Doncaster: Discover the Spirit

Primary/Secondary Drama Days

Students from Sunnyfields, Saltersgate, Bentley High Street and Toll Bar primary schools came to Don Valley in late November for two exciting days of drama activities based on some of the titles on the longlist.

Titles worked on were Dani's Diary, Ottoline and the Yellow Cat, Skulduggery Pleasant, The London Eye Mystery and Alone on a Wide Wide Sea.

Each day began with a reading from the wedding scene from Narinder Dhami's Dani's Diary. There were interesting group discussions of the various relationships within the novel. Students then paired up to rehearse their first scene, between the characters of Dani and her mother. Quite a few students agreed to show their work, and the performances were very good. The audience really helped this process by listening attentively and being very encouraging.

Chris Riddell and Paul Stewart's Ottoline and the Yellow Cat is a deceptively simple story with some very surreal elements. Students worked in groups to create some 'pictures' illustrating aspects of the locations and characters from the book. Organising these was a chance for all the students to chat to and work with their peers from other schools, and the resulting scenes were really inventive and enjoyable to watch.

Derek Landy's Skulduggery Pleasant is a fast and furious romp, exploring magic, strange and wonderful monsters, adventure and comedy. Students worked in pairs, acting out the first meeting between Stephanie and Skulduggery at her Uncle Gordon's funeral. There were some excellent sinister skeleton voices, and all the students by this stage were very keen to perform.

They then moved on to Siobhan Dowd's The London Eye Mystery. After reading the first chapter and discussing how Salim had mysteriously disappeared from the pod in mid air, students took part in a drama piece set at the dinner table the previous evening. All students took part in this piece, and we had some great vocal and acting performances.

Due to the number of performances for the first four books, we didn't have time to perform Michael Morpurgo's Alone on a Wide, Wide Sea. However, we did have a chance to read the first chapter, and to discuss how it might have felt for the narrator to be sent, as a small child, off to the other side of the world all alone into an uncertain future. Discussions were lively, and some really good points were made.

The students all worked very hard and co-operated extremely well, so that the drama produced was of a very high standard. The Don Valley students had a chance to try out their leadership and organisational skills, and the primary students were able to meet students from other schools who will be part of their Year 7 group next September. Students' own comments were almost universally favourable, and included the following:

Sarah, Toll Bar: "Today I have enjoyed reading a lot of books. It was great doing plays and drama."

Luke, Don Valley: "By acting as the different characters, you learnt about them"

Paris, Toll Bar (who made a fantastic "Auntie Gloria"!): "My favourite thing was the acting and my second thing was all of the new stories from the DBA. My third thing was meeting new people"

Bethany, Bentley High Street: "I enjoyed meeting other people from different schools. I enjoyed meeting other adults from the library."

Thomas, Toll Bar: "I liked doing everything because of the acting and the teachers Dave and Mrs Hopson have done a good job, thank you"

Karly, Sunnyfields: "I have enjoyed working with people from different schools, hearing about the books and doing drama"

Jack (man of a thousand voices!), Saltersgate: "Really I liked everything. My favourite book up to now is Skulduggery Pleasant, but I am now convinced to read Ottoline and the Yellow Cat."

Sarah, Don Valley: "I have loved this day because I have met new people, e.g. Jack. Also I have learnt a lot too."

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