The aims are to:

• explore the issues
• work on character development
• create and perform improvisations based on a script
• understand and use a variety of techniques and skills.

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

• gained knowledge about the position of young Jewish people in the Second World War
• learnt about the techniques used in creating a character
• used a script for performance and/or as a basis for improvisation.

The skills covered in this project include (but are not limited to) awareness of teacher-in-role (TIR), hot seating, prepared improvisation, role-on-the-wall, still image, thought tunnel and thought-tracking.

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

• abstract drama
• character development
• forum theatre
• improvisation
• mime
• role-on-the-wall
• spotlighting
• still image
• thought tunnel.

The key words which are used in this project include:

• abstract drama
• forum theatre
• improvisation
• performance
• rehearsal
• role-on-the-wall
• self-evaluation
• spotlighting
• still image
• subtext
• thought tunnel.

The text which students encounter during this project includes a script (The Diary of Anne Frank by Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich, published by Samuel French Ltd, 1956) or The Diary of a Young Girl: Definitive Edition (Penguin, 1997) (the prose version of Anne Frank’s diary). Alternatives to this textual stimulus are provided if the above diary (in prose and/or play format) is unavailable. Students may also encounter text during their research on the topic.

This series of lessons has cross-curricular links with Citizenship, History and English.

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

• develop appropriate drama techniques
• develop a character in performance
• help to create a group improvisation, and perform in it.

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

	Anne Frank Museum Amsterdam

	Anne Frank Center

	Anne Frank Diary Reference

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: Responding

• Discuss the themes or issues in the drama and the way they were presented

Level 5: Making

• Explore and interpret ideas, issues and relationships in their drama work, and structure it using appropriate dramatic forms, eg documentary drama, and conventions such as the use of the aside
• Interpret and rehearse extracts from a range of scripted plays
• Write scripts or short plays based on devised work, using appropriate theatre conventions

Level 5: Responding

• Compare different interpretations of the same text, eg extracts from two videos of the same play

Level 6: Making

• Devise dramas in various forms, based on a range of challenging issues and themes
• Create and represent clearly defined characters from the written work, add depth and consider motivation