We are going to focus on a speech by Macbeth in Act 1 Scene 3, interrogating the language and seeing what clues it might give us about Macbeth and his state of mind. You will need the Act 1, Scene 3 Resource. Watch the Scene in Performance with Christopher Eccleston as Macbeth and Raphael Sowole as Banquo in Polly Findlay's 2018 production.

• Sit the students in a circle and explain the witches’ prophecy that Macbeth will become Thane of Cawdor and King of Scotland and that the first prophecy has just come true. Giving the context that this speech is an aside to the audience.  

• Hand out the scenes, looking at the first words of each line ask the students to read them out in unison. What do we observe? What information might we glean from this exercise about how Macbeth feels about contemplating Duncan’s murder?  

• Now ask students to read the full speech out loud together. Again what do we notice?  Are there any words that are repeated? Any words that jump out at us from the page? 

• Split the group into 4 and label each group 1-4. 

• Explain that we are going to read the speech again but this time group 1 are going to read out any monosyllabic words; group two will read 2 syllable words; group three will read three syllable words, and group four reads words of four syllables or more.  

• What do we notice about Macbeth’s language? The dominance of monosyllables? What do we notice about the types of words – 3 and 4 syllabic words tend to suggest uncertainty and are all used to describe the supernatural. What do we notice about the structure of the speech – it starts and ends with monosyllables, for example. 

Students are now going to look at a soliloquy from Act 2 Scene 1 delivered by Macbeth to the audience. You will need the Act 2, Scene 1 Resource.

• Ask students to stand in a circle and give them a copy face down of ‘Is this a dagger’ speech from Act 2 Scene 1, found in the resource. 

• Ask students to turn over the copy giving them 10 seconds to identify a word that jumps out at them. Turn the sheet face down again.  

• Go round the circle asking each student to say their chosen word aloud.   

• Ask students to make a gesture for that word. Working with the person next to them teach the other their word and gesture, finding a way of linking both words and gestures together.  

• Ask the pairs to perform around the circle. What sense of the speech does this give us? 

• In order give each student a line from the speech (depending on numbers, there may be two or more students who are given the same line). 

• Ask students to move around the room saying their line in a variety of different ways: whispered / as market traders / as spies / as if telling a child a story / as football supporters, etc.  

• Once students have explored different ways of saying their line ask them to return to the circle and arrange themselves in the order of the speech.  

• Listen to the speech once again around in the circle. Has anything changed?  Have any students noticed anything about their line?  Was there a preferred way of saying it? 

• Staying in order ask the students to form a line putting something representing King Duncan at the other end of room. 

• Explain to the students that when it is their turn to say their line, they decide whether to move forwards (towards King Duncan to kill him), backwards (away from killing King Duncan)or to stay still. Their decision depends on whether they feel the line is moving forward, or away from, the murder, or staying the same as the previous speaker. 

• What do we notice about the line?  It becomes a physical representation of Macbeths state of mind on the floor. Students discuss Macbeth’s state of mind at this point. How determined is he to carry out the killing?  

• Students offer suggestions for why Macbeth should or should not carry out the murder of Duncan, which are noted on a flipchart. 

In this series of activities, students investigate Lady Macbeth’s use of language in Act 1 Scene 5. They explore the clues in her language that suggest: a backstory for her relationship with Macbeth; her motivations to kill Duncan; and how the key themes of ambition, supernatural and fate are important for her. Practical explorations of her language are followed by suggestions for discussion and debate, and a follow up writing exercise. You will need the Act 1, Scene 5 Resource. 

• Sit students in a circle and ask what they know about Lady Macbeth and her relationship with Macbeth.  

• Be careful to distinguish between ‘facts’ from the text and informed speculation. For example, it is a fact within the world of the play that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are married and have no children. An informed guess would be that they have been married for a fairly long time - long enough to have tried and failed to have children together.  

• Explain when actors are rehearsing a play, they imagine what their characters’ lives might have been like before the play begins. For actors playing Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, it seems clear that Lady Macbeth has had a child in the past, but it is not clear what happened to that child or whether Macbeth was the father. Imagining what this backstory to their relationship can be a powerful way to make sense of how they speak to each other in the play. 

• Explain to the students that they will be deciding what they think happened to Lady Macbeth’s child. 

• Split the group into groups of six, and give each group a piece of A3 paper. 

• Explain that each group are going to create a backstory of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth with a clear beginning; middle and end using the information we have already discussed. 

• Give each group 5 minutes to come up with a clear story of how the Macbeths got to where we meet them at the start of the play.  How did they meet?  Where did they marry?  How long have they been married for? Why do they not have any children?  

• Ask each group to present their backstory to the whole class.  

• Discuss which backstories have similar elements as part of them and which ones differ.  What information can we gleam from the text and what has been inferred? 

• Now ask students to sit in a circle with a paper and pen. 

• Ask one confident student to stand in the centre as Lady Macbeth with a copy of Act 1 Scene 5. 

• Explain that Macbeth writes a letter to his wife describing the battle against the Norwegian forces, his meeting with the witches, the prophecies, and the message from the King.  

• Ask the students in the circle to write one sentence that Macbeth might include in his letter to his wife. For example, ‘It was a long and exhausting battle and it was hard to see so many good men die at the hands of the enemy’; or ‘I long to see you again and be in the warmth and comfort of my own castle’; or ‘The three strange women filled me with fear, but also pride that I could be king’. 

• While they are writing, ask the student in the centre to read the Act 1 Scene 5 handout where Lady Macbeth reads the letter Macbeth sent to her. 

• Taking turns around the circle, ask each student to read aloud their sentence as ‘Lady Macbeth’ listens.  

• Ask ‘Lady Macbeth’ how she feels hearing this ‘letter’. Which thoughts and feelings most struck her? Were there any repetitions and what effect did that have? 

• Now ask ‘Lady Macbeth’ to read aloud the letter from the play once more.   

• Ask students in the circle which words or phrases stood out for them as they listened. Were there any surprises in what they heard? What similarities or differences did they notice when compared to the sentences they wrote? 

Niamh Cusack’s Lady Macbeth  

• Now watch this video exploring receiving the letter in Act 1 Scene 5 of Macbeth, with Niamh Cusack who played Lady Macbeth in the 2018 production and Assistant Director Peter Bradley. 

• How do Niamh’s ideas about Lady Macbeth and her relationship with Macbeth compare to your ideas? What further ideas does she suggest about Lady Macbeth’s relationship with ambition, the supernatural and fate that you find interesting?

We are going to look at a scene between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth where they are deciding if to go through with the murder of King Duncan. You will need the Act 1, Scene 7 Resource.

By taking students through these various exercises we can start to understand the two characters feelings towards each other. We also start to look at the various ways this scene can be interpreted. 

• Put students into pairs and label them A and B. A’s are Macbeth and B’s are Lady Macbeth. 

• Ask students to read through the scene whispered and standing back-to-back, conspiratorially as if not wanting to be overheard. What did they notice doing it this way?  Did any of the lines work being whispered?  

• Now ask students to read the scene again but this time facing each other and read the scene as a full-blown argument. Again what did they notice about the scene, did anything change between the two characters? What moments made sense to them and why? 

• Ask the students to read the scene for a third time and repeating the last word of the other speaker before delivering their own text. What did they notice about the last words? What does this tell us about their relationship? 

• Ask the students to read the entire scene hitting the script  with their hands on pronouns only: he, me, we, I.  

• Have a moment of reflection and note who uses the most pro-nouns and why? 

• Now movement is introduced to the scene. Ask students to play the scene with Macbeth seated on a chair, and Lady Macbeth able to move wherever she likes, then vice versa. What does this reveal about their relationship? 

• How do these exercises help students understand the dynamic of the relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth? Why work repeatedly on the same scene but using different approaches? What are the differences between this approach and working as an individual reader of the text? 

• Watch this video to see a director working with actors to try out different ways of performing an extract from Act 1, Scene 7.