The aims are to:

• show how a variety of texts and objects can be used as stimuli for drama
• use text as a stimulus for improvisation
• help students understand how a script is laid out
• develop rehearsal and performance skills
• give students an opportunity to experience different texts.

By the end of this project, students are expected to:

• have developed rehearsal and performance skills
• have created a variety of different characters
• be able to work in a variety of groupings
• understand how to use text or script as the basis of improvisation.

The skills covered in this project include (but are not limited to) hot seating, mime, prepared improvisation, spontaneous improvisation, still image and thoughts aloud.

The techniques which are covered in lessons in this project include:

• blocking
• gesture
• mime
• movement
• prepared improvisation
• proxemics
• still image
• thoughts aloud
• voice.

The key words which are used in this project include:

• blocking
• body language
• facial expression
• performance
• prepared improvisation
• proxemics
• rehearsal
• still image
• text.

The text which students encounter in this project includes skeleton scripts, a variety of objects, a poem and some mini-plays.

This series of lessons has cross-curricular links with English.

Students should be assessed in this project on the extent to which they:

• show an understanding of the use of text as a stimulus
• create and perform characters relevant to the situation.

Web sites which could be used for further information on this topic include:

	The British Theatre Guide: Creating Your Own Show

	BBC: Writersroom

	Stagework: Issues, ideas, people, performance

Click on ‘People’ to find out about the role of the playwright in the theatre.

This project meets the following recommendations from Drama in Schools (Second Edition) (Arts Council England, 2003). For a complete mapping, see Managing: Drama in Schools.

Level 3: Performing

• Communicate their work as part of a group, learning lines and sharing the different functions needed to present the play, eg making and using props effectively, creating sound effects or operating simple lighting effects, for instance, with torch light

Level 4: Performing

• Learn lines, collaborate with others and organise simple presentations