Open Forum

Check out the scripts developed by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's  Translation Project. These are updates of Shakespeare's canon by contemporary playwrights. Sometimes they are adapted a little, sometimes a lot.  Sometimes successfully, sometimes not, but worth looking at.

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Ron Sopyla
Beacon NY
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 11-09-2019 20:52
From: Susan Rhoden
Subject: Macbeth

Can anyone recommend a really great modern version of Macbeth, maybe similar to the BBC's Shakespeare Retold but written for the stage? Thanks.

Original Message------

Check out the scripts developed by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's  Translation Project. These are updates of Shakespeare's canon by contemporary playwrights. Sometimes they are adapted a little, sometimes a lot.  Sometimes successfully, sometimes not, but worth looking at.

------------------------------
Ron Sopyla
Beacon NY
------------------------------

Any particular reason you want a modern language edition? I study it with my juniors and they love it. I find Macbeth to be one of the most accessible Shakespeare texts for teenagers.

------------------------------
Cassy Maxton-Whitacre
Theatre Department Coordinator
Fishersville VA
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 11-10-2019 08:46
From: Susan Rhoden
Subject: Macbeth

Thank you! Will do that immediately.

Original Message------

Check out the scripts developed by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's  Translation Project. These are updates of Shakespeare's canon by contemporary playwrights. Sometimes they are adapted a little, sometimes a lot.  Sometimes successfully, sometimes not, but worth looking at.

------------------------------
Ron Sopyla
Beacon NY
------------------------------

I am going to agree with Cassy.  I just opened a community production with actors 12-17 and they are getting a huge kick out of it.  I did a lean cutting that runs 1hr 35mins and I made some small changes and adaptations, and my concept sets it in a somewhat post-apocalyptic time, but the text is 99% as Shakespeare wrote it.  They loved the challenge and are getting a great reception from their audiences.  
Here is an album of images from the production:  https://www.facebook.com/pg/NonSibiPhotography/photos/?tab=album&album_id=2498998353470975

------------------------------
Elana Kepner
Theatre Instructor
The Oakwood School
Greenville NC
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 11-11-2019 07:36
From: Cassy Maxton-Whitacre
Subject: Macbeth

Any particular reason you want a modern language edition? I study it with my juniors and they love it. I find Macbeth to be one of the most accessible Shakespeare texts for teenagers.

------------------------------
Cassy Maxton-Whitacre
Theatre Department Coordinator
Fishersville VA

Original Message:
Sent: 11-10-2019 08:46
From: Susan Rhoden
Subject: Macbeth

Thank you! Will do that immediately.

Original Message------

Check out the scripts developed by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's  Translation Project. These are updates of Shakespeare's canon by contemporary playwrights. Sometimes they are adapted a little, sometimes a lot.  Sometimes successfully, sometimes not, but worth looking at.

------------------------------
Ron Sopyla
Beacon NY
------------------------------

Before you decide on a modern version, ask your English faculty if any of them still teach Macbeth.  You can curry major favor with your English teachers if you do Shakespeare's play as written.

Like others on this forum, I am a big fan of doing the original language of Shakespeare, with abridgment and modernization of archaic words as necessary. 

I will be happy to share the script my advanced theatre students used last spring.  I did an initial abridgment, then we read it through as a class before auditions, stopping to trim more and change words that students thought the audience would find inexplicable.  It clocked in at less than 2 hours with an intermission.  This is formatted to print scripts of 4 1/4" X 5 1/2".

------------------------------
C. J. Breland
Retired Theatre Arts Educator
Asheville NC
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 11-11-2019 08:52
From: Elana Kepner
Subject: Macbeth

I am going to agree with Cassy.  I just opened a community production with actors 12-17 and they are getting a huge kick out of it.  I did a lean cutting that runs 1hr 35mins and I made some small changes and adaptations, and my concept sets it in a somewhat post-apocalyptic time, but the text is 99% as Shakespeare wrote it.  They loved the challenge and are getting a great reception from their audiences.
Here is an album of images from the production:  https://www.facebook.com/pg/NonSibiPhotography/photos/?tab=album&album_id=2498998353470975

------------------------------
Elana Kepner
Theatre Instructor
The Oakwood School
Greenville NC

Original Message:
Sent: 11-11-2019 07:36
From: Cassy Maxton-Whitacre
Subject: Macbeth

Any particular reason you want a modern language edition? I study it with my juniors and they love it. I find Macbeth to be one of the most accessible Shakespeare texts for teenagers.

------------------------------
Cassy Maxton-Whitacre
Theatre Department Coordinator
Fishersville VA

Original Message:
Sent: 11-10-2019 08:46
From: Susan Rhoden
Subject: Macbeth

Thank you! Will do that immediately.

Original Message------

Check out the scripts developed by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's  Translation Project. These are updates of Shakespeare's canon by contemporary playwrights. Sometimes they are adapted a little, sometimes a lot.  Sometimes successfully, sometimes not, but worth looking at.

------------------------------
Ron Sopyla
Beacon NY
------------------------------

Original Message------

Before you decide on a modern version, ask your English faculty if any of them still teach Macbeth.  You can curry major favor with your English teachers if you do Shakespeare's play as written.

Like others on this forum, I am a big fan of doing the original language of Shakespeare, with abridgment and modernization of archaic words as necessary. 

I will be happy to share the script my advanced theatre students used last spring.  I did an initial abridgment, then we read it through as a class before auditions, stopping to trim more and change words that students thought the audience would find inexplicable.  It clocked in at less than 2 hours with an intermission.  This is formatted to print scripts of 4 1/4" X 5 1/2".

------------------------------
C. J. Breland
Retired Theatre Arts Educator
Asheville NC
------------------------------

I have a friend who has written a great adaptation of Macbeth with a "modern" cast and a "traditional" cast.  We did it a few years ago and it was hugely successful.  If you are interested, please let me know and I will put you in contact.  You can reach me at tferguson@ursulinedallas.org.  

The version starts out with a narrator explaining the show.  By Act II, the modern cast cannot take the brutality of the script.  It's very clever, funny, and follows the tragedy to the end.

------------------------------
Terri Ferguson
Performing Arts Chair
Ursuline Academy of Dallas
Dallas TX
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 11-11-2019 12:07
From: Susan Rhoden
Subject: Macbeth

Trust me, I am dedicated to the originals and love Shakespeare, but this year the situation is out of my hands and I need an alternative. It's a long story ☹️

Original Message------

Before you decide on a modern version, ask your English faculty if any of them still teach Macbeth.  You can curry major favor with your English teachers if you do Shakespeare's play as written.

Like others on this forum, I am a big fan of doing the original language of Shakespeare, with abridgment and modernization of archaic words as necessary.

I will be happy to share the script my advanced theatre students used last spring.  I did an initial abridgment, then we read it through as a class before auditions, stopping to trim more and change words that students thought the audience would find inexplicable.  It clocked in at less than 2 hours with an intermission.  This is formatted to print scripts of 4 1/4" X 5 1/2".

------------------------------
C. J. Breland
Retired Theatre Arts Educator
Asheville NC
------------------------------

Cassy,

My friend's name is Scott Eckert.  You can reach him at smmeckert@sbcglobal.net.  The name of the piece is SHAKESPEARE FOR THE MODERN MAN; LESSON 1: MACBETH.  Let him know I passed along his info to you!  He also has a version of Hamlet in which Hamlet is a stand-up comic!

------------------------------
Terri Ferguson
Performing Arts Chair
Ursuline Academy of Dallas
Dallas TX
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 11-11-2019 07:36
From: Cassy Maxton-Whitacre
Subject: Macbeth

Any particular reason you want a modern language edition? I study it with my juniors and they love it. I find Macbeth to be one of the most accessible Shakespeare texts for teenagers.

------------------------------
Cassy Maxton-Whitacre
Theatre Department Coordinator
Fishersville VA

Original Message:
Sent: 11-10-2019 08:46
From: Susan Rhoden
Subject: Macbeth

Thank you! Will do that immediately.

Original Message------

Check out the scripts developed by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's  Translation Project. These are updates of Shakespeare's canon by contemporary playwrights. Sometimes they are adapted a little, sometimes a lot.  Sometimes successfully, sometimes not, but worth looking at.

------------------------------
Ron Sopyla
Beacon NY
------------------------------