Book reviews: How to Teach a Play: Essential Exercises for Popular Plays

A very useful addition to any drama teacher's toolkit, How to Teach a Play offers a huge range of engaging and thought-provoking exercises on a large number of mainstream texts. Those on Ibsen's Hedda Gabler and Miller's The Crucible were initially the biggest lure for me, as I currently teach these at A Level and GCSE respectively, under the AQA specification. I decided the best way to review this book was to try it out!

As they returned from the summer break, my Year 13 pupils gained greater sympathy for Hedda when they were asked to consider how her home becomes both her prison and her only creative outlet, through generating their own ‘dream homes' and examining the freedoms they enjoy. Meanwhile, my Year 10 group were introduced to The Crucible through a game of ‘Witches and Villagers' that helped them to understand how hysteria can spread in a vulnerable community. I can report that both exercises were thoroughly enjoyed and sparked some fascinating discussion!