KS 3 and 4 Scripts

Key Stage III and IV Scripts Review

I can highly recommend Sue Russell’s plays for use with KS3 and KS4 students. They are wonderful introductions to classic novels – capturing the mood and tone of the original and communicating the essence of plot and characters in a lively and highly accessible way.

Oliver twist
Oliver twist

Students enjoy the vibrant dialogue and find scope for characterisation and the development of dramatic skills by performing them. These plays can be used in English lessons as well as Drama class. Dickens is a wonderful writer, but the sheer length of the novels and complexity of plot lines can be intimidating for students. Sue Russell’s plays are faithful to their originals yet also brilliantly condensed without any loss of key material.
Many thanks to my writer-friend Jude Hayland who, when not writing, works as a drama teacher and English tutor.

My intention is to keep adding to this KS III and KS IV category, starting with my ‘What the Dickens!’ series of scripts – A Christmas Carol, Oliver Twist, Great Expectations, David Copperfield and A Tale of Two Cities – by Charles Dickens.

It would be very useful if any Key Stage III and KS IV teachers visiting this site were to share with me any thoughts on ‘future writing’. I will be ‘working my way’ through the Classics but am more than happy to write on request, as I have done frequently in the past for KS I and II teachers.

These adapted classics taken from English Literature are written in script format (with casts varying from around 10 upwards) and of varying lengths – some as short as 10 – 15 minutes, others up to 45 minutes.

Charles Dickens

Xmas Collection:

    1. A Christmas Carol : 15 – 20 minutes
    2. Battle of Life: 30 minutes
    3. The Chimes: 45 minutes
    4. The Cricket on the Hearth: 40 minutes
    5. The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain: 30 minutes

Classic Collection:

    1. Oliver Twist: 15 minutes
    2. Great Expectations: 15 – 20 minutes
    3. David Copperfield: 15 minutes
    4. A Tale of Two Cities: 25 minutes
    5. Bleak House: 35 minutes
    6. Nicholas Nickleby: I hour
    7. Hard  Times: 15 minutes, cast of 12
    8. The Old Curiosity Shop: 20 minutes, cast of 6

Oscar Wilde

Short Story Collection:

    1. The Happy Prince: 10 minutes
    2. The Nightingale and the Rose: 5 – 10 minutes
    3. The Selfish Giant: 5 minutes
    4. The Devoted Friend: 5 – 10 minutes
    5. The Remarkable Rocket: 15 – 20 minutes

Robert Louis Stevenson

H G Wells

Daphne Du Maurier

Rebecca: 5 – 10 minutes

George Elliot

Silas Marner: 15-20 minutes

Emile Bronte

Wuthering Heights: 15 minutes

Jane Austen

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