Macbeth Prompt Book
Prompt Book Assignment: ELA 20-1
A prompt book is a device that actors and directors use to help them visualize the play, and to know where characters should be standing on stage at any given time. It also aides the actor in portraying characterization.
You will be responsible for creating a prompt book for the play Macbeth for at least one scene for two acts (total of two scenes). You must provide movement on stage, directions, such as “picks up glass” etc, and entrances and exits. This must be done both on a working copy of the text as well as on a diagram of the stage.
Here are some general rules on blocking a scene:
( Down stage center is the strongest position on stage
( Upstage left is the weakest position
( Facing full front is strong, full back is weak
( Elevated positions take focus (think of balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet)
( Crosses from up centre to down centre are powerful
( Crosses from stage right to stage left follow the “reading” line in Western culture
( An individual standing separate from a group has focus
( Symmetry connotes formality or ritual
( A dead body tends to be horizontal
( A person kneeling before a person standing is connotative of begging
( A man and a woman holding hands is connotative of lovers
( A man with a pistol or a sword drawn connotes a threat
~ From: A Sense of Direction: Some Observations on the Art of Direction. William Ball, 1984, pp 110-111.
For each scene entry you have created for your prompt book for you must also write one thoughtful paragraph on why you chose to stage your play the way you did, and how it is supported by the text of the play. The lines of the play MUST support every staging decision you make.
Evaluation:
Minor Mark: two prompt book sections and compositions (completion of working copy, of stage diagram, and short composition for each)
Major Mark: a good copy of one of the two prompt book sections and a composition of no more than 250 words, on why choices
A prompt book is a device that actors and directors use to help them visualize the play, and to know where characters should be standing on stage at any given time. It also aides the actor in portraying characterization.
You will be responsible for creating a prompt book for the play Macbeth for at least one scene for two acts (total of two scenes). You must provide movement on stage, directions, such as “picks up glass” etc, and entrances and exits. This must be done both on a working copy of the text as well as on a diagram of the stage.
Here are some general rules on blocking a scene:
( Down stage center is the strongest position on stage
( Upstage left is the weakest position
( Facing full front is strong, full back is weak
( Elevated positions take focus (think of balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet)
( Crosses from up centre to down centre are powerful
( Crosses from stage right to stage left follow the “reading” line in Western culture
( An individual standing separate from a group has focus
( Symmetry connotes formality or ritual
( A dead body tends to be horizontal
( A person kneeling before a person standing is connotative of begging
( A man and a woman holding hands is connotative of lovers
( A man with a pistol or a sword drawn connotes a threat
~ From: A Sense of Direction: Some Observations on the Art of Direction. William Ball, 1984, pp 110-111.
For each scene entry you have created for your prompt book for you must also write one thoughtful paragraph on why you chose to stage your play the way you did, and how it is supported by the text of the play. The lines of the play MUST support every staging decision you make.
Evaluation:
Minor Mark: two prompt book sections and compositions (completion of working copy, of stage diagram, and short composition for each)
Major Mark: a good copy of one of the two prompt book sections and a composition of no more than 250 words, on why choices