The aims are to:

• understand what a script is
• participate in writing a script
• learn more about character development
• understand and use a variety of dramatic techniques.

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

• be more confident in performing
• understand more about using different techniques to develop a character
• understand and use a scripted extract
• participate in writing a script and understand script conventions.

The skills covered in this project include (but are not limited to) freeze frame, hot seating, interviewing, role-on-the-wall, thought-tracking and thoughts aloud.

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

• character development
• dramatic pause
• dramatic silence
• freeze frames
• hot seating
• interviewing
• role-on-the-wall
• script-writing
• sociogram.

The key words which are used in this project include:

• blocking
• dramatic pause
• dramatic silence
• emotional state
• hot seating
• interviewing
• key moment
• role-on-the-wall
• script
• script-writing
• self-evaluation
• sociogram.

The text which students encounter during this project includes a selection of script extracts from Shakespeare plays (Julius Caesar, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet).

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

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

• develop a character from a script
• perform a scene from a script
• write a script.

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

	William Shakespeare at eNotes

	Shakespeare Online

	Royal Shakespeare Company

	Shakespeare’s Globe 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 4: Making

• Actively interpret the work of playwrights
• Write and perform their own simple scripts, demonstrating an understanding of some correct theatre conventions

Level 4: Performing

• Learn lines, collaborate with others and organise simple presentations
• Experiment with their voices and movement, to create or present different characters in performance

Level 4: Responding

• Demonstrate an awareness of some theatre traditions from different times and places, eg Kathakali dance drama, Greek or Tudor theatre

Level 5: Making

• Interpret and rehearse extracts from a range of scripted plays