Macbeth Final Project
English 9B – Trimester II 2009
THE ASSIGNMENT:
The final project for Macbeth will involve an analysis and student performance of selected scenes from the play. Students will be assigned to groups. Each group will be assigned ONE act from Macbeth. As a group, you must select one scene from your assignment act that you feel is most important or significant in terms of plot, character development and relationships, key themes, etc.
Your grade will reflect both the individual and collective efforts of your group. Each student will receive a grade for his/her individual close reading essay and a grade for the group work/performance. Please remember that a student who does not engage in the project will certainly affect his/her group’s final assessment.
You will be responsible for ALL of the following:
1)Each individual member of the group must write a close readingessay of the scene the group has selected. The close reading essay should discuss the significance of the scene in the context of the play as a whole. This written analysis must be at least 4 pages long and should include sufficient evidence from the text and close analysis to support your ideas. Proper parenthetical citations are required.
2)Your group must plan a visual tableau (a freeze-frame from the scene) that communicates a key moment, turning point, relationship, or conflict in the scene. You will present your visual tableau at the very beginning of your scene (hold it for 5 seconds!)
3)Your group must plan andperform your key scene for the ninth grade during the exam period. Individual roles will be decided by the group. Each group will have one director, who is responsible for keeping the group focused and on task. The director’s role is not to impose his or her views on the group, but rather to collect the group’s collective vision for the scene. He or she should make sure that all voices in the group are heard. The performance should be 4-5 minutes in length (no longer than five minutes, please!)
Final Project Deadlines:
Monday 3/1: First FULL draft of your close reading essay due.
Friday 3/5: Final draft of close reading essay due, with first draft with peer comments, and process piece.
Tuesday 3/9 - Thursday 3/11: Your group’s tableau and performance will be due at our scheduled exam period. The specific date for these presentations is still to be determined.
THE PROCESS:
Follow the steps/guidelines below to complete your final project for the trimester.
Step 1: Review your assigned act. Take notes on important shifts and moments, character development, and significant themes and imagery. You will receive a detailed handout that will help you complete this step.
Step 2: Gather with your group and select one scene together that is particularly important or significant to your act. Discuss why you think the scene is significant. Look at key speeches or moments in the scene.
Step 3: Write your individual close reading essay of the selected scene. More specific guidelines to follow.
Step 4: Plan and practice your performance with your group. One member of the group will serve as the group’s director and will be in charge of keeping the group on task. As a group you must decide what is going on in the scene. You must highlight the key moments in the scene, and decide what the language of the play reveals about relationships between characters and about what each character wants, desires, fears, etc. in that scene.
After you have established these things, the actors must work on conveying their characters through their acting. How should a character say a specific line? How should each character move in the scene? How does the movement and/or blocking in the scene communicate something about the relationships, tensions, desires and fears of each particular character? Make clear choices in order to convey your group’s interpretations of the scene.
You will not be required to memorize your lines. However, actors should plan carefully how they will convey their lines with emotion and action. You may decide to present a modernized version of the scene you perform. However, you must use ONLY SHAKESPEARE’S LANGUAGE (i.e. You cannot modernize the language). Decide with your group the costumes and props you will use in your scene. Your individual close readings will help you in exploring how to perform the scene.
Step 5: Plan and practice a visual tableau (freeze frame from the scene) that communicates a key moment, turning point, relationship, or conflict in the scene. Your visual tableau will be the first thing your audience sees. You should plan on holding your tableau for at least 5 seconds.