VISITORS to a primary school have been walking through the story of Macbeth thanks to more than 200 children and the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC).

Seven schools from Crook and Willington have taken part in the RSC project with their efforts culminating in a Macbeth-themed event at Crook Primary School.

Each school wrote their own scenes to accompany the story of Macbeth with parents and visitors able to travel through their version of the Scottish play.

Youngsters from St Cuthbert’s School in Crook allowed visitors to walk through Macbeth’s mind and the conflicting arguments over whether he should kill King Duncan or not before choosing a dagger to decide if the deadly deed should be done.

Other youngsters prepared news reports about the murder of MacDuff’s family, a battle scene between Scotland and Norway and a scene with the witches and their cauldron.

Barbara Gentles, Year 4 teacher at Crook and RSC coordinator for the Crook and Willington schools cluster, said: “The aim was to improve their writing, all the children wrote the scenes themselves and have really engaged with the story."

The project marked the third and final year of the project with the RSC but Ms Gentles said the schools have been so pleased with the results they will continue it in the future. The schools that took part included Crook, St Cuthbert’s, Hartside, Willington, St Stephen’s, Our Lady and St Thomas and Hunwick.