Shakespeare 4 Kidz News

Kidz beware the 'curse' of 'Scottish play'

by Kevin Bourke

NOTORIOUSLY, Shakespeare’s great play Macbeth is referred to by thesps of a superstitious nature as ‘the Scottish Play’, lest the ‘curse’ surrounding it of the play should befall them.

Hopefully, that won’t be the case when the play gets the Shakespeare 4 Kidz treatment in a couple of weeks at the Palace Theatre.

Its creator, Julian Chenery, who has seen his adaptation tour five times now, is fairly confident that the play will be a winner once again.

“The curse is something we’ve had our share of in the past, though,” he says.

“In the autumn of 2000 we had incessant rain for three months which affected all of our get-ins and get-outs.

“There was a national fuel strike which made it nigh-on impossible to move the production around the UK; the actor playing Banquo hit his head on the windscreen of the cast coach; the actor playing King Duncan went down with Bell’s Palsy, making half his face freeze, and one of the stage crew walked into a door and fractured her skull.

“Apart from that the show was a huge hit and has remained immensely popular ever since!”

Shakespeare 4 Kidz plays use the most famous lines from the original texts, weaves them into modern language, and adds some song and dance into the mix, resulting in a two hour entertainment which everyone – even the youngest primary school kids – can understand. 

The whole plot is retained and all the major characters are there too, in this case telling the blood-soaked story of the murderous Scottish warrior who, egged on by the prophecies of three weird witches and the ambitions of his evil wife, removes every obstacle in his path until he can seize the throne for himself.

Playing the role of Macbeth for the third (and hopefully lucky!) time is Jason Lee Scott, who leads a 14-strong company.

Matthew Kelly

Starry supporters of the company have told some of their own stories of the play, including Matthew Kelly, who recalls of his drama college production at Manchester Poly where he ‘played the Porter in a sort of vaudeville fashion’!

“It’s still one of my greatest memories – doing that great play,” he says.

"I’m sending you loads of good luck for your forthcoming production of the Scottish Play.”

Jonathan Pryce has his own bad luck stories to tell after playing Macbeth. “When I played him in Stratford,” he recalls, “before the first night Lady Macbeth had an accident and fractured her collar bone. I fell head first down the stairs on stage and for the first time forgot my lines in the middle of a soliloquy.

“At the Barbican, I got stuck in the lift with the three witches and was rescued just in time to make my re-appearance.”

The Shakespeare 4 Kidz Macbeth is at the Palace Theatre on Monday, September 14 at 1.30pm & 7.30pm; and Tuesday, September 15 at 10am & 1.30pm. Call 0844 847 2275 for tickets.

Published: Thu, 03 September, 2009

CLICK HERE to see the original article on the City Life pages of the Manchester Evening News

THERE are a few modern-day parallels which make the tale of Macbeth and his highly-driven wife all the more comprehensible, reckons Jason Lee Scott.

Jason, who takes the lead in the Scottish play for the third time for Shakespeare 4 Kidz, will be in action again with the company when they offer a preview in Horsham.

The 14-strong company will be at The Capitol for one night only when they stage an open dress rehearsal to which the public are invited on Friday September 4 at 7pm.

And Jason is sure that his audience will find much to recognise in Macbeth and Lady M.

"Think Macbeth and his wife, think the Beckhams and Katie Price/Peter Andre," says Jason. "Think strong, driven woman and weaker husband."

"The concept is perhaps easier to grasp now," says Jason. "I am not suggesting that Lady Macbeth is going to large it up in Ibiza for two weeks with the witches."

Nor, he adds, is he suggesting that Victoria Beckham is going to try to overturn the monarchy.

"But Macbeth is easy to see when you have got strong women that can manipulate their men and almost turn them into a brand. The Macbeths were like the brand of their day.

"And I do think a lot of his downfall was down to her. Without her he would have been happy to accept what was given him."

Such parallels are one of the ways the company seeks to make Shakespeare directly comprehensible and accessible. Another way is to turn the famously-cursed play into a musical, previewing it in Horsham before an autumn tour throughout the UK.

Shakespeare 4 Kidz plays use the most famous lines from the original texts, weave them into modern language, add some songs and dances into the mix and the result is a two-hour entertainment which everyone – even the youngest primary kids – can understand.

The plot is retained and all the major characters are there too, to tell the blood-soaked story of the murderous Scottish warrior who, egged on by the prophecies of three weird witches and the ambitions of his evil wife, removes every obstacle in his path until he can seize the throne for himself.

"It's an introduction to the play. No one is pretending that it gives you absolute depth, but it gives you an understanding of the key elements. When you were at school you would see Shakespeare and you would come away having missed bits and pieces and not really having grasped what it's all about. But this is a version that gives you the basic thread."

And the hope is that you then go on to discover the original.

The company is Shakespeare 4 Kidz but Jason stresses that it is not just for the kiddies: "All the darker sides in the play are very much pointed to. They are not just glossed over."

CLICK HERE to go to the original article on the Sussex Express website

FROM THE NEW YORK STEREOSCOPIC SOCIETY
posted by Joe Pedoto

Sometimes you love two insanely different things only to discover that together they make the perfect combo — think, peanut butter and chocolate. And that's how I hope things will turn out now that Mark Thomas from Elsinore Films has announced he'll be combining the musical with Shakespeare and — yes, I cannot believe it — 3-D.

With an intent to target the younger audiences that go crazy for High School Musical and Harry Potter, Thomas plans to adapt six of Shakespeare's plays into 3-D musicals, starting with none other than the classic "Hamlet" and moving on to other well-known works like "Macbeth," "Romeo and Juliet," and "Twelfth Night."

Frankly, the idea of a distraught Hamlet thrusting Yorick's skull into the faces of audience members amuses me to no end. But for those of you who remain a tad skeptical about bringing the words of a long-dead playwright to 3-D musical life, I'd like to remind you that — for all of their classic lines and lofty themes — Shakespeare's plays were about titillating the audience. Ghosts, swordfights, gender bending, were par for the course, and if anything the musical infusion will help liven up the extensive monologues that not every person can stand.

Thomas won't be starting from scratch though. Instead he'll be working off of the musical versions that Shakespeare 4 Kidz, a U.K. theater company, created. John Godber is set to direct, and in the meantime Elsinore Films will also be shooting a TV show to cast for the roles of Romeo and Juliet in one of the forthcoming adaptations. The title of the show? Movie Quest — A Romeo 4 Juliet.

See the original article on the New York Stereoscopic Website

Hamlet is to be transformed into a 3D musical movie by Elsinore Films and theatre company, Shakespeare 4 Kidz.
John Godber

The film comes as part of a deal which will see six of Shakespeare's greatest works adapted for the screen, targeting the usually bard-averse "tween" market. Following the release of Hamlet, kids can look forward to adaptations of Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Twelfth Night and The Tempest.

Hamlet is to be directed by dramatist and former Brookside and Grange Hill writer, John Godber (pictured) and produced by Mark Thomas. The duo previously worked together on a film adaptation of Up 'n' Under.

The film, which hopes to feature a ghost which floats over the audience and cannon fire that flies into the cinema, is to be co-produced by Shakespeare 4 Kidz's Julian Chenery, founder of the company. Chenery described making a version of Hamlet for children as "the ultimate test for the Shakespeare 4 Kidz company".

Release dates and casting for the upcoming 3D musical Shakespearean extravaganza are, as of yet, unconfirmed.

See the original article on the Show and Stay website