About the Book:

Conceived and written by two classically trained American stage actors, this workbook presents an abridged version of Shakespeare's Macbeth, discussing the play's language, characters, plot, and how to stage a school production. The side-by-side presentation of the original language and a "translation" into the vernacular allows the student grades 7 and up to quickly understand and appreciate the play.

Includes extensive instruction about Shakespearean English and character analyses, stage directions and other performance information that will make this book indispensable to the teacher and beginning student of Shakespeare for either English or theatre curricula.

What people say:

"Grade 8 Up. The authors of this book state that their aim is to make Shakespeare more accessible to modern students, and in this endeavor they succeed. The introduction begins with an overview of the plot and a short essay on Elizabethan marriage customs. Next, there is a good summary of the action of the play as it pertains to each of the characters. The heart of the book, however, is the abridged version of the script. The layout – four columns spread across two pages – is crisp, clear, and easy to follow. The first column gives a brief description of the scene; the second has a vernacular translation of the language; the third is an original abridgment of the script; and the fourth contains stage directions. A final chapter offers hints on how to stage the play, suggestions for costumes and props, a lexicon of stage language and theatrical conventions, and a good bibliography. This title shouldn't be used as a substitute for the full text, but it would be a wonderful complement for students struggling with the original. It also would be useful to high school acting companies staging a production." — School Library Journal

About the Author:

Fredi Olster and her co-author/husband Rick Hamilton have acted in sixty productions of Shakespeare's plays, as well as appearing in film and on television. Their extensive experience in regional repertory theatre includes several seasons at the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, where Fredi was Kate and Rick was Tranio in Bill Ball's widely acclaimed production of The Taming of the Shrew, which was televised for Theatre in America (PBS). They spent several seasons with the Oregon Shakespearean Festival, the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, the Utah Shakespeare Festival, the Alley Theatre, and the Dallas Shakespeare Festival, among others.