Plays Plus S. Series

The Bully

by Jan Needle

Published 26 August 1993

'Unbidden, Simon saw a face before his eyes, a girl's face with blonde hair. Unbidden, his teeth clamped shut, ground against each other. She was the target.'

Simple, lumpy Simon Mason. Of course he's a bully and a liar, even his mother thinks so. And he's picking on that nice Anna Royle, her brother and Rebekka. Or is he?

Has Simon been found guilty, sentenced and condemned without a proper hearing? Simon's teacher is determined to find out just who's bullying who. Hostilities reach a head when bully and victim meet for a final confrontation. Will the truth come out in time? Or have too many lies been told?

The Rebels Of Gas Street

by Stephen Cockett, Jan Needle, and Vivien Gardner

Published 22 October 1997

Jan Needle’s exciting play based on the school strikes of 1911. The book contains a stimulating playscript suitable for classwork and school production, accompanied by resources including background material and lively activities.

Playscript – the book contains a playscript focusing on issues that are of interest in schools.

Accompanying resources contain activities for drama (including role-play), reading, writing, and speaking and listening. These are accompanied by extension material, including extracts from modern and pre-20th-century works for comparison, and documentary material. The resources are organised under the following headings:
• Staging the play
• Work on and around the script
• From novel to playscript
• Themes in and around the play
• Media.

The Thief

by Vivien Gardner, Stephen Cockett, and Jan Needle

Published 6 April 1989

This play looks at themes of reputation, honesty and lying in a school setting. The volume provides opportunities to explore ideas of personal honesty through role play and discussion and provides lively end-material covering a variety of issues such as having a family member in gaol. The "Play plus" series provides scripts for reading aloud in the English classroom as well as for improvisation and performance work. Each play is followed by resource material: poems, extracts, photographs, original documents. These explore topics related to the script and provide starting points for improvisation, discussion and creative writing.

Birds Keep on Singing

by Stephen Cockett

Published 16 December 1996

This play is set during World War II. Three evacuees are billeted with two sisters, and as the adults struggle to cope with the war, the children come to a truce of their own. It is part of a series which presents playscript and substantial resource material which encourages students to think about social issues.