Cuckooing: Making a drug gang drama

To call someone ‘cuckoo’ or claim they’re in ‘cloud-cuckoo land’ is to say they’re dotty, obsessive, unrealistic or eccentrically mad, but it now has a new meaning. Popularised in the past decade, the term cuckooing describes a sinister crime. Named after the bird that invades the nests of other birds and has their young raised by the ‘host’, this crime involves a drug dealer befriending or forcing their way into the home of a weak, old or vulnerable person and using it as a base to produce and sell drugs. It may be for a day or two; it could be for months if no one knows what’s going on or attempts to do something about it. This unwelcome addition to drug dealers’ vile arsenals, as horrible as school gate selling or violence and intimidation, offers great dramatic opportunities alongside giving students the opportunity to learn wider lessons about the dangers of drugs. This scheme of work consists of 6 two-hour sessions, exploring and devising drama from a tragic situation, and issuing some warnings along the way.