For some, sitting through a performance of Shakespeare is hard enough – but students at the Royal Docks Academy were treated to two, back-to-back performances of Macbeth by the BoxClever Theatre company.

Newham Recorder: Students also had a Q&A session to talk about the performances and learn more about the acting industry. Picture: RDAStudents also had a Q&A session to talk about the performances and learn more about the acting industry. Picture: RDA (Image: Archant)

To demonstrate the different ways his texts can be interpreted, Year 10 and 11 pupils saw shortened versions of the Shakespeare play with modern twists, like beatboxing, before seeing the full-length version at the National Theatre.

They also questioned performers on routes into acting and how best to learn lines.

Head of English, Albany Borland, said: “These two visits enabled our students to experience very different versions of the same story.

“It really helped students to understand Macbeth and showed them that it is ok to have different opinions on it and that there are various ways to understand it.

“Performances like this help to lift work off the page and students appreciate the text in its original intentions.”