ensure they could demonstrate an independent understanding of the text. “This work will lead directly toward an essay on either guilt, fate vs. free will, or gender roles,” shared English department chair and 9th Grade teacher Brad Wetherell, who added that the selected scenes highlighted one of those key themes.

For the students, having the opportunity to engage with the text theatrically led to greater understanding and deeper meaning. “We had to interpret the character ourselves by creating the emotions and feelings,” said 9th grader Maggie Ma. “I felt like the addition of props helped us explain more, offer context and provide more detail,” commented classmate Deleena Rak. “I feel like I learn better when I am acting it out; I’m seeing different things and it helps me to envision what was really going on,” added Maggie.