1 A Christmas Carol

by Charles Dickens, adapted by Karen Louise Hebden

Published by Nick Hern

ISBN: 9781854599872

Cast: 6 males, 2 females, doubling, or a much larger cast possible.

Themes and issues: As well as being a dissertation on the struggles of working classes in Victorian England, the focus is on the events in Scrooge's early life that led him to be mean and miserly, and his final realisation that it's never too late to rekindle the warmth of human kindness.

Performance matters: This is a great play for a strong lead actor as Scrooge, alongside several other key parts (Marley, Cratchet and Young Scrooge) and more potential minor roles (Tiny Tim, Mrs Cratchet, the ghosts). Scrooge's gradual spiritual awakening has to be displayed clearly while other characters are more consistent and unchanging. My students enjoyed performing flashbacks into Scrooge's younger days, and the chance to play ghosts!

Why it's great: Most audiences know the basic story fairly well, so even if it's performed in a simplistic way the audience can fill in the gaps with what they already know. It has a classic Dickensian moral lesson, which leaves everyone more cheerful and warm-hearted.

Watch out for: There are several classic film versions, as well as the Muppets one, and each version has different details emphasised and different ways of presenting characters, so it could be worth watching several and discussing similarities and differences as inspiration. Be careful that students don't mix up human acting with Muppet acting though!

2 The Wind in the Willows

by Kenneth Grahame, adapted by Mike Kenny

Published by Nick Hern

ISBN: 9781848421486

Cast: Four main characters (written as males but can be played by females), several minor roles (weasels, prison staff, warden's daughter).

Themes and issues: The value of friendship; forgiveness and absolution after mistakes are made.

Performance matters: Acting as talking animals allows children to explore role-play based on animal movements and characters, which tends towards highly stylised posture and gestures that is great training for staying in role. There is plenty of opportunity for extravagant costumes and masks to emphasise the characters, which again really helps the actors to maintain their characters.

Why it's great: The play is ideal for children to perform, with plenty of humour and dramatic action, and the themes of friendship, acceptance of others’ differences, and looking out for each other when bad decisions are made are worth exploring with young actors for the PSHE curriculum.

Watch out for: The fight scene at the end with the weasels being routed – if you haven't got access to a stage combat expert, then use slow-motion and freeze-frame techniques to exaggerate the comedy value of the animals fighting each other.

3 Our Day Out

by Willy Russell

Published by Samuel French

ISBN: 9780435233013

Cast: 6 males, 4 females, 1 neutral

Themes and issues: The way shared experiences, good and bad, can bring mutual understanding and compassion to the fore.

Performance matters: I teach in SEND schools in Liverpool, and it is a rare treat to find a play in which modern children with Special Needs from Liverpool are able to play the parts of 1970's Liverpool school children from what was then called the ‘Progress Class’. The children I work with had enormous fun being positively encouraged to behave badly and explore antisocial attitudes, and the experience made them appreciate how times have changed for the better.

Why it's great: In Liverpool, this play is seen as a homage to the reputation of Scouse school children in the 70's; although many negative stereotypes prevail (the stealing, swearing, scally attitudes), the play also highlights the qualities of kindness, caring and community that Liverpool is also rightly famous for. The play can be performed with very simple props even though it moves through many varied scenarios – the author Willy Russell suggested simply using benches in different ways to represent all the possible scenes. This stripped back approach encourages the actors to utilise mime skills and physical theatre aspects to illustrate the differing environments.

Watch out for: The clifftop scene where a student is threatening to jump needs to be sensitively handled to bring out the tension and frustration of the teacher trying to regain control, and portrayed with serious intent as a marked contrast to the humour of previous scenes.

4 Kes

by Barry Hines and Lawrence Till

Published by Nick Hern

ISBN: 9781854594860

Cast: 6+ males, 1+ females

Themes and issues: Working class deprivation and desolation, and the hope and comfort that can be found through nurturing and caring for an animal.

Performance matters: This is a fantastic play for a strong male lead who can really illustrate the downtrodden daily grind of teenage life in industrial working class communities, and then contrast this with the joy and passion that Billy finds in the nurturing and training of his kestrel companion.

Why it's great: Every emotion is triggered, from sheer exuberant joy and wonder to tragic depths of despair and desolation, but with room for humorous characterisation of side-roles. Teenage drama students love to act the part of teachers, and this play gives opportunities for them to display some very cruel and savage behaviour, as well as kind and caring sides. Actors and audiences alike relate well to the simple but powerful storyline, and the themes of despair, loss and hope.

Watch out for: For the SEND children I work with, this play gave insights into how children can be maltreated by society in general and school in particular, and yet find solace, comfort and kinship in an animal companion. Many of my students related strongly to this concept, and therefore there were some intense reactions to the scenes around the death of the falcon, which had to be handled carefully and with a sense of matter-of-fact objectivity to avoid too much sentimentality.

5 Animal Farm

by George Orwell, adapted by Ian Wooldridge

Published by Nick Hern

ISBN: 9781854597892

Cast: 8-10 male, 4-5 female, +more

Themes and issues: The politics of power and class, and manipulation of communications media, as relevant now as when it was written.

Performance matters: Lots of opportunity for group syncopated movement, to represent the way some groups of animals might be easily led and all think and do the same thing simultaneously. Also consider how staging can be used to have the ‘leading’ animals speaking from a higher level to the ‘lower’ ones. This play lends itself easily to differentiated roles, with stronger actors playing the lead characters who change their manner and attitude through their gaining of power and control, and less able actors learning to work together in ‘flock’ style.

Why it's great: Working on the context of the play and its symbolic meaning was a great way to introduce students to political theory and the politics of power and greed, and by watching footage of actual political figures through history, students were able to adopt physical and vocal mannerisms of tyrannical leaders, which added greatly to the impact of their performances. Even for lower ability students it became clear how Orwell's story was an allegory for the class system and political treachery.

Watch out for: It takes time for students to learn to move and speak in synchronicity with each other; it is worth spending time working with games and activities to build their ability to achieve this. I also found many of Augusto Boal's techniques useful when it came to exploring and demonstrating power relationships between the animal groups.