This is a practical activity and a fun and way that invites students to create characters and start to explore the relationships that emerge. You will need the Lines of Text Resource.

• Ask the class to stand in a space in the room and explain you that you will call out a number and that this represents the amount of people in a group and then when in these groups will be given a tile for them to create as a frozen image:  

Groups of 2 - A childless couple  

Groups of 5 - An absent father  

Groups of 2 - An old king handing his crown to his eldest son   

• Give the students ten seconds to create their image.  

• When each of these images has been created, ask the group to look at the other groups in the space and comment on what they see in the images. What do the relationships look like? Any differences/similarities?  

• Now ask the class to recreate their images in the same groups and hand out a line of text from the Lines of Text Resource to each. The groups will need time to discuss which character will be speaking the line, what alterations need to be made to their images and how they are going to incorporate the text into the image.  

• Once the language has been added in, ask the students to look at the images again. What sorts of relationships are shown here?   

• As an extension to this exercise, you could ask students to speak their characters' inner thoughts aloud when you tap them on their shoulder so that the group can find out if there is a disparity between what they are saying and what they are feeling.  

• How does the text change your original image? What do you think the character speaking is trying to communicate? What do these images show about the relationships between parents and children in the play? Are there any commonalities with the contemporary images created earlier?  

In this exercise, students look at four speeches taken from across the entire play. The focus is on what the structure of the speeches might tell us about Macbeth’s state of mind, focusing specifically on punctuation. Explanation of meaning is therefore left until after the punctuation exercises, using the clues in the structure to help students develop their understanding. You will need the Speeches Resource.

Punctuation can vary from edition to edition, however actors will consider punctuation along with many other clues in the text for them to understand the language and establish characters.  

• Hand out a copy of Macbeth’s speech from Act 1 Scene 3 “Two truths are told” found in the Speeches Resource, to each student.   

• Ask them to walk around the space reading the speech out loud to themselves, observing the punctuation.  

• Instruct students to turn 90 degrees on mid-sentence punctuation such as a comma, colon, semi-colon. Students turn 180 degrees on end of sentence punctuation such as a full stop, question mark, or exclamation mark.   

• When they’ve finished speaking, ask them how they feel. What did the movement of scene feel like? What is happening to his thoughts and what might we infer about how Macbeth feels about the prospect of murdering Duncan?  

• Repeat this exercise, looking at Macbeth’s speech from Act 3 Scene 1 “To be thus is nothing”.  

•  Does this scenes pace feel different? What does that say about Macbeth’s state of mind? Ask what might we infer about how Macbeth feels about committing this next murder? Why might it feel different to the first speech?   

• Next ask students to look at Macbeth’s speech from Act 4 Scene 1 “Thou are too like the spirit of Banquo”.  

• Divide the group in 2 and label them A and B. 

• Ask group A to complete the punctuation activity whilst group B observes, asking group A how the activity felt in comparison to the earlier speeches. What did group B see in the patterns in movement they observed? How would they describe Macbeth’s state of mind at this point in the play? 

•  Swap the groups over with group B walking out the punctuation Macbeth’s speech from Act 5 Scene 8 “I will not yield”.  

• Ask again about how those taking part felt, and what those observed noticed about the physical patterns created by observing the punctuation. What might we infer about Macbeth’s state of mind at this final point in the play? What might this tell us about Macbeth’s journey? 

We are now going to focus on Macbeth and Lady Macbeths relationship at the start of the play.  By asking students to make images and add lines of text to those images we can start to understand how different interpretive choices are made throughout. You will need the Macbeth and Lady Macbeth Resource.

• Ask the students to form a circle and hand out the descriptions of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth from the resource. 

• Read around the circle both the descriptions and the quotes with one student passing each line onto the next.   

• Next students form pairs and label themselves A and B. A will represent Macbeth; B Lady Macbeth.  

• Give students one minute to create a frozen image of the couple at the start of the play. See each statue in turn and discuss, as a group, any similarities, or differences.  

• Now give students another minute to bring them to life using the lines under the character facts. Students can decide in what order the lines should be delivered, and how. 

• Ask volunteers to show their work. What do they observe about this relationship?