Lesson 1
FORM AND GENRE
Today you are learning to…
 Understand the meaning of FORM and GENRE
 Understand the plot of Blood Brothers by Willy
Russell
Form
The overall style of the drama
Scripted play
 Rehearsed improvisation
 Dance drama
 Mime
 Monologue
Musical
Pantomime
Forum
Genre
The category or type of drama
Comedy
Tragedy
Crime drama
Docudrama
Melodrama
Commedia dell ‘arte
Farce
Tragicomedy
Satire
Video clips
Watch the following clips and decide what you think is the FORM and
GENRE of the play Blood Brothers by Willy Russell
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6JpILMfNB4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eg-saKnu6Yo
Lyrics
So did y’hear the story of the Johnstone twins?
As like each other as two new pins,
Of one womb born, on the selfsame day,
How one was kept and one given away
An’ did you never hear how the Johnstones died,
Never knowing that they shared one name,
Till the day they died, when a mother cried
My own dear sons lie slain?
An did y’ never hear of the mother, so cruel,
There’s a stone in place of her heart?
Then bring her on and come judge for yourselves
How she came to play this part
Task 1
In your groups you will be given the plot outline for the
story of Blood Brothers.
You should pick out the key moments and create a freeze
frame for each moment.
After that you should rehearse moving smoothly between
each freeze frame with a NARRATOR explaining what is
happening.
Lesson 2
STATUS AND CLASS
Today you are learning to…
Understand what is meant by status
Understand how status is shown within a drama
Status exercises
Your teacher will now do some practical exercises
with you to help you understand status
Watch the following clip and
consider which character has the
higher status
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6QDREfxhhc
Discussion in groups
Which character has the highest status?
How can you tell from the STORYLINE?
How can you tell by the way they use their voice?
Does the status change in the scene?
You should write you answer in your jotters and be prepared to share
your answers with the class.
Lesson 3
SUPERSTITION
Today you are learning to…
Understand what is meant by superstition
Understand how superstition affects the plot of
Blood Brothers
What is Superstition?
5 Minute Task!
In your groups you should think of as many superstitions as you can and
create a FREEZE frames to show them.
We will then present these back to the rest of the class and see if they
can guess the superstitions you are trying to show!
What is the superstition in
Blood Brothers?
Listen to the following clip to help you remember!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uC2xoHagzCk
Your task
You are going to think about what happens AFTER Mrs
Johnstone hears about the curse and whether she should
believe it; or ignore it and take her son back
One person will play Mrs Johnstone the other two people
will play the thoughts in her head.
You will present these scenes at the end of the
period!
Lesson 4
EDDIE AND MICKEY
Today you are learning to….
 Understand the differences between Eddie and
Mickey’s upbringing
Use you voice and movement to show the
difference between the characters of Eddie and
Mickey
Your task
In small groups you are going to create a scene which shows a typical
day for either Eddie or Mickey. Your scene should start from the time
they get up until they go to bed.
You must consider:
 How they speak
 How they move
 Their relationships with their family
 Their attitude and the things they do
Lesson 5
EVALUATING PERFORMANCES
Today you are learning to..
Evaluate the performances of your peers
Perform in front of your peers
Evaluation
When you are watching the performances you must think about:
 How did the actors show the difference between Eddie and Mickey
through their voice and movement
 Did the content of the pieces relate to the characters’ upbringing?
Lesson 6
ALTERNATIVE ENDING
Today you are learning to…
 Create an alternative ending for the play
Blood Brothers
Your task
In small groups you are going to create an alternative ending for the play
Blood Brothers. It must start from the line “Mickey. Don’t shoot Eddie….”
You need to think about:
 Do they get shot?
What happens after?
Can they become friends?
What happens to Linda?
What happens to Mrs Lyons and Mrs Johnstone?
You will rehearse these scenes and present them next
period
Lesson 6
PRESENTING ALTERNATIVE ENDING SCENES
Today you are learning to:
 Present you ‘alternative ending’ scenes in front
of your peers
Evaluate your own work and the work of others
How Successful were the
performances?
Over the past few weeks you have performed and
evaluated lots of performances.
What things would you comment on when you are
evaluating the scenes you are about to watch?
Lesson 8
SCRIPTS AND TEXTUAL CLUES
Today you are learning to:
 Look for textual clues within a script to help you
make decisions about your performance
 Use textual clues to make decisions about Theatre
Arts
Your assessment task
In small groups you are going to be given an extract
from Blood Brothers to perform, you will have the
next few weeks to rehearse it.
What are textual clues?
Before you start rehearsing a script it is important to look for the clues within
it which tell you about how it should be performed. These clues may be in
the STAGE DIRECTIONS, the DIALOGUE or sometimes even in the
PUNCTUATION.
You are looking for things which tell you:
 Who the characters are
 How they are feeling (which will affect the way the speak and
move)
 Where they are (and what set and props you would need)
 What time of day it is (and how that would affect possible
sound and lighting choices)
Task 1
In your groups you will be given an extract from Blood
Brothers. You should discuss the script and highlight any
important textual clues.
When you have finished you will be asked to
share your findings with the rest of the class!
Task 2
Using the textual clues you should make decision about what Theatre
Arts will enhance your piece.
For this performance you should focus on:
 Set
 Costume
Props
As a group you should decide what each of you will bring from home
and what things you need to get from the department.
Lesson 9
REHEARSING EXTRACTS
Today you are learning to
 Rehearse a scripted drama
Understand what blocking is and what makes
Effective Blocking
Reminder!
What are textual clues?
Your task
Once you have finished identifying any important textual clues you are
going to begin BLOCKING your drama.
What things are important to think about when BLOCKING?
 Masking
 Levels
 Facial Expression
Props and set required
 A variety of movement and stillness
Lesson 10
PERFORMING
Today you are learning to…
 Perform your scripted extracts in front of your peers
Lesson 11
EVALUATING YOUR WORK
Today you are learning to…
 Effectively
others
evaluate your work and the work of
What makes an effective
evaluation?
Your task
Your teacher will give you a written evaluation task to
complete. You must remember in which you will evaluate
both your CREATING and PRESENTING.