Playscripts Topic Guide for Teachers

People love watching plays! Because they are designed to be acted as well as read, playscripts are written out in their own special format. At the front of a playscript, you will find a list of the characters that are in it. Plays are usually performed on a stage.

Playscripts can be based on well known stories, or they can be completely original!

Teach your children about playscripts using our handy topic guide!

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Teaching Ideas

Plan a scene for a movie with this useful template.
Choose a short scene, with lots of dialogue, from a book that the children know well to turn into a playscript.
Show the children a short film without dialogue, and ask them to write a playscript based on it. Something like Playmate would be a good stimulus.
Give children an image to improvise a scene around; for example, try using these images as a stimulus for a scene set on a bridge!
Writing a whole playscript can be daunting; split the class into smaller groups to write a scene each.
Use drama games to warm children up before they start working on performing their playscripts.

Resources

These WAGOLL (What A Good One Looks Like) examples are really useful.
Have a look on the Primary Resources Playscripts page for useful ideas and templates.
This site has free, simple playscripts, aimed at younger children.

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Playscripts Facts

The Ancient Greeks held competitions for the best plays. The earliest known was held in Athens in 534 BCE.
Speech marks are not needed when you are writing dialogue for a playscript.
Stage directions tell the actors what to do, and are written inside brackets on a playscript – you do not need to read them out!
Some playscripts have a narrator, who tells the story.
Any objects that are needed to perform a play are known as props.

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