Every One by Jo Clifford

This re-imagining of Everyman has all the emotion and drama of the original. It is a beautifully written play about bereavement and loss that unravels through a complex but successful structure. The action opens with the characters addressing the audience directly, which my year 10 students loved when we started reading. The direct address helped them to connect with the characters from the beginning, as if the characters were sharing the story with them.

Clifford writes about ordinary people brilliantly. She writes about the impact of death on everyone. As in some of her other work, the subject of spirituality runs through Every One which marries well with its inspiration, the allegorical mystery play, Everyman. However, Clifford felt the Christian core of the original story was no longer relevant and a straight adaptation would not explore the theme of death and mortality as she intended.

This play and its themes work very well in the classroom, especially with Key Stage 4. It has many extracts that the students were able to explore both practically and theoretically. The characters are well written, and all the students wanted to play the role of Man and put their own interpretations forward for how Death should be personified and presented. My students and I liked the fact it was a modern play that they could connect with. I was relieved they were able to understand the language which also gave them a way in to Everyman.

In terms of creativity and exploration, I was pleased Clifford had not been too prescriptive with stage directions. My students were able to think about their own ideas for staging which led to some insightful discussions about the themes. They were also able to relate to the play on a personal level and some stunning improvisation came from the text.

Overall this play is not only a beautifully written stand-alone piece; it works as a fantastic resource in the classroom. It links well to the original for those wanting to teach medieval theatre but also sparked some inspired improvisations and could quite easily feed into devised work. Every One has a lot to give and I will use it time and again in the classroom.