A series of lessons studying the techniques of Devising theatre company, The Paper Birds. These 6 workshops individually explore several different techniques over a few lessons, allowing students to explore in the style thoroughly, using their techniques from a range of their different performances. Techniques such as: Puppetry Invisible Forces Flocking Movement motifs (inspired by pictures) Replacement emotions (with movement) Monologue writing And more

This is a resource design for a costume design student to independently work through for a devised piece of theatre. This can be easily adapted.

This full lesson teaches A level students the specific features of Expressionism with the aim to focus this on Machinal by Sophie Treadwell. However I have made this lesson so that you can adapt it to suit your text. It looks at the influences of art onto different elements of theatre such as lighting, set and performers. This aims to cater for the Edexcel Drama and Theatre studies set text (Section B) in the written A level exam. It can also be used as a revision resource/ independent work.

This lesson explores the idea of 7 levels of tension, accuracy with mime, confined space work and cane exploration. It looks at building the skills of the students through exercises that Lecoq would explore with his students. The lesson is easily adaptable and has some ideas about more Lecoq activities on the final slide.

Easy to follow Stage Combat scheme of work aimed for year 9 students. 9 lessons in total. Full unit of work. Focus on Health and Safety of stage combat as well as learning particular moves and skills each lesson, building their sequence in pairs. They perform their stage combat scene at the end of the scheme as their performance assessment and then there is a theoretical test with multiple choice answers.

This lesson looks at the detailed method of Emotional memory. It is a practical lesson where students will learn about how to simulate emotion, but also how to draw and different ways in a performance to execute the emotion well. An opportunity to explore a monologue from Monsters is in the latter part of the lesson. This was designed During covid so can be done using social distancing/ even in isolation.

This is an adaptation of Frantic Assembly’s Chair Duets. Social distancing suitable in practical learning. It is a double lesson where students create a sequence of movements (using principles of chair duets) but have adapted to suit current covid restrictions. Students face each other. There are useful resources on there such as music and contextual references to add to the piece later on. There are also videos of strong chair duets.

Frantic Assembly lesson focused on Round by through. Easy to follow and is designed for devising unit. I do Edexcel, however this can easily be adapted to suit any exam board - it is very open.

This lesson focuses on the circles of attention principle. Students will look at each others walks and create characters. They will then use their imaginations to explore this character in different dimensions and situations. The warm up is isolations of the body where students lie down and will tense and release areas of their body according to instruction by the teacher. Students love this exercise as they find it incredibly relaxing and focusing. It is a practical exploration which will last a double lesson. This has been created during covid so can be done using social distancing.

A powerpoint filled with 15 different drama games - full instructions for each game is included In this powerpoint there are games that are ‘classics’ vs new games that are great to explore and play. Some have been or can be adapted easily to suit social distancing. This is a great resource for end of year drama lessons! Games include: -Graveyard -Penguin Mafia Night at the Museum Evolution Keeper of the Keys Zip, Zap Boing Buzzy Bee’s Fruit Salad Who moved first 11’s Heads or Tails Wink Murder Why are you late? Everyone can act

This is a double lesson (Although it may be too much content so could be another lesson) that focuses on the techniques that The Paper Birds use throughout many of their performances. It looks at their style features and inspirations, practical tasks that can be completed with a socially distanced environment. Featuring Flocking/ Elements of a picture/ Verbatim and Representing emotions through movement. These were all from 2 workshops that we have had ourselves, from The Paper Birds - I have taken their principles and put this into the lesson plan. Our students always respond really well to The Paper Birds. This can be used for A level and GCSE students (Verbatim may need to be changed for GCSE)

This lesson is designed for A level students to revise and understand specific lighting terminology. This has been taken directly from the Edexcel A level glossary for lighting. Students then have a technical question for Section B at the end of the powerpoint in order to apply what they have learned through writing a paragraph with the teacher. This can be a resource where students self-teach in isolation and learn the terminology independently.

This technique is a simple but effective string of movements to establish relationships between characters in the passing of time. It can be done with individuals maintaining social distancing whilst effectively exploring an interesting concept. Frantic used this in their production of Tiny Dynamite. This is ideally for A level students doing devised work, but it can be tailored to GCSE students too. I have loads of socially distanced lessons if you’re doing practical work with practitioners/ Machinal.

This resource has general tasks set that are easily adapted to any topic in drama. There are a series of different tasks that students can work through independently. The idea is that the student has a limitless budget and is in charge of a theatre company. They have to oversee the technical choices as well as considering their school topic/ play they are currently studying. There is a total of 8 different tasks in this booklet and will easily cover a 2 week isolation period. This can be done handwritten or electronically. Suitable for years 7-9. (Lower Year 10 possibly)

My Year 9’s absolutely loved this scheme of work. Students are assessed by producing a film trailer (of any style they wish) for a theatre text they choose. These texts can be changed to suit your cohort of students. Each group became their own theatre company and had to have different roles that they were responsible for e.g. director/ camera operator/ treasurer/ actors etc. We had lots of fun generating the ‘National Lottery Funding’ where they can ‘win funding’ for their theatre co. I did a lot of teacher in role where I used a microphone and a sparkly jacket to host the games. Students then spent their ‘budget’ on props and costume in an auction (again teacher in role) for their production. After this students planned their films, conducted rehearsals and then created their films around site. They absolutely loved doing this and it created some excellent independence. From this, students then had to edit and layer their films and we then held a film premier with popcorn - they absolutely loved this scheme of work. They particularly enjoyed learning about the skills in acting for film, considering target audience, and having the independence to create something of their own. We had an award ceremony for the films and this was great for motivating students. This scheme is planned to cover 2 terms of Year 9 lessons - Year 9s have 2 lessons of drama over a fortnight - we teach 100 minute lessons.

Scheme of 5 x 100 minute lessons (if you have 50 minute lessons, this could split across 10-12 lessons). KS3 drama scheme of work focused on Theatrical Style and Dramatic Form including the following styles: Melodrama, Pantomime, Butoh and Clowning. The 5th lesson is an assessment preparation lesson where students pick their favourite style and perform according to an assessment brief and a title given to all styles. All can be adapted to suit your needs.

This quiz is designed for a double lesson or 100 minute lesson, covering all bases for the written GCSE WJEC Eduqas paper. On the tables of the groups I would place crisps and apple juice to give more of a ‘Pub Quiz’ feel, rather than just a test. My students loved this idea and preferred it a lot more that just a typical quiz.

This is a combination of 2 lessons focused on the practitioner of Brecht. Lesson 1 explores 3 practical techniques: 3rd Person Narration, Direct Address and Gestus. The students then will be at home exploring this with a short section of script where they have to rehearse this to perform over zoom/ teams/ live virtual platform. Additionally, there is another lesson filled with independent tasks to explore with a focus on devising. This includes the stimuli from WJEC Eduqas 2022 devised Component 1 criteria. The students then have to apply what they have learned, to an idea they have. There is also an array of resources for them to explore should they wish to expand their knowledge. This is designed to be a distanced learning/ covid isolation/ home learning lesson which allows for practical work to continue. I have lots of resources on my dashboard about social distancing/ isolation in drama. I also have a bundle of 4 lessons to introduce all 4 stimuli from the WJEC Eduqas 2022 exam board.

This is my favourite lesson to do with students! They explore the principle of Anne Bogart’s and Tina Landau’s ‘Viewpoints’ where they improvise using the principles of space, body and time. It is great as a lesson when the basics need to be revisited and new devised content needs to be made. Some lovely moments happen by accident during this lesson and it is so rewarding. The lesson covers the necessary detail to understand the principles and to try them out. There is also content regarding vision and having a soft focus. It is a practical lesson that I do with students when devising - practitioners Anne Bogart and Tina Landau are responsible for this. (It’s great to join in with too - throw a good playlist on and students really get lost in the freedom)

This video is a ‘phorensic investigation’ of the Albert Snyder murder in 1927. (The murder that the play Machinal was based off of). On my profile are the documents of the ‘Case Files’ featured in the video so that you are able to print them off in the necessary order that corresponds with the ‘findings’ of the video. The idea being that each student is given a case file and are expected to reveal it when it’s their turn on the video. The resources can be found here https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/machinal-murder-case-files-x-7-social-distancing-resources-12329667 Students will then ‘solve the crime’ from the video and the case files. This has been adapted from a practical ‘phorensic investigation’ lesson to suit social distancing safety for schools. Alternatively it can be used for online/ live teaching. The video instructs you when to pause the video to discuss/ investigate the documents.