Year 8 is left without a teacher. To relieve the boredom they launch an expedition - two students who never break the rules are sent to steal something from the headteacher's office. The unlikely criminals return as heroes and set about re-enacting the theft. In the ensuing chaos one student discovers that he too has been the victim of theft and accusations fly. Perfect for classroom performance, David Grant's witty play covers conflicts of gender, academic ability and conformism. Whatever schools and teachers may hope, it is the students who decide their own fate. * Crackling, witty dialogue. * Well-drawn, realistic characters. * Perfect for both performance and textual study.

This series offers a unique interactive approach that will encourage learners to become involved in the interactive process of these plays, whilst exposing them to the atmosphere and history of the age, in a fun and stimulating way. An extensive amount of background and supporting material is offered in a user-friendly way with exciting features make the plays become visually real. Each exciting page offers: -complete text done in an attractive double-page spread layout a glossary of what the words and phrases mean thought-provoking notes and activities on each page that: explain difficult language, explore characters, themes, words and images, provide useful background information and stimulate thoughts on how to stage the play. This series also offers activities at the end of each act to facilitate understanding. At the back of each book, notes are included, providing information on the world of William Shakespeare.

Oxford School Shakespeare: Macbeth GCSE Revision Cards provide active revision support that targets the most essential skills and knowledge students need to master to ensure exam success. Designed for independent revision, each pack of 65 cards is structured by plot, character and theme, helping students to focus on the key skills and knowledge that will gain them the most marks in the exam. Presented in an accessible and engaging format, the cards include short quotations, questions and answers, broken down into bitesize chunks, so that students can get the most out of their revision sessions. The questions and answers on each card help students to test themselves and ensure they are secure in their knowledge. The sharp, focused content of this quick revision tool make it ideal for last-minute exam preparation.

The Oxford School Shakespeare Macbeth GCSE Revision Workbook provides an accessible and active way for students to revise Macbeth, targeting the key skills and information that students need to master to ensure exam success. The workbook is structured by character and theme and includes a combination of knowledge recap, activities and exam practice, ensuring that students have all the information they need to revise effectively and efficiently. Each unit is carefully structured and includes key information to help students refresh their knowledge, activities that help to deepen their understanding of character and theme, and exam-style questions and tips that help students to craft successful exam responses. Answers are not available in the workbooks themselves, but can be obtained via the Oxford University Press website, for free, here: http://www.oxfordsecondary.com/oss-answers

Othello is one of the most powerful of Shakespeare's tragedies. It is a thrilling drama about love and hate, trust and betrayal, jealousy and revenge. With its complex themes, and compelling language, it speaks directly to today's audiences and sparks vigorous debate. This new edition includes the complete text with explanatory notes and a full introduction that describes the setting, summarises the plot and profiles the main characters. It discusses Shakespeare's language and the play's themes, and it gives typical essay and test questions to help students prepare for exams. Angela Sheehan, who introduces the play, is a Shakespeare enthusiast. She has had a distinguished career editing encyclopedias, educational texts and reference books for children, and published The Best-Loved Plays of Shakespeare and the Shakespeare for Everyone series.

This book provides teachers of children at Key Stages 1 and 2 with a much-needed source of exciting and creative drama-based activities, designed to improve literacy. As useful for the drama novice as for the busy literacy co-ordinator, these flexible activities are designed to help teachers meet National Curriculum and National Literacy Strategy (NLS) requirements, particularly through speaking and listening. The book is divided into three parts: Part 1 looks at literacy and the power of drama as a 'brain-friendly' medium for teaching and learning. Part 2 contains ten structured, practical units of work, each based on a different story, poem, play or traditional tale or rhyme and each linked directly to the requirements and objectives of the NLS and the QCA objectives for speaking and listening. Part 3 contains photocopiable Literacy Support Sheets for teachers to use and adapt for their own classroom needs. All units of work have been tried and tested by the authors, giving teachers a springboard from which to enhance and extend their literacy lessons, and engage the imagination of their pupils. The book is also the ideal resource for student teachers.

Titus obeys every rule but the older Miranda wants some questions answered - would their hands really turn into claws if they had kippers for breakfast? Would she go egg-shaped if she broke an egg? Miranda gleefully smashes an egg. Hey presto - nothing happens! The two children confront Angela and then run away. Excitement turns to fear when things start to get creepy and they discover the home of the sinister Mouth Collector...-2 women, 2 men

An improved, larger-format edition of the Cambridge School Shakespeare plays, extensively rewritten, expanded and produced in an attractive new design. The Rex Gibson active approach to classroom Shakespeare enables students to inhabit Shakespeare's imaginative world in accessible and creative ways, sharing Shakespeare's love of language, interest in character and sense of theatre. Substantially revised and extended, classroom activities are thematically organised in distinctive stagecraft, writing, language, characters and themes features. Expanded endnotes include extensive essay-writing guidance for 'King Richard III' and Shakespeare, and extended glossaries are aligned with the play text for easy reference. Includes rich, exciting colour photos of global performances of 'King Richard III'. Further support material available at www.cambridgeschoolshakespeare.com

This Much Ado About Nothing Complete Play contains the full text of all five acts, with helpful annotations explaining all the tricky bits in plain English. It includes scene overviews and a context section, so that students can keep track of the plot, characters and historical details. Plus, there is lots of practice, with questions and activities at the end of every scene. We've also added Knowledge Organiser pages, which lay all the essentials out in one handy place, and audio extracts, which let students hear key scenes performed, just as Shakespeare intended. The CGP range for Shakespeare also includes a matching Text Guide (9781782948513), which contains all the notes and practice you need to really master Much Ado About Nothing!

The Gruffalo is an internationally bestselling picture book, a popular stage show, a BAFTA and Oscar-nominated animation - and now the story has been adapted into a fun and accessible play script by Julia Donaldson. Ideal for children to use as a school play or at home, The Gruffalo Play has been designed with rehearsals and performance in mind. A clear layout and colour-coding for each character will help children to follow their lines and join the action with ease. The book also contains a hints and tips section which includes helpful advice on staging the play and performing it with larger groups. There are ideas too for themed make-and-do Gruffalo activities, as well as stage make-up for Gruffalo and Mouse! And of course no production of The Gruffalo Play would be complete without the lyrics and music for beloved Gruffalo Song. With Axel Scheffler's fun illustrations, this wonderful, dramatic way to share the classic story is sure to delight teachers, parents and children everywhere.

Adapting the popular Spot books for the stage, David Wood has created an exciting introduction to theatre for small children. Using the simple plot of a birthday party, complete with entertainer, the puppy and his animal friends teach and reflect children's early experiences such as guests arriving, present giving, game playing and going home thank-yous. Th ere is fun audience participation throughout with the children treated more as party guests than simply as spectators. Plenty of fun for the actors, too, with singing, character movement and, optionally, some acrobatic skills to show off!

This imaginative play is closely based on the Greek myth of Persephone's abduction and descent into the Underworld. Ceres, the Goddess of the Harvest, has a daughter, Persephone, who is kidnapped by Dis, God of the Underworld. Can Zeus, the lord of the gods, persuade Dis to let Persephone return to Earth? The compromise achieved by having Persephone divide her time between the two worlds serves as an allegory of the seasons.-Large flexible cast

Exam Board: AQA, Edexcel, OCR & WJEC Level: KS3 Subject: English First Teaching: September 2015 First Exam: June 2018 Get straight to the heart of Shakespeare's Macbeth; students' confidence and understanding develop faster as they explore the plot, themes and Shakespeare's language, which is supported throughout this abridged play text from Globe Education. This title: - Reduces the length of the play by a third, while preserving the intricacies of the plot, enabling students to engage with the whole story in the class time available - Builds understanding of Shakespeare's language by providing a detailed glossary alongside the text for quick and easy reference, plus a range of language-focused activities - Offers a tried-and-tested approach to introducing Shakespeare, based on Globe Education's shortened 'Playing Shakespeare' productions that have been seen and appreciated by over 150,000 students - Helps students form their own personal responses to Shakespeare's Macbeth, stimulated by stunning photographs from Globe productions and questions that reflect on context, characters and themes - Lays the foundations for GCSE success by including activities that target the skills needed for the assessment objectives Free teacher support Shorter Shakespeare: Macbeth is supported by free online teaching resources for each scene: - Teaching notes with guidance on how to approach the scene - Practical group activities to use in the classroom - Questions on language, context, themes, character and performance - Web links to extra resources including photographs from Globe productions, interviews with actors and contextual information This title is also accompanied by 10 video clips from Globe Education's shortened 'Playing Shakespeare' production of Macbeth.

Always drawing together the work of 10 leading playwrights - a mixture of established and current writers - the annual National Theatre Connections anthologies offer young performers between the ages of 13 and 19 an engaging selection of plays to perform, read or study. Each play is specifically commissioned by the National Theatre's literary department and reflects the past year's programming at the venue in the plays' ideas, themes and styles. The plays are performed by approximately 200 schools and youth theatre companies across the UK and Ireland, in partnership with multiple professional regional theatres where the works are showcased. For the first time, there is an anthology of monologues for young people available, taken from plays commissioned as part of the National Theatre Connections over the past 20 years. The monologues feature alongside a general introduction by the editor, Anthony Banks (Associate Director for the National Theatre Discover Programme).The volume also contains individual studies of each monologue with the editor's suggested points for discussion, a brief commentary about the play from which the speech is taken, as well as flagging potential performance decisions and offering up dramaturgical suggestions. Each page features one monologue, plus the individual commentary and some background to the play. This anthology of monologues is the ideal resource for teenagers and young people attending auditions either in the amateur or professional theatre world; students leaving secondary school to audition for drama school; as well as teachers of English and Drama looking for suitable dramatic for their students to engage with and perform. It provides suitable scene-study books that are suitable and relevant to the student in terms of tone, style and content. Young actors who have searched for audition material written in the voice of teenage characters will welcome this resource. With a foreword by actor Matt Smith.

Giant Rumblebottom is about to destroy the kingdom, but if there is anyone with more important worries on his mind it is our unlikely hero, Olaf, who thinks he's so ugly that he has to wear a balaclava. When he wins the lottery, plastic surgery comes within his reach.

An improved, larger-format edition of the Cambridge School Shakespeare plays, extensively rewritten, expanded and produced in an attractive new design. The Rex Gibson active approach to classroom Shakespeare enables students to inhabit Shakespeare's imaginative world in accessible and creative ways, sharing Shakespeare's love of language, interest in character and sense of theatre. Substantially revised and extended, classroom activities are thematically organised in distinctive stagecraft, writing, language, characters and themes features. Expanded endnotes include extensive essay-writing guidance for 'King Lear' and Shakespeare, and extended glossaries are aligned with the play text for easy reference. Includes rich, exciting colour photos of global performances of 'King Lear'. Further support material available at www.cambridgeschoolshakespeare.com

A giant builds a high wall around his beautiful garden to prevent the children from playing in it. However, he is taught a valuable lesson when spring does not return and the garden remains in winter all year round. One morning the unusual sound of birdsong and the sight of a small, frail child trying to climb a tree reminds the giant how selfish he has been. He knocks down the wall, spring arrives and the giant is happy that his garden is now free for all. This enchanting sung-through musical was written especially for a large cast of young people and enjoyed three successful seasons at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford in 1995, 1999 and 2002. It has great opportunity for lots of chorus and solo work, which can be easily adapted according to how many children are available.

Are you confident with poetry, an expert in Dickens, at ease with modern drama, but a bit more unsure when it comes to Shakespeare? Then this is the guide for you. Lots of students find Shakespearean language and content the hardest element of the GCSE English Literature course; this book gives you practical strategies you can use to make sure you can access those very top grades. Are you giving the examiner your own personal opinion on the extract? Have you picked out the most important quotes, and broken them down? Does it link to the play as a whole? This guide gives you a range of ways to make sure you're doing all this and more, and that you achieve as close to full marks as possible, every time. Broken down into the two most frequently studied Shakespearean plays at GCSE (Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet), you can find the text that you need and become an expert in all things Shakespeare. No more woolly points, no more skirting away from analyzing pentametre, no more generic 'Shakesperean audiences hated...' It's time to focus on the 9s.

Shakespeare for Everyone is a wonderful series featuring a lively and stimulating approach to some of the most popular of Shakespeare s plays. These books really bring his works to life for those who are new to Shakespeare or who are studying the plays in school. Background on how he wrote each play and how it fits into his entire body of work is e

The pupils of St Campion's Comprehensive, ultra-disciplined exam machines, are devoted to their headmaster. But something strange is going on and the worst class in the world - 6Z - are going to get to the bottom of this mystery and expose the DEMON HEADMASTER! Based on the very popular children's book, The Demon Headmaster by Gillian Cross, this musical is fun, exciting and a little bit scary. An early version of the musical was 'workshopped' at the Royal National Theatre's studio in 1997 and premiered at The Pleasance Theatre, London. In 1999 it enjoyed a very successful national tour.Large flexible cast

This is the site licence edition. An easy-to-use, flexible and engaging teaching resource for secondary students of mixed abilities studying "Macbeth". An exciting interactive experience to work in classrooms alongside Classical Comics award-winning differentiated graphic novels to show students and the most reluctant readers that studying Shakespeare doesn't have to be "boring". Designed to be used in a multitude of ways to fit in with many different teaching styles and to promote literacy in a differing caliber of pupils in the same classroom, Macbeth Interactive Motion Comic offers a choice of three language options: Original Text (original Shakespeare with context notes), Plain Text (plain modern English) or Quick Text (reduced dialogue) - all using the same animated artwork giving you a classroom of pupils, of whatever ability, effectively reading from the 'same' page. There is also an option to view "No Text" (empty speech balloons for pupils to fill in the dialogue!). Teachers retain full control over playback of the motion comic choosing to use it on their whiteboard or computer, or it can be used simultaneously by any number of computers that are connected to the school network. (It can even be remotely accessed on an extended network so pupils can access it from home). Interacting with the motion comic is really versatile. Choose to: watch the whole "movie" (even switching between text versions as you go if desired) pause to hover over highlighted words to receive helpful context notes jump back to the dramatis personae for a reminder of the characters list select to watch just certain scenes choose panel by panel navigation (then select at what point in the panel you'd like to play the animation - fast forward, rewind, pause, resume, return to start of the panel or skip to the end) watch the animation on split screen watch with or without sound Macbeth Interactive Motion Comic has everything: animation of the graphic novel artwork, full audio, sound effects, and if that wasn't enough, the audio is voiced by leading professional actors, including the voice talents of Juliet Stevenson as Lady Macbeth, and for the lead role in Original Text, Sir Derek Jacobi. Macbeth Interactive Motion Comic can be used with or without the corresponding Classical Comics printed graphic novels, as the Act/Line/Scene references throughout the animation link back to any traditional Macbeth script. All three versions of the animated Classical Comics graphic novels in one application Full audio soundtrack Context notes accompany the Original Text version Links to the Classical Comics graphic novels Act/Scene/Line references to link with any traditional script Choose "Movie Mode" to watch the experience unfold, choose panel-by-panel navigation or select particular scenes Runs on any PC (Windows XP SP2 or later) or Mac (OSX 10.4.11 or later) or on any web browser that can run Adobe Flash Site Licence Edition extras: - Can be used on multiple machines at one time - Includes additional set of Low Audio animation for lower bandwidth - Includes electronic set of No Text pages (with empty speech balloons)

On a school trip to research the history of a graveyard, a group of students unearth a lot more than they bargained for! This excellent adaptation retells Theresa Breslin's timeless, Carnegie medal-winning story. Solomon is bullied by his teachers and let down by his parents. His refuge is the graveyard in the shadow of the rowan tree, the only thing that grows there. When workmen uproot the tree a strange and terrible power is unleashed. It seems a lust for revenge is spanning the centuries...* A thrilling adaptation of a Carnegie medal-winning novel. * Packed with social and historical themes. * Perfect for exploring character.

An engaging classroom playscript. Robert Louis Stevenson's classic tale of gothic horror has now been adapted for secondary students. Written by classroom favourite Adrian Flynn, the play will thrill students with its story of a doctor whose scientific experiments lead him to get in touch with his darker side... New, innovative activities specifically tailored to support the KS3 Framework for Teaching English and help students to fulfil the Framework objectives. Activities include work on Speaking and Listening, close text analysis, and the structure of playscripts, and act as a springboard for personal writing.

Now everyone can join the witch and her cat for a magical adventure with this fun and accessible playscript, adapted by the author from the bestselling picture book Room on the Broom. The Room on the Broom Play has been designed with rehearsals and performance in mind, with a clear layout and colour-coding for each character, perfect for helping children to follow their lines and join in the action! The book also contains a hints and tips section, which includes helpful advice on staging the play and ideas for props. There are also ideas for themed Room on the Broom activities. With Axel Scheffler's bright and characterful illustrations and Julia Donaldson's hilarious and witty rhyming playscript, this wonderful, dramatic way to share the classic story is sure to delight teachers, parents and children everywhere.