4 STARS

Shakespeare 4 Kidz: Macbeth
The Dome, Doncaster
2nd October 2009

Thunder claps and the chill whistle of withering winds sweep across a brooding onstage darkness; eerie notes of impending doom accompany the swirls of dark-gowned hags. Enter Macbeth.

Hundreds of Doncaster’s schoolchildren (mainly primary) had their first magical taste of live stage performance with this musical version of Macbeth. As an introduction to Shakespeare, it’s just the job, especially when Jason Lee Scott as Macbeth possesses both fine acting skills and a fantastic voice: songs like How Do You Murder A King? and Banquo Must Go! serve as mighty inspiration to any budding performer.

While the story is clearly enacted, the Shakespeare4Kidz (S4K) treatment embellishes the play with more audio-visual splendours than you can shake a spear at: big songs, dances, sword-fights, full orchestration from a sturdy keyboard/percussion combo, Celtic tunes and a pair of Riverdancing feet provide plenty of extra variety. Though most of the script consists of practical paraphrase, it’s still nicely dotted with a glitter of Shakespeare's actual words (in the soliloquies, for example.)

Predictably perhaps, star turn for under elevens is The Porter (Noel Andrew Harron) who, straight after King Duncan’s gory murder, demonstrates beautifully the timeless impact of comic relief. Nimble knockabout, slapstick silliness with cartwheel and full splits (ouch!), great audience interaction, and an abundance of knock-knock jokes are a definite hit.

In short, Macbeth was wicked!

SK4’s creative springboard into the Bard's works has proved so successful, their musical versions are to be filmed, starting next year.
 

 CLICK HERE to see this review on digyorkshire.com