SPARKLESHARK LESSON OUTLINE
Week One:
Overarching objective: To examine a theatrical play text in order to
explore how dramatic characters might be realised in performance.
Lesson objective: To understand the importance of stage directions in
establishing the story world the characters will inhabit.
Whole class
Warm up activity focusing on voice/use of body – working with snippets of
dialogue from Sparkleshark. What expectations are raised based on the
dialogue presented?
Whole class
Read page 3 once and focus the pupils’ attention on the playwright’s scene
setting at the beginning of the play. What do we know about Jake’s character
before he starts speaking? Read page 3 again and introduce the idea of
characterisation and how we understand character through the play form.
*Conventions of a playscript: Clues to the way a character should be
played are contained within the text. The playwright will give clear
indications of character upon which you can build. These will be
communicated through various means:
* the character’s own words
* the character’s own actions
* other character’s works
* other characters’ actions
* stage directions
The director’s job when producing a play is to interpret the playwright’s words
and to guide actors in their interpretation of character.
When the pupils develop their work in response to this play they will be
making decisions about how they want the characters to be played. They will
base their work on their understanding of the text. Read pages 4 - 15 ( to
just before Carol enters)
Small group work
8 Mins
In this first section we have been introduced to the characters of Jake, Polly &
Natasha. There have also been references to the characters of Finn and
Russell (the turbo-dreambabe). For the selected character draw an outline of
a head and shoulders. On the inside of the outline write down what you know
about the character based on the character’s own words & actions. On the
outside write down what you have learned about the character based on the
words of others.
Share with rest of class.
Whole class
Whole class role on the wall for Russell
Development task – small group
One of the techniques used by the playwright, Philip Ridley, is the idea of
setting up audience expectations. We don’t meet Russell at the beginning of
the play but we do get a sense of his character based on what Jake and Polly
tell us.
We as an audience/reader are invited to anticipate the meeting between Jake
and the bully Russell - this is a convention of drama. You want your audience
to be thinking about what might happen next. You want to build up the
suspense of the meeting between Jake and Russell.
Groups of 4
Improvise a scene showing Russell coming up into Jake’s building top
hideaway. How does Jake react? What might Polly & Natasha do? What is
Russell’s response to finding Jake with the girls?
The scene should give us an understanding about why Russell doesn’t like
Jake? Why would he bully him?
Show scenes and review what we know about the characters based on the
opening few pages.