Dear School tours
Last week I saw the play Macbeth with my school class. On the whole I liked the play. To choose such a difficult play for school theatre is very brave of you. But I think it is good for students to know such an important play of Shakespeare.
In my opinion it was very difficult to understand the content of the play, although I have read the textbook before. I think this problem is caused by the role changing of the actors. This was very confusing for me. Sometimes during the play I didn’t understand what person exactly the actor played at that moment. It would be helpful, if there were only one more actor.
All of the actors did a very good performance. I was especially  impressed by the actor of Macbeth. He had very good actions on the stage and he acted very emotionally, so the audience got an impression about the feelings of Macbeth.
The three weird sisters were very funny with their masks. This was very good for the understanding of the play.
In my point of view, the music didn’t fit to the play because it was in German. I didn’t like the music very much.
In my opinion the stage wasn’t so fascinating. But changing the boards was a very good idea for showing a change of the place. The boards were also helpful for you to change your clothes.
All in all you did your job very well and I liked they play.
Best regards
Eva Strubreiter
5 AK

Dear Schooltours

Last week Schooltours showed one of their plays for the pupils of several schools in Hallein. As it was my last Schooltours play I watched it even more carefully – and critically. And I have to say that I liked the last six ones more.
We saw an adaption of Shakespeare’s “Macbeth”. Already several times one of his tragedies has been model for a performance but never has the material been so complicated.
Compared to the staging of “Romeo and Juliet” there were twice as many characters but nevertheless only four actors. For the audience it was therefore quite a challenge to keep the central theme in mind. Without having read the booklet it would have been impossible to understand the plot.
I know that Schooltours English theatres always have four actors but the quality and fluency of the show suffered by that. The actors themselves, I think, had difficulties to cope with the constant changing of clothes and roles. If they had been able to focus on fewer characters they would have shown a better performance. As a result I was only convinced by Macbeth who was as strong and charismatic as I had imagined. Moreover I liked the fact that he had dark skin colour. That gave the tragedy a modern touch.
Talking of modernity I must say that obviously the writers were indecisive if “Macbeth” should take place in the original century or at presence. On the one hand everyone wore modern clothes but on the other hand there were thanes and sword fighting. Personally I would have preferred an up to date story instead of a mixture.
The topic remains timeless and so you could have made so much out of it. For example a feud within a big company and managers corrupting each other.
One thing I have always like of the Schooltours plays are the props. I had never thought boxes and partition walls were that convenient. I admire that multi-functionality. It was a good idea to use colours to show the affiliation of the protagonists but you could have made more out of it. The ribbons were too discrete.
There was something else that disturbed me – the music. It is not appropriate to play a German song in an English theatre! It fit the situation but irritated everyone.
Despite the criticism I am fond of Schooltours work and sure that the productions help pupils to get closer to English language and culture. Probably I will miss to see one at least once a year.
Yours faithfully

Maria Walkner

Dear Sir or Madam

My name is Florian Weiß and I attend the commercial school in Hallein (Salzburg).
On Wednesday we went to see your English theatre “Macbeth”. I was very positively surprised about the stage design. I had expected a very colourful stage, but it was equipped with only a few items. In my opinion the actors were very talented and had a good charisma, but the roles weren’t so clear. An actor had to act two roles and this was sometimes really confusing. Only the scene with the witches was easy to understand, because of the masks and the changes of the voices. A further critical aspect was the music between the fights. I think in an English theatre there shouldn’t be played German music.
I have to pay the actor who played “Macbeth” a compliment. He excellently caught the attention with his deep voice and the very impressive appearance. Summing up I think the actors could permute their roles and I’m glad that I have seen the play. My tip for you is to change the music in some parts of the play and to take one more actor into your team.

Yours faithfully

Florian Weiß