Shakespeare for the young

From the WAKEFIELD EXPRESS

WATCH out – something wicked this way comes. The notoriously bad luck Scottish Play, Macbeth, will get the Shakespeare 4 Kidz treatment at Theatre Royal Wakefield later this month.

Full of weird witches and spooky spells that make Harry Potter and his pals look like amateurs, there are even bloody battles, gruesome ghosts and a moving forest. The S4K Macbeth has been well-received each of the five times it has toured since its premiere in 2000, and creator Julian Chenery is confident the play will be a winner once again.

He said: “The famous curse is something we’ve had our share of in the past. In the autumn of 2000 we had incessant rain for three months which affected all of our get-ins and get-outs; a national fuel strikemade it nigh 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 of 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, weave them into modern language, add some songs and dances into the mix and the result is a two-hour play everyone – even the youngest primary school children – can understand.

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

Playing title role for the third time is Jason Lee Scott, who leads the 14-strong company. Macbeth is at Wakefield Theatre Royal on Thursday, January 28, at 1.30pm and 7.30pm, and on Friday, January 29, at 10am and 1.30pm.

For tickets, contact the box office on 01924 211311 or visit www.theatreroyalwakefield.co.uk