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/ Theater > MACBETH and the Themes of Ambition, Power and Corruption |
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Grade Level: 7-10 National Arts Education Standards: Arizona Theatre Standards: Strand 2—Relate. Concept 2—Acting. PO 203—Analyze the historical, cultural effects on the characters and story of a dramatic concept, class improvisation, and theatre or other media production. Strand 2—Relate. Concept 4—Playwriting. PO 204—Discuss a class improvisation or performance’s storylines, characters, dialogue, and actions and how they relate to real life situations. Materials: Preparation: *Have the students give examples of people from real life, or characters from television, film, or books who gained power by cruel or corrupt acts. *Using the letter, dagger, and sleepwalking scenes, explain how MACBETH is a series of choices and temptation manipulated by peer pressure and ending in madness and death. Procedure: *Give the students time to rehearse a presentation in which part of the group reads the scene aloud while the others pantomime and move to the action of the scene. *Discuss with the students similar scenes in a modern context, e.g. receiving exciting but frightening news through a letter, being pressured to do something wrong, observing and reporting on another's actions. *Have the students in the same groups prepare an improvisation based on a modern situation parallel to their pantomimed scene. *Guide them as they choose characters, setting, action. *Share the scenes. *Discuss the similarities of character and situation as well as how and why the characters and situations differ for the different time periods. *Video tape the read/pantomimed scenes from Macbeth and the improvised scenes. *Select scenes for the letter, dagger and sleepwalking scenes and show the scenes to peers in an English class. *Students facilitate a discussion about the motives and emotions of the characters. Assessment: Have the students write an analysis comparing the motives and emotions of their modern character with that of Macbeth or Lady Macbeth. Have the students, using their class-developed criteria for performance, write a critique of their video taped performances, ending with goals for improvement. Include analyses and videos in portfolios.Adapted from a lesson created by the National
Theater Standards Writing Committee
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