Lesson video

Hello, my name is Mrs McGowan, and I'm a Drama teacher.

I'm going to be doing some drama with you all about a play written by William Shakespeare.

Now, William Shakespeare is a world famous playwright, we are going to be looking at one of his most famous works.

And it just happens to be my favourites as well.

The play we're going to be looking at is, "Macbeth." Now did you know, it's actually unlucky to say the word Macbeth in the theatre, so many actors will refer to it as the Scottish play.

Over the next four lessons, we're going to be using lots of exciting drama activities to really explore the story of Macbeth.

So, let's start with lesson one, where we're going to be introduced to the witches.

Are we all ready? Good, then let's begin.

In this lesson, you're going to need some space to work, making sure the area is nice and safe around you, so nothing's in your way.

So let's have a look at what we'll be doing today.

We'll start our lesson with a multi-sensory imagining exercise.

We'll then move on to a movement activity.

After this, we'll look at creating the character of a witch.

We'll then move on to a talking object exercise and we'll end today's session with a performance.

Let's look at the key words from today's lesson.

A tragedy is a play about serious events that usually ends up with the suffering or death of the main character.

Multi-sensory imagining can help us imagine the setting using our senses.

And talking objects is an exercise when we are enrolled as an object that can speak.

Now, why is Macbeth such a fantastic story? Well, let's find out a bit about it.

Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare.

Set in Scotland, Macbeth begins as a brave and loyal general to King Duncan.

After a battle, Macbeth meets three witches who tell him he'll become king.

Macbeth character starts to change and he becomes overcome by ambition and greed.

Encouraged by his wife, Macbeth kills King Duncan and takes the throne.

This greed and power eventually leads to his downfall and he is overthrown and killed.

Now it's time for our first question.

Macbeth, is a tragedy play, true or false? That's right, it's true.

Because the play ends up with a suffering or death of the main character.

And in this case, it's Macbeth.

Can you also answer this? Which country is Macbeth setting? Is it England? Is it Wales? Is it Scotland? Or is it Ireland? That is correct.

The answer is of course, Scotland.

It's now time for multi-sensory imagining activity.

We're going to use this activity to imagine the first scene in Macbeth.

The first scene in Macbeth takes place on a Scottish Moore.

It's thundering and it's lightning, and three witches appear.

There is so much in now that scene it's a really spooky scene to start a play.

We've got thunder, we've got lightning, we're the middle of a Scottish Moore, and three witches are going to appear.

Let's think about how the scene might look.

Let's think about any sounds you might hear.

How does it feel? How does it taste? How does it smell? In this activity, we are going to speak aloud what we can see, what we can feel, what we can hear, what we can smell and what we can taste.

I'm going to demonstrate for you now, and then it'll be your turn.

I am standing on a Scottish Moore all around me I can see mountains.

In the distance, I can see a withered old tree.

It is swaying in the wind, I can hear the sounds of the leaves, I can hear thundering and lightning all around me.

I can smell the air, I can smell smoke, I feel cold.

Now, it's your turn.

When you're ready, stand up, and get ready to close your eyes and take yourself to that Scottish Moore.

Pause the video while you complete this activity.

Fantastic, well done.

Did you enjoy that? I bet you had loads of fantastic ideas.

Now it's time to move on to the movement activity.

We are going to look at physically creating the character of one of the witches.

Now in the play, we know that they appear.

So we're going to imagine they've appeared by rising up from the ground.

To do this, we're going to imagine there's a piece of string pulling us up from a body part of your choice.

Now, we could pick the shoulder or the elbow, or the chin or the forehead, or wherever you want to give us a bit of atmosphere.

I've created a music piece which I'm going to play in the background.

And what I want you to do is to try and think of any sounds that you could bring into this as well, for example, hisses or whispers, or anything you think is appropriate in creating this character of a witch.

Now, I'm going to demonstrate this activity for you now, and then it will be your turn.

Now it's your turn.

Remember to choose your body part to be led by and change that as you rise up.

Create your own sounds and experiment with different ways of moving.

Set, get yourself ready and when you hear the music you can begin.

Well done, did that way of moving help you feel like a witch? Good, now let's move on.

Now it's time to do our creating the character of a witch activity.

So, listen and have a read along.

When shall we three meet again in thunder, lightning, or in rain? When the Hurlyburly's done, when the battle's lost and won.

There to meet Macbeth.

How should we perform these lines? Well, there's a number of things we can think about that can change the way we speak to best suit the character of the witch.

I've listed here some things to think about when we're choosing which way to say the lines of the witches.

So let's start with pace.

Now this is how quickly or how slowly we say the lines.

Next is pitch.

Are we going to speak really low? Or are we going to speak high? Changing the pitch can a add different emotion into the way we're saying things? Pauses, are we going to make way for any dramatic pauses? Volume, are we going to speak quietly or loudly or change as we go along.

Let's think about tone.

Now tone is showing what the character is feeling.

For example, they may be feeling very sad.

And how can we show this in what we say? And finally, its emphasis.

Are there any really important words that you think it's important to stress or highlight? With all this in mind, it's now time to have a go yourself at saying the lines.

Think about all the things we've just talked about.

Pause the video.

And when you finish, come back and join us.

Fantastic, well done.

How did you find that activity? Did you remember to think about all the things we spoke about? Let's cast our mind back now to our first exercise in the lesson, the multi-sensory imagining exercise.

We were thinking about that first scene in Macbeth, and imagining that we were there.

We were thinking about all the things that we saw.

For this activity, we're going to take something that we saw in that scene, and imagine that it can talk.

Now if I was thinking about what I saw, I might think of the withered old tree.

Now, what if that withered old tree could talk? Let's think about what it may have heard, what it may have seen, what it may think will happen next in the story, and what advice it could give us.

It's time to think about what you saw now in that beginning exercise when you were on that Scottish Moore.

And I want you to choose something that can be your talking object or thing.

Now first, we've got to think about how we're going to make that with our bodies.

How are we going to physicalize it? Now if I was the withered old tree, maybe I would lift my arms like this to show the branches.

Then you're going to speak as your object.

Now, if you're having a bit of difficulty thinking of something, by all means, use my withered old tree.

In a minutes, I'm going to ask you to pause the video and complete this activity as your talking object.

Here is a list of guide you have things to remember to say.

Think about what they've heard.

Think about what they've seen.

Think about what they think may happen, or if they can give us any advice.

Okay, so when you're ready, pause the video and resume once you finished.

Fantastic, well done.

Did you enjoy being your talking objects? So it's time now to move on to the last activity of the lesson, the performance.

It's time to put it all together from the beginning exercise to the movement activity to the delivery of the lines.

I want you to perform as the character of the witch, thinking about everything we've done in the lesson today.

So pause the video and join us when you've finished.

How did you get on? Did you enjoy that? Oh, I bet your witch character was fantastic.

It's now sadly the end of the lesson.

But, join me in lesson two.

Where we will meet Macbeth, as he and Banquo meet the witches.

I wonder what they'll think of them.

I would love it if you would share your work on Twitter.

But make sure you get a parent or guardian to help you.

I'll see you next time.