JOIN USThese photographs were taken on the 5th of September, 1989, when my colleagues and I at Bishop Cotton Girls’ School presented a parody of Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’. Under the direction of our Principal Mrs Joseph, we staged ‘Mockbeth’, which I had scripted, for our students on Teachers’ Day.
The lead roles of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth were essayed by Mrs Esther Pillai of the English department and Mrs Fatima Jaffer, our senior Craft and Needlework teacher and former pupil of the school. Three staff members, clad in black, were the Witches who predict Macbeth’s sovereignty. Others took the parts of Banquo (Macbeth’s comrade-in-arms), Malcolm and Macduff (Macbeth’s adversaries) and Scottish courtiers. All the male characters wore checked skirts, except for Lady Macbeth’s suited physician. Lady Macbeth, herself, was splendid in a white gown and red headgear. Dressed in a long blue coat, I was the monarch she compels her husband to kill.
Although our adaptation of Shakespeare’s tragedy was faithful to the grim events of the original, the skit was suffused with slapstick comedy. This was chiefly for the benefit of our middle-school students who knew little of Shakespeare. Even if they missed the humorous references to the source, they would enjoy, among other things, the clumsy murders and sword fights. Classes XI and XII, who were studying ‘Macbeth’, would grasp the finer points of the dialogue.
So we hoped! As it turned out, the entire gathering screamed excitedly all through the show, starting when Mrs Joseph entered in the garb of a witch. As the girls yelled, the actors were lost! Trained to mime as the Principal narrated the story, their carefully rehearsed actions were largely out of sync with her commentary, which they could barely hear. Spirited performances made up for those lapses.
Mrs Barbara Thomas played the piano as a group of teachers sang specially composed versions of old favourites. The students, however, hardly paid attention to ‘I’ve been to Scotland to visit the King’, since the person mouthing the words was crawling around in a mask and jumpsuit, her tail a swinging plait. If their Maths teacher was the Witches’ cat, the ISC Economics teacher popped in and out of a cooking pot while the choir sang ‘How cute is that doggy in the cauldron!’ to the tune of ‘How much is that doggy in the window?’
Memorable moments included the one in which Malcolm (the rightful King of Scotland), played by Ms Irene Athishtam, flees to England clutching a British Airways bag. Also amusing was Lady Macbeth’s doctor removing non-existent bloodstains with time-tested detergents, from his sleep-walking patient’s hands. Then, there was Malcolm’s forest army. Bedecked with branches, the choir marched up on stage to fulfil the Witches’ prophecy that Macbeth would only be defeated when ‘Birnam wood’ came to his castle.
Finally, the cast assembled to acknowledge the applause of the audience. We had certainly entertained our students although not, perhaps, exactly in the way we had intended!