FROM INK PELLET MAGAZINE

www.inkpellet.co.uk

S4K’s version of Macbeth is a light and accessible retelling of one of Shakespeare’s darker plays.

So, what makes this production ‘4 Kidz’? Well we have a script transformed into modern English, we have song and dance routines and we have a controlled tone to the piece that allows evil in but keeps terror reassuringly at bay.

It’s Macbeth with the edges softened and a big dose of Andrew Lloyd Webber thrown in and however naff it sounds, it nevertheless makes for an entertaining and instructive primer for Year Seven students. The cast uses music, movement and gesture to provide a kind of wordless subtitling to the play which is useful for an 11-year-old struggling to follow the convoluted plot, and every opportunity for humour is exploited – for example, the porter scene is played as a camp music hall and goes down a treat.

Shakespeare is often approached in schools with a sense of dread by both under-pressure teachers and confused students. S4K themselves are doing something important.

They are celebrating the drama of Shakespeare, and making vivid the characters. Plots and speeches before they have a chance to be tainted by the duller associations many people have of Shakespeare in schools.
Their production is pantomime, horrors story and lark combined and I think Shakespeare would have enjoyed the reactions of the audience to it.

The tour for Shakespeare 4 Kidz production of Macbeth continues until November 24, and takes in various venues including Skegness, King’s Lynn and Stoke-on-Trent. For tickets and other details visit your local theatre or try www.shakespeare4kidz.com