STAR PLAYS SERIES:Oliver Twist; Young Runaways; Mirror World; Kidnapped; Invasion of the Shapeshifter; Jason Brent. By Keith West. Evans Brothers pound;3.99 each. PLAYS WITH ATTITUDE SERIES:Twisted; Much Ado About Clubbing; Dragon Chaser; Angelcake. By Andrew Fusek Peters and Polly Peters. Hodder pound;9.99 each. ABOUT FACE. By Paul Whitfield. NATE pound;5.95. SUPER SCRIPTS SERIES:When Did You Last See Your Parents?. By Chris Bond. CANTERBURY TALES. By Keith Hurst. SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE LIMEHOUSE HORROR. By Philip Pullman. Nelson Thornes pound;6 each.
Star Plays is an enterprising new series promoting a variety of genre in dramatic form at key stage 3: adventure stories, adaptations of classic novels and science fiction. Keith West offers apposite reading suggestions while nurturing acting skills. The short, sharp plays have a strong sense of social conscience and aim to forge links between past, present and future.
Plays with Attitude are intended for those who like life in the fast lane. Twisted is a hard-line exploration of themes such as bullying and family trauma, while Much Ado about Clubbing relishes gender stereotype, youth-culture diction and cliche, and the teenage capacity to just go on partying.
Both plays are suitable for key stage 3 and 4, and valuable for their sheer inventiveness and fascinating staging techniques. Much of the material here could be used in drama or PHSE lessons and if thoughts tend towards larger scale performance, scrupulous suggestions for stage-crafting make all things seem possible, even on limited resources.
Angelcake and Dragon Chaser, for an older age group, are less successful. Angelcake, dealing with Aids, is set in the early 1990s, before the advent of anti-retroviral drugs. Where these plays do succeed is in their clever multiple discourses, including choral work, soliloquy and dramatic monologue.
In NATE’s experimental and exciting About Face, Paul Whitfield’s impressive text is supplemented by information on the causes and remedies of mental illness. This user-friendly package is part of the Cracking KS3 Scripts series. Older readers should enjoy it, and it could provide an excellent framework for sixth-formers seeking help with, say, AQA A2 (b) language and literature coursework.
Super Scripts are superb and ambitious. Apart from the exquisitely understated When Did You Last See Your Parents? these are dramas which will require serious expenditure. Canterbury Tales needs a magnificent stage set evoking the gateway to Hell, against which the Miller and the Reeve, Chaucer’s raunchiest pilgrims, recount their flatulent tales. The more explicit passages are delivered in medieval English, but given the visual antics, it’s difficult to believe anyone won’t tune in to this carnivalesque tribute.
With similar relish, Philip Pullman comes up with a marvellous Conan Doyle parody. Pullman, a long-standing fan of the original stories, displays his customary expertise.
Joanna Porter
Joanna Porter teaches English at King Edward VI for girls in Handsworth, Birmingham
