This lesson was designed with last years devised material (Can easily be adapted) and has several different tasks for students to complete over a few lessons. They need to use research skills to find out about Brecht and his style of theatre. This is designed for students to fill out the tasks on the powerpoint and to send the file back to you. However this can be used as a live lesson too! I have lots of socially distanced lessons and covid work on my page so please take a look.

For the exam board WJEC Eduqas Drama GCSE, studying the set text of Find Me by Olwen Wymark. Ppt features slides on: Original Performance Conditions Stage Ground Plans Key Acting Vocabulary Rehearsal Techniques 15 Marker Paragraph Structure: Acting and Design Questions Style and Structure Character Motivations Sentence Stems Mood and Atmosphere Students have found these packs extremely useful in their revision.

This is a powerpoint filled with many tasks (roughly 2 hours worth) for students to complete independently. It features challenges and ‘help pages’ with a range of different activities, from drawing storyboards to writing a trailer review, to asking questions etc. There are also videos and script extracts for them to explore.

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 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.

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 set of Case files directly link with Crime Scene video and correspond with the video of unfolding of events in the Albert Snyder murder case (committed by Ruth Snyder and Henry Judd Gray). This is the case that Sophie Treadwell based they play Machinal off of. I use this as an introductory ‘hook’ lesson to spark the interest of students studying it. It involves a video and individual case files for the students to use to solve the crime. All files included are from the research and media documentation of the case. I have adapted this work with the idea that each student will have files on their table that they have to open at certain times during the ‘case meeting’ with the ‘phorensic video’. This has been adapted from my practical crime scene lesson to suit safety measures of social distancing. These files correspond with a ‘phorensic investigation’ video of the murder. Resource can be found here https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/machinal-crime-scene-video-distance-learning-live-teaching-12329728

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 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.

This resource is a double-sided learning mat/ Knowledge organiser/ revision resource. It contains lots of information about context, Expressionism and a writing structure. The aim is for students to have it on the table when writing an answer so that they can quickly access the necessary information to input into their writing. However if students want to, they can use it as an ‘essential information’ resource where they memorise it. The more they use it, the better their writing will become.

This lesson is designed for you to set up a crime scene of the real murder case of Albert Snyder, done by Ruth Snyder and Judd Gray. This is the case that Sophie Treadwell based the story of Machinal on. Students have to investigate the crime scene and collate the evidence on the whiteboard using the presentation. This is designed to spark their interest and get them to learn through discovery. I usually do this at the end of year 12. In addition to setting up the crime scene, there is another resource of evidence from the real case. Find it here: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/ruth-snyder-murder-trail-case-file-12261521 An item list is on the presentation of what to include in your crime scene.

Case file to compliment lesson of murder case investigation lesson https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/machinal-murder-case-lesson-12261507 Collated evidence of pictures and articles of the real Ruth Snyder murder trial.

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

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.

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 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.

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

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.