The Watershed performance was a great opportunity for Year 11 students to see the play they are studying for GCSE brought to life.  By the end there were lots of great questions from our fantastic students who were keen to understand all of the directorial decisions.  Some decisions they agreed with, some they didn't, but the debate around it was informed by an impressive understanding of the play.

Some key points:

• There were no witches - the witches' lines were delivered by the cast members who were on stage at the time instead.  The focus of this was to firmly place all blame for the ensuing evil on Macbeth himself.  They clearly wanted us to see that it was first and foremost his ambition that drove him to kill.
• Malcolm ended up alone on stage with a crown dripping with blood - Macbeth is a character surrounded by people exalting him at the beginning of the play ('All hail Macbeth...') but he ends up alone.  In this production Malcolm, (who is also exalted 'All hail...'), also ends up alone.  The company were again making the point that mankind's relationship with power leads to corruption no matter how 'brave' or 'worthy' you start out.

A big thank you to all staff and students for making this a really good evening. One couple at the theatre were so impressed by our students they went out of their way to email the school to say how brilliant they thought they were.  But, of course, we knew that already!

Look out for other opportunities in the year to help bring the texts to life.