Home - Drama Keystage 3

1. Read the section Washdays and its sub-theme pages, focusing on the housework activities.
Each pupil chooses one activity to recreate through mime and a sound effect, from the ones described in the article. As a whole class or in groups, pupils create a 'housework machine' starting off with one person repeating their mime and action, and one by one others joining in with theirs. Pupils should try to make a connection with others mimes in the 'machine' (suitable for Year 7)

• Extension - teacher or a pupil can control the sound level and speed of the 'machine' through agreed hand signals. Pupils can add a phrase, e.g., 'Scrub, scrub, scrub, work's never done', in place of a sound effect.

2. Read the section Radio Days.

In groups, devise a family scene in which a family are tuning into a radio for the first time. Set the scene and characters clearly and make sure the scene has a clear beginning middle and end. (suitable for Years 7 and 8).

• Extension - Include a change in energy when the radio is brought into the room, e.g., calm to excited, and include a dramatic pause to increase tension when tuning it in. Use space to help create the tension even more e.g., from spread out to crowding round. (suitable for Year 8)

3. Read the section Games.

In groups, create a sequence of six tableaux, which shows children having a game of 'Release' and then the police arrive and everybody scatters and hides. Include a range of space and levels and clearly visible body-language and facial expression, to convey mood and atmosphere. Put to appropriate music and find a way of moving, as a group, from one tableau to the next. (suitable for Years 8 and 9)

As a class (nine volunteers to be in the photograph are 'sculpted' into shape by the rest of the class) or in groups, recreate a tableau of the photograph of the boys playing marbles. Each pupil then thinks of a thought that their character might be having, and one by one speaks it aloud, whilst the others stay frozen. (suitable for Years 7 and 8)

• Extension - Create a scene, starting from the tableau, in which one of the 'Alleys' goes down an 'area'. Which boy is chosen to go and ask his mother for a clothes prop and soap and how is he persuaded? Try to include at least three manners of persuasion, e.g., bribery, blackmail, flattery, threatening, begging. (suitable for Year 8)