Before Tuesday, Justin Rayburn had never heard an ounce of Shakespeare.
A fourth grader from Hamilton Elementary, Rayburn joined a packed theatre of kids who were likely being introduced to the famed playwright's material for the first time.
Grade school students from Butler and Greenwood counties are receiving a dose of William Shakespeare when the Butler Community College theatre department presents “Macbeth: A Cautionary Tale Concerning Greed, Power, Mayhem and Other Current Events.”
Free performances for grade school students are being staged daily from Feb. 11 to Feb. 15. Public performances are at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Feb. 16. All performances will take place in the Fine Arts Theatre on the El Dorado campus.
This version of Macbeth provides access for children to Shakespeare’s language and stories. In a Grimm sort of way, Macbeth is an ideal children’s tale, incorporating witches, ghosts, soldiers, kings and the battle between good and evil.
"I thought it was pretty good," Rayburn said.
In the play, a company of actors, having rehearsed their version of Macbeth, arrive at the theatre and discover an audience has shown up. They seize the moment and swing into action using what is on hand to tell the story and explain the words.
Colby Bankson, a Hamilton second grader, said the sword fight at the climax of the story was his favorite part.
"It was fun!" he exclaimed. "My brother and me actually practice fights with swords."
The cast features Butler Community College students under the direction of Gina Austin, who said she picked this show because she teaches a Shakespeare class during second semester and came to the realization that — surprisingly — no other local theatres were staging any of the Bard's work this year for her students to watch.
"I thought, 'I have this Shakespeare class and I want to take them to see some Shakespeare,'" Austin said. "I'll just do some."
She added that doing "Macbeth" as a children's show was a good opportunity to make the stories and language accessible to kids.
"They've never actually experienced it and the experience they do get ends up being when they're in high school ... forced to read it, which I think Shakespeare never intended for them to do," Austin said. "He would have hated and loathed that idea. He only wanted them to see the productions, so I want them to see it and have a positive experience from it."
