You have now read three play extracts. Each one told a story and revealed characters and relationships.
❍ Scene 3 from War Horse showed a husband and wife in confl ict, and then showed a bond of trust being created between their son, Albert, and the horse his father had impulsively bought.
❍ Scene 7 from War Horse told the story of the father selling the horse to the army. The offi cer who bought him promised to keep him safe so that he can be returned to Albert at the end of the war.
❍ Billy Elliot the Musicalshowed Billy saying an awkward goodbye to the dancing teacher who gave him the chance to escape life in a depressed mining village and instead experience a life of opportunity.
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Take a few silent minutes to refl ect on the scenes. Decide which one you think tells the best story about characters and their relationships. When you are ready, raise your hand to give your choice and say why you chose it.
Now that you have done a lot of thinking about characters – about what they say, how they speak their lines, their actions and their
Now that you have hot-seated and thought-tracked characters and thought about the many ways in which actors create characters on stage, it’s time to try some acting of your own!
Write down the name of a famous person, but don’t reveal the name. Imitate the walk, talk, gestures, movements and posture of this person. You might even add a prop! Your classmates must guess who the famous person is.
relationships with other characters – go to your Writing Skills Book to write up notes on a chosen character in a drama extract that you have studied. You can also make notes on drama extracts that you enjoyed/did not enjoy.
