One of the decisions I will have to make this summer is deciding between Macbeth and Richard III.
I loved teaching the latter this past year, but it's one of Shakespeare's early plays. It's a bit overlong and I think Macbeth might be a tighter teach. However, my joy in teaching Richard III has a lot to do with the Al Pacino film Looking for Richard, which is a pretty amazing documentation of a bunch of famous actors putting on the play, as well as an examination of contemporary attitudes towards Shakespeare.
If I were to switch to Macbeth, I wouldn't have that resource, but I would have another one -- the Folger edition of Macbeth, which just came out last year. It's a filmed version of the play that Teller (of Penn & Teller) put on at the Folger in 2008, and the extras have a lot of what Looking for Richard offers.
So, I'm considering the switch. I need to re-read Macbeth to make sure it's something I want to do. I really don't want to re-invent the wheel next year.
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6 comments:
Looking for Richard gave me a better understanding of the play before I taught it. I wish there were more like it.
If you want to show how MacBeth might happen in contemporary times, check out BBC's Shakespeare Retold. The action takes place in a restaurant owned by celebrity chef Duncan, and MacBeth is his head chef. You can stream it on Netflix: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Shakespeare_Retold/70070427?trkid=147042
Re: Macbeth--there's also a wonderful filmed BBC version with a young Ian McKellan and Judi Dench as the Lord and Lady, and a Roman Polanski film where Lady Macbeth is young and beautiful and does the sleepwalking scene naked--they make for an effective pair for comparison's sake. The Shakespeare Set Free volume that includes Macbeth is wonderful also, in case you end up going that way.
I've taught Macbeth the past 2 years and my students really enjoy it. They can identify w/ the themes of revenge and ambition and they love discussing how Lady Macbeth is a wackjob. Shakespeare Set Free is good and the Folger Shakespeare film version is great too. We were lucky enough to have a traveling Shakespeare company perform a condensed, stripped down version of Macbeth at our school this year. It was awesome.
Yeah. Macbeth is great. There's a nice Japanese adaptation called Throne of Blood that you might want to check out.
Four themes my students and I work with:
1) Power corrupts
2) Blind ambition leads to one's downfall
3) Things aren't always as they seem
4) Superstition affects human behavior
macbeth nearly destroyed any love I had for Shakespeare. It was my first Shakespeare play, and because of it, I didn't tackle any more Shakespeare until college. Macbeth is SUCH a crybaby and a whiner. Richard III is an unrepentant badass. Stick with him.
That's funny because Macbeth was my first Shakespeare (in Mr. Hughes' class, 10th grade) and I loved it. The witches, Lady Macbeth, etc. Cool.
But I think I'm going to stick with RIII regardless. That's an awesome play too.
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