200 Plays for GCSE and A-Level Performance: A Drama Teacher's Guide

by Jason Hanlan

Overview

How do I choose a play to perform with my students that meets the curriculum requirements and also interests my class?
What can I introduce my students to that they might not already know?

If you're asking these questions, this is the book for you!

Written specifically for drama teachers, this is a quick, easy-to-use guide to finding and staging the best performance material for the whole range of student abilities and requirements for 15 - 18-year-olds.

It suggests 200 plays suitable for students of all abilities and requirements, providing sound advice on selection and realisation, and opening up plays and playwrights you may have never known existed.

Structured in 2 parts, Part 1 consists of 8 easy-to-read chapters, explaining how to get the most out of the resource. Part 2 is a vast resource listing 200 plays suitable for study/performance at GCSE and A Level. The details of each play are set out in an easy-to-navigate chart that offers introductory information on:

Play
Playwright
Casting numbers
Gender splits
Ability
Genre description
Brief Summary
Exam level
Workshop ideas
Warnings/advice (where necessary)
Suggested scenes for study
Performance notes including lighting, sound, costume and space

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781350146624
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	07/01/2021
Pages:	184
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.38(d)

About the Author

Jason Hanlan has built and led a drama department in a secondary school in Surrey, UK, and has been Head of a Performing Arts faculty in a large 11-18 state school in Royal Berkshire. During this time, he was also LEA advisor for Surrey secondary drama and Lead Teacher for Drama in Berkshire. He has worked for AQA drama GCSE as a moderator and senior moderator for 12 years. As part of this role he has been Coursework Advisor for teachers of GCSE Drama throughout the UK. He has been a senior moderator for AQA Performing Arts for four years and run teacher inset and training for Keynote Education, Lighthouse and Surrey county council. He is currently Profesor De Teatro at Colegio Las Candelas in Mendoza, Argentina. He also runs teacher training courses in Drama and English Literature in universities and foundations in Mendoza. Jason Hanlan is a member of National Drama, the UK's leading subject association for drama teachers and theatre educators.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements vi

Part 1

1 About this Book 3

2 Knowing Your Students and the Skills Audit 8

3 Which Play? 12

4 Design Options 15

5 Performance Exams (The Bottom Line) 30

6 Performance Spaces 34

7 Shakespeare 39

8 The Language of the Theatre 45

Part 2

Listing of 200 Plays 63

Female-only Plays 63

Male-only Plays 73

Plays with Mixed Cast 83

Plays with Flexible Casting 153

The Ten Shakespeare Plays 158

Index of Plays 165

Index of Playwrights 169