The works of William Shakespeare can be complex, but King’s performing arts teachers employ the full potential of the stage in helping students understand and love the text. The recent middle and upper school productions of Triple Trouble and Macbeth demonstrate the power of the stage as a learning tool.

Performing arts teacher Mark Silence has spent his career immersed in Shakespeare’s work, commonly referred to as the bard. To ease students into the depths of Shakespeare, he decided to write a play himself – and so, Triple Trouble was born.

“I wrote Triple Trouble as a way to introduce middle school aged kids to Shakespeare in the context of performance,” said Silence. “When you study Shakespeare's plays in the classroom, it's difficult to experience the transformation and immediacy that exists in both the words and the actions of the plays. In Triple Trouble, the actors are literally transported in time and asked to embody the characters and situations as Shakespeare and his company create them.”

Siena Gambino was cast in Triple Threat as Hemmings, one of the actors in Shakespeare's troupe of actors, who throughout the performance also plays Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Queen Titania in Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Lady Macbeth and Lady Macduff in Macbeth. 

“My favorite role was Queen Titania because I was allowed to put a lot of emotion into the scene to make her seem angry,” said Siena. “It was also funny for her to act snobby in front of the king.”

The COVID-19 pandemic could have derailed the production, but instead, the players wore masks and maintained social distancing guidelines to deliver an excellent in-person performance.

“The experience of doing Triple Trouble was really fun,” said Siena. “It helped me learn that even through tough times, the show must go on. It was really fun collaborating with my peers to make something enjoyable to watch.”

Building on the middle school experience, Silence and his colleague Amy Darnton guided upper school students into the tragedy of the Scottish general named Macbeth.

“As a small group of artists, we decided to be very selective about the theatrical devices we used to tell the story. For example, we used a smaller playing space, shadows and light, and actors moving rapidly in and out of several character roles, so we could focus on the language,” said Silence of his work with the upper school thespians. “The buzzwords in rehearsal were ‘simple’ and ‘direct,’ which may seem like an easy goal, but it made the inherent challenges in the work that much more apparent.”

This approach to producing Shakespeare served as the greatest tool for learning Shakespeare. “The confines of time and space are blown apart, and the characters are allowed to take their audience on a journey of imagination,” said Silence.

Olivia McGrath was cast as the complex and critical Lady Macbeth, a role she knew she wanted as soon as it was posted.

“It was certainly a very enjoyable experience being able to step into the iconic role of Lady Macbeth,” Olivia said. “Bringing the role to life in a haunting yet satisfying manner for the audience was a huge challenge that I loved, and it really allowed me to grow as an actress.”

Acting out the role allowed her to explore the subtlety of the language and the impact her time on and off the stage has on the story. 

“I really enjoyed the challenge of portraying her slow descent into madness,” Olivia continued. “She enters the play in such a strong position and ends it in such a vulnerable one. A lot of that development occurs when she is off-stage during Act 4, so I wanted to subtly foreshadow it, allowing the audience to feel that it was the natural progression of her character arc.”

Olivia underlined the benefit of staging Shakespeare as a tool for understanding the work.

“Even though I remember reading and analyzing Macbeth for my sophomore year English class, and specifically dissecting the character of Lady Macbeth, being able to portray her brought new interpretations and understandings of the character that I hadn't previously considered,” she said. “Portraying those little nuances was another challenge that I really loved and that allowed me to develop as an actress.”

Olivia’s peer, Joz Butler ’22, who played the lead role of Macbeth, recalled disliking Macbeth when initially reading the play during sophomore year English class. “Banquo was always my favorite, so when the show was announced, and I thought about what role I wanted to become, I thought back to my first reading of Macbeth,” said Joz. “But coming back to the show as a senior and approaching it, not as literature, but as theater, drastically changed my opinions about the role.” 

The success of these productions in helping students develop a deeper understanding of Shakespeare reflects the commitment of the Performing Arts Program at King, where the faculty know the intellectual impact that comes from performing on stage.

“Amy Darnton and I talk a lot about how kids progress from one division to the next and the arc of discovery and experience,” Silence said. “I think that these two plays were a good example of how this kind of literature can influence the artistry and how the event can be adapted and rise to the demands of the literature.”

The department is now preparing for its next performance, Pirates of Penzance, a musical operetta that will be featured at King during the first week of March. Joz Butler ’22 plans to participate in the performance.  

“This show is going to give every single participant a great amount of work and opportunity to showcase their skills,” said Joz. “The show itself is witty and surprisingly lively, and our energy as a cast already reflects that. I think people should come ready to see a super fun show!”