Charity and Change - Extract and Activity

Hello!

Today I wanted to share an extract and activity from a Stage 5-aimed drama text. This play, Charity and Change, is something I've been working on for a while and it's very exciting to now have it finished and in a published form. Here is a quick overview of the text's purpose before we look at the extract and an associated activity:

• Context - the characters and setting have been designed to be contemporary and familiar to Australian students in mixed-ability public high schools. 
• Practicality - a range of parts of varying sizes and difficulties have been included so a portion of the class can be engaged to read them aloud. 
• Content - the text touches on themes and ideas relevant to 21st century Australia; online bullying, whether people are 'good' or 'bad', and the differences between appearances and reality. 
  

The opening section of the first scene introduces most of the characters. In the classroom this becomes a good opportunity for students to learn who these characters are and the way they've been established within the play. 

Here's the extract: Act 1, Scene 1 Extract.

After reading through the play with a class, it can be useful to go back to the start again and look at ways in which students can reconstruct the text. One method of doing this is to storyboard and then film the first page of the text, which is where the above extract comes in. 

Students can use a scaffold to brainstorm their shot design, which can be found here: Storyboard Template.

This template includes five elements for each shot. Students should plan each of these elements ahead of filming so that they are forced to consider the way the shots are staged and edited together to support and/or form a working narrative. These elements are:

1. A box in which the shot can be roughly sketched. This helps visualise how it will look. 
2. Shot Size - extreme long shot, long shot, mid shot, close up, or extreme close up.
   
3. Angle - overhead angle, high angle, eye level angle, low angle, underneath angle, dutch angle.
4. Movement - will the camera be static? Or will it be moving, IE. Zooming in, zooming out, panning left, panning right, tracking, handheld?
5. Mise en scene - where will things be placed in the shot? Who is needed for the shot? This section can be useful if students struggle in particular with getting their sketching right.
   

After the planning is complete, have students negotiate in groups which storyboards they want to use and then let them at it. Students can have a lot of fun translating their storyboards into reality and it's also a great exercise in creative problem-solving, collaborative practice, and imaginative recreation.

The Plays 

The extract above is from a play called Charity and Change and is aimed at Years 9 and 10. A second play, Community and Family, is aimed at Year 10 and English Studies. This second play deals with themes related to leadership, homophobia, casual racism, and mental illness. The plays are both set within the same 'universe', a fictional school called Bexley Hill, and follows a cohort of characters across multiple years. Charity and Change features a group of Year 9 students and Community and Family, which has some overlapping characters, is set two years later with a group of Year 11 students. The plays can be read in any order and both texts come with in-built study guides too.

Single copies and class sets can be purchased through Five Senses Education.