The Cotswold Arcadians - Current Production

~ Our Current Production ~

Macbeth

July 2011

Recently I asked a group of 10-11 year-olds whether they could quote me any lines from a Shakespeare play. Two came back with "To be or not to be", three with "Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?", and one (rather surprisingly) with "Now is the winter of our discontent". The remaining thirteen went for "Double, double, toil and trouble" – and knew which play it came from.

There are really two points to this anecdote. The first is the fact that Macbeth is so firmly embedded in our culture that it's the first play many children think about when you mention Shakespeare. The second is that, given this fact, it's surprising that it hasn't made an appearance in the Arcadians' repertoire until now.

Macbeth is a play surrounded with superstition (I couldn't help noticing that 13 children had quoted from it!) and given the strong element of the supernatural in the play that probably isn't surprising. I'm sure that many of my young acquaintances think it's a play about witches but, of course, it isn't.

In this, one of the greatest tragedies in the English language, Shakespeare explores the underbelly of power. In the play we see high passion, vaulting ambition, promises made and broken. The stakes are always high and the ground is always shifting. As Macbeth becomes more resolute Lady Macbeth, a driving force at the beginning of the story, declines into insanity. Macbeth starts as a man with a conscience and that is part of the reason why we are able to engage with him. As events move on he is trapped by them, driving them on and yet consumed by them, unable to escape as they hurtle to their inevitable conclusion.

However this play is not just about power, ambition and evil. Shakespeare's understanding and presentation of the whole human-being gives the play its appeal and its completeness. We can also see and identify with fear, remorse, doubt, tenderness, humour and, above all, humanity.