An Introduction
to Romeo & Juliet
A series of drama workshops exploring the themes of Shakespeare's play adapted
for students with special educational needs and providing a means for teachers
to
deliver their pupils' drama entitlement in special needs and mainstream settings.
The structure aims to provide drama and theatre skills, giving students
and all participants opportunities to experience and enhance their:
- creative
expression (oral and written)
- concentration
and focus
- listening
and responding
- improvisation
and experimentation
- role
play and characterisation
- social
inter-action
- self-confidence
and self-esteem
- understanding
of themselves and others
- spiritual
development
- sense
of community
- awareness
of emotions
- sense
of enjoyment
In addition, the
teaching of drama skills provides a powerful tool in structuring elements
of the National Literacy Strategy to ensure that all students have access to:
- a
full range of literary genres
- a
range of classical texts
- a
range of suitably adapted texts and approaches for pupils with learning
difficulties where this is appropriate.
This series provides
a structure which employs a facilitator to:
- set
the scene
- tell
the story
- allow
for flexibility and experimentation
- provide
healthy boudaries and containment
An additional structure
of a simplified narrative verse drama, faithful to the original
play, provides students with the experience of:
- narrative
verse to lead or reflect the workshop sequences
- rhythm,
rhyme and analogy
This also provides
opportunities for teachers to develop and dramatise the poem in
their own way. Furthermore, interest and engagement in the play' story is maintained
through the provision of activities involving English and creative skills, to
reinfroce
each workshop and provide resources for subsequent workshops - leading to the
creating of props, linking to to National Curriculum requirements in Design Technology.
Suggestions have been made to enable all students to have a means of creative
expression
whether by using art materials, IT, or conventional writing. Music
and dance activities have also been incorporated into the workshop structure
with the use of mediaeval and modern songs and music, as well as the use of musical
instruments to enhance the drama. Sensory
elements have been included to enhance the workshop activities for students
with more profound difficulties - the presence of herbs and herbal potions are
crucial
to the plot as are celebratory elemnts, such as candles and foods.
Finally, the structure of the workshops, following the story sequence,can be modified
and adapted to provide the culmination of several weeks of acquiring and practising
theatre skills - a live performance.
As well as being appropriate in an educational setting, I believe this 'Romeo
and Juliet'
Drama Pack could be used in the areas of Mental Health and Youth services. For
this
reason I have addressed the Workshop structures to a Facilitator who may be a
teacher or other professional.
Beverley Rees, Adv.Dip.Sec.Ed.,Grad.Dip.Dramathpy