KS4 Our Day Out by Willy Russell

www.dramaandtheatre.co.uk Summer Term 1 2019/20 Drama & Theatre 1

KS4

Karen HartKS4

IntroductionOur Day Out, Willy Russell’s much-loved play about poor children from Liverpool, proved so popular after being shown on TV in 1977 that it was converted into a full-length stage musical. Its themes of living with a lack of education and opportunity and suffering social deprivation are as pertinent today as when it was written.

When Mrs Kay’s ‘Progress Class’ are unleashed for a much-anticipated day’s coach trip to Conwy Castle in Wales, the class can’t wait to get away from the confines of school for a day of mucking about with mates. But sometimes the beauty of a place far removed from the reality of a life lived on the edge of poverty, only acts as a reminder of the empty future that awaits back home.

Being a short play, Our Day Out is perfect for use with school groups as it can be covered and looked at in detail over a relatively short space of time, and both the characters and Russell’s trademark gritty and genuinely funny dialogue, naturally appeal to this age group. For this scheme of work, I have omitted the beginning of scene 6, picking the scene up from;

‘Carol, who is sitting next to Mrs Kay, is staring out of the window.Carol: Isn’t it horrible, eh miss.’

I don’t feel that removing this section - which I’ve removed as a character’s dialogue is somewhat racist - has much effect on the play. Of course, the play uses the realistic, prevailing language you would expect from teenagers at the time of its setting, and I know some drama teachers using the play with KS4 keep these lines in. It’s up to the individual teacher, but I prefer not to as I don’t want to make anyone feel uncomfortable in class.

When reading the scripted work here, the teacher should read the stage directions as they form a very important part of each scene. How you allocate roles will depend on numbers in your class and how many want to read and how many would prefer to follow the script while others read. As you are reading as a group, roles can be switched to your preference; do try however to get everyone reading at some point, even if it’s a very small part.

Each of the six sessions here is based on a one-hour lesson, but they can be mixed and matched as you please.

Learning objectivesThe learning objectives here are over-arching to incorporate the whole scheme.

By the end of this scheme students will have: § Practised script reading skills. § Worked on characterisation through use of body language and vocal technique § Looked at the message conveyed within a play with the aim of portraying this to an audience § Used a variety of rehearsal techniques and strategies to consider the motivation of characters.

§ Considered the background of characters; their economic status, family background, educational opportunities, etc., when building a character.

§ Worked as an ensemble and in pairs. § Taken characters from a play and transferred them to their own imaginary scenarios to give more depth in exploring their personality and life.

Resources § Copy of the play for each student § Copies of vocal expression cards,

included with this scheme of work § Chairs.

Our Day Out by Willy Russell

Karen Hart has taught drama in both secondary school and after school classes and presently runs drama classes for both six to ten year olds and eleven years plus, with students taking Trinity graded exams. Karen is also an early years specialist, freelance writer, author and regular contributor to Mark Allen education magazines.

http://www.dramaandtheatre.co.uk


Our Day Out KS4

Session 1: Introduction to the play Background to the setting of the play (10 mins)As a class, tell students a bit about the socio-economic background of the play:

During the 1970s economic decline meant that many people had very little income resulting in a big divide between the rich and the poor. Many people found it very hard to find employment and some found themselves stuck in a cycle of ‘social exclusion’, meaning they were prevented from participating in much that society had to offer due to their social class, group, or the community they belonged to. The play, Our Day Out, looks at how social exclusion can become a cycle that is very hard to escape from, resulting in a life with little expectation of any real improvement.

Ask the class if anyone has heard of or seen the play before, or any of Willy Russell’s other plays.

Scene 1 (10 mins)Read the class the introduction to scene 1, then with students in pairs, ask them to read through the scene, one student reading as Les and one as Carol before swapping roles, so each student has a turn to read through the whole scene as both characters.

Choose a pair to show work to the class if time allows.

Talk about the characters of Les and Carol (10 mins)Bring the class back together. Ask students how they imagine the character of Carol; her physical appearance, her personality and her life. Go on to talk about the character of Les in the same way.

Quick improvisation (5 mins devising, 5 mins to show work)In groups of three, tell students they are to devise a short improvised performance using the characters of Carol and two imagined friends walking home from school. Students should think carefully about Carol’s personality and the personalities of the friends they imagine Carol to have. How would they behave? What would they talk about? How would they walk - arm-in-arm maybe? Would there be a bit of flirting going on? Would there be a bit of banter and joking around?

Choose a group to show work to the class.

Scene 2, The School Gates and Scene 3, The Headmaster’s Office (10 mins)Read the class scenes 2 and 3. Ask them what they can tell about the characters of Mrs Kay and Briggs from these scenes.

Divide class into groups of about six students each, giving one student in each group the role of Mrs Kay, with the remaining students in the group taking the roles of pupils vying for her attention. Ask students to improvise the scene at the school gates where pupils surround Mrs Kay calling, ‘Miss, miss, miss, me mum said I could go, miss’, etc., while Mrs Kay attempts to get pupils lined up and find out who has paid.

Talk about the play so far (10 mins)Ask students for their thoughts on the play so far. As some of the play takes place on a coach, ask if anyone has a funny story to tell about a school coach trip they may have been on in the past, perhaps when they were in primary school (without embarrassing any other students). Ask students about their favourite school trips - what made them so good? Also, can they think of any specific rituals that belong to school coach trips, such as everyone trying to sit at the back of the coach to pull faces at the drivers behind, to get furthest away from the teachers so they can’t see you misbehave, or just making sure you get on the coach with your best friend to make sure you get seats together. These behaviours are very important to consider when aiming to devise a realistic scene.

Homework Re-read scene 1 which focuses on Carol and Les, the lollipop man.

Write a short description of how you imagine the character of Les. Include information such as age, appearance, his voice, how he moves, etc.

Resources § Copy of play script for each

student.



Our Day Out KS4

Session 2: Looking at the children in the playRecap on last session (10 mins)Bring the whole group together to talk about the homework assignment set last session. Ask for volunteers to share their homework with the class.

Warm-up game: Get yourself in order (5 mins)Instruct the whole group to make a line across the room in alphabetical order of their last names as quickly as they can. Use the stopwatch on a phone to time this. Make a note of time taken, so you can see if they can beat their time in subsequent attempts. Students can have a second attempt to see how quickly they can complete the task once they have already worked out the order.

Scene 4: The School Gates and scene 5 inside the coach (10 mins)Allocate students the following roles:Teachers:

§ Mrs Kay (early 40s) § Briggs (early 30s) § Susan (early 20s) § Colin (early 20s) § Coach Driver.

Pupils: § Carol (13) § Reilly (15) § Digga (15) § Kid § Little Kid.As a group, read through scenes 4 and 5. Drawing on their own experiences, did students

recognise any parts of these scenes? Talk about the behaviour of the pupils; would students say their behaviour is bad, or are they just excited because they rarely get to go anywhere nice?

Devise a coach scene (10 mins to devise, 10 mins to show work)Split class into two groups. Each group places chairs, one for each student, in two lines to represent a coach. Instruct students to devise a short scene along the lines of the one they have just read, giving help and guidance as needed. Students can use characters from the play, or imagine their own, but should include the characters of Mrs Kay, Briggs, and Carol. This is not intended to be a polished performance, but a means of helping to bring the play to life. Show both groups’ work.

Hot seating (10 mins)Ask for volunteers to be hot seated as Carol. Let as many students have a turn as time allows.

End of session discussion (5 mins)What do students think of the play so far? Any questions?

Session 3: Looking at further characters in the playBrainstorming exercise: Carol (10 mins)The introduction to scene 1 tells us that:

‘Carol rushes along wearing a school uniform which doubles as a street outfit and her Sunday best. She is eating half a sandwich and clutching a supermarket carrier bag.’

Ask students what they think this tells us about the character of Carol? For example, do they imagine her family to be well off, or having little money to spend on luxuries? Write contributions on the board.

Re-read scene 1 to the class, and, concentrating on her dialogue with Les the lollipop man, ask students to think of words or short sentences that describe Carol’s personality. Some ideas could be: friendly, low expectations of achievement, happy-go-lucky and cheerful.

Resources § Chairs § Scripts.

The lining up warm-up is not only popular with all ages, it’s great for injecting a bit of zest into students arriving for drama class feeling a bit sluggish – especially if it’s the last lesson of the day. Change the game up a bit by asking students to line up in alphabetical order of their first names, or in numerical order of their dates of birth, or house numbers - any duplicates can stand together.

Resources § One chair per student § Students’ scripts.



Our Day Out KS4

Paired improvisation (10 mins to devise and 5 mins to show work)Working in pairs, ask students to improvise a short scene between Carol and Les, the first line to be:

Carol: ‘Les, can you lend me 50p I’ve lost my lunch money, I think it fell through the hole in my pocket.’

Scene 6: Leaving the city (15 mins)Sitting as a group, read through scene 6, starting from:

‘Carol, who is sitting next to Mrs Kay, is staring out of the window.’Keep the roles as given out previously, but include the following:

Pupils: § Karen § Linda § Andrews § Maurice.Ask the class for words they would use to describe the characters of Karen and Linda;

also, re-read the section of the scene involving Andrews. What sort of life do students think he would lead away from school? Would he be given many opportunities to visit interesting places? Would he have much access to a range of books, etc? If you had to guess, what sort of job (if any) do you think Andrews would anticipate having after leaving school?

Short improvised scene (10 mins, plus 10 mins to watch work)In groups of three, each with a chair, ask students to improvise the following short scene:

It’s dinner time. Andrews is sitting with his mother at the table when his dad walks in - he’s in a bad mood and looking for an argument.

Watch as many as time allows.

HomeworkAsk students to pick one character they have met in the play so far and write a paragraph or two about their home life, titled: A Day in the Life of …

Session 4: Looking at depth of characterLooking at last session’s homework assignment (10 mins)Ask the group if anyone would like to read their homework assignment, discussing the character focused on and the insight provided. Share as many as time allows.

Reading scenes 7 - 21 (15 mins)Read these short scenes with your class sitting together in a circle. You can change the casting of the main characters if you want to, or keep things as they are. There are some new roles to be cast as follows:Workers in café:

§ Waitress § Mrs Roberts.

Workers in shop: § John § Mac.

Pupil: § Ronson. After reading these scenes, ask students the following questions:At the beginning of scene 21, it says ‘Briggs moves across to talk to Colin. He is conspiratorial.’

What does this mean?Later during this scene, Briggs says to Colin;

‘I mean, I think you have to risk being disliked if you’re going to do any good for these type of kids. They’ve got enough freedom at home, haven’t they, with their two quid pocket money and television till all hours, haven’t they? (pause) I don’t know what you think but I think her philosophy is totally confused. What do you think?’

Ask students for reasons why they agree or disagree with Briggs.

Resources § Scripts.



Our Day Out KS4

Tableaux scenes (5 mins to devise, 5 mins to show work)With students in groups of six or seven, instruct one member of each group to be the director, their job being to instruct and position each member of their group to produce a still-life image of the scene in the sweet shop. John and Mac, the shopkeepers, will be behind the counter, with all the children distracting them by pointing at the jars of sweets, etc., while others steal the sweets. Show work.

Improvisation using characters of John and Mac (5 mins to devise and 5 mins to show work)Working in groups of three, instruct students to devise a short scene using the characters of shop keepers, John and Mac, and a police officer. The scene begins with the police officer turning up at the shop as a result of Mac reporting a theft of his stock. The scene should show both John and Mac’s anger at being tricked by the children and the disbelief of the police officer that he has been called out to investigate a case of children stealing sweets. Show work.

Reading scenes 22 – 28: At the Zoo (15 mins)Extra parts to cast:Pupils:

§ Girl 1 § Girl 2 § Boy.Ask students the following questions:Read again from beginning of scene 22 to ‘Briggs: Well, I wouldn’t be so sure about that, Ronson.’

Do you think Ronson may be drawing on comparisons with his own life when talking about the bear?

What do you think about the way these children are shown to behave towards the animals in the children’s zoo? Does this show that these children, who have been shown to be street-wise and tough, have a softer, more caring side waiting to come out?

Session 5 : Vocal techniqueWarm-up game: Get yourself in order (5 mins)Repeat the warm-up game from session 2, seeing if they can beat their previous times.

Reading scenes 29 – 30: The Coach (10 mins)Extra part to cast:

§ Keeper.These scenes show Briggs struggling to keep self-control and not overstep the mark when

showing his feelings towards the pupils’ behaviour. Although he is obviously extremely angry with them, we get the impression that Briggs feels more contempt towards the pupils than he shows due to the fact he is a teacher and must behave accordingly. Ask students what they feel about the way Briggs talks to the pupils here, especially when he says,

‘The minute we start to treat you as real people, what happens?’ And,‘Well I’ve learned a lesson today. Oh, yes, I have. I’ve learned that trust is something you people

don’t understand.’What do these lines of dialogue tell you about Briggs’ opinion of the pupils on the coach?

Vocal Expression exercises (10 mins)With students in groups of 2 or 3, give each group a matching set of cards (see Resources). Instruct students to try different ways of speaking their lines, experimenting with use of tone, expression, volume and facial expressions. Let students swap characters after a couple of readings. Show as many examples as time allows.

Body language exercise (10 mins to devise and 5 mins to show work)Run through the importance of body language in performance, e.g. body language is a way we can express for example, our character’s attitude, age, emotions, status and health.

For the following exercise, students will work in pairs: a pupil and a teacher/head of school. The teacher is giving the pupil a stern telling off, but we can see from the pupil - who stays silent throughout - that they are not feeling sorry for what they have done. Both characters will

As the full name for tableau is ‘tableau vivant’ or ‘living picture’, it can be a nice idea to take digital photos of student’s tableau work to show at the end of the session. This way students can see how their tableau looked to an audience.

Resources § Vocal expression cards § Scripts.



Our Day Out KS4

rely strongly on body language here, but especially the pupil. The student in the role of teacher can use vocal technique to show his disapproval. Talk about how body language can be used to good effect here. Some ideas could be:

§ Standing with hand on hip § Putting weight on one leg, sticking out hip § Bored look in the eyes § Curling lip § Head on one side § Fiddly, twisting hair § Looking around the room.Watch good work.

Swap roles (10 mins to devise and 5 mins to watch)Next, keeping to the same pairs, swap roles of teacher and pupil. This time, students devise a short scene of teacher telling off a student as before, but with the student showing regret/concern for their actions - only using body language as before. Some ideas for showing this could include:

§ Trembling lip § Looking down, nervously wringing hands § Shaking head in disbelief § Holding hands up to face/over eyes § Eyebrows raised in concern.Watch good work.

Conclusion of the session (5 mins)Bring class together to talk about work completed this session. If there’s time read over the section of scene 6, where Linda is being told off by Briggs, from, ‘Briggs looks up and sees Linda kneeling up on her seat and talking to the girl behind her.’

Can students imagine using some of the vocal and body language techniques practised today in performance of the roles of Briggs and Linda?

Session 6: The end of the play – conclusionScene 31: Conwy Castle (10 mins)Extra part to cast:

§ Milton.Keeping roles as previously given, class read through to end of scene 31.Here we see a steelier side of Mrs Kay. Whereas it is obvious she’s very fond of the children

in her progress class, we come to see that she has no expectations of them getting very far in life - through no fault of their own. Mr Briggs, however, is incredulous, and thinks this is the wrong attitude for a member of staff

Ask students to try to show these feelings while reading the script, using voice, and facial expression.

Read scenes 32 - 34 (25 mins)After reading these scenes, which all take place on the beach, divide class into three groups. Give each group one of the following sections of the play with which to create a freeze frame image:

§ Mrs Kay chasing Kevin along the beach, cheered on by the other kids. § Susan confronting Reilly, as the other kids look on. § Mrs Kay, Briggs, Colin and Susan, looking across the beach for Carol, while children play football behind them.Show work.

Read from scene 35 to end of play (15 mins)Encourage students playing the parts of Carol and Briggs to consider the pacing of conversation when reading their lines. Also, think about how Briggs’ temperament changes within the scene set on the cliff.

Resources § Scripts.

The lines between Mrs Kay and Briggs in scene 31 are excellent for duologue work.



Our Day Out KS4

Conclusion and discussion on the play (10 mins) § What did students think of the play, particularly the ending? § Why do they think Briggs decided to destroy the film? § Who was your favourite character? Why?

Finish the unit with the following fun quiz on the play: § How many of the pupils’ names can you remember? § What were the names of the two men who worked in the café/shop the coach stopped at? § What’s the name of the lollipop man? § What’s the name of the class Mrs Kay teaches? § What animal is Briggs looking at with a group of children? § Can you name all the teachers on the trip? § At the beginning of the play, the lollipop man stops a car, who was driving it? § Can you name any other Willy Russell plays?

If you get through the scheme of work with a bit of time to spare, the following improvisations are good ones to use:

§ Imagine a scene in the school staff room, with teachers chatting about problems they’re having with a group of particularly troublesome pupils. Briggs walks in and joins in the conversation …

§ A selection of the pupils from the progress class are sitting in a class waiting for their detention to begin after school on a Friday afternoon. While waiting for teacher to turn up, they chat among themselves about their plans for the weekend.



Our Day Out KS4

RESOURCES

Vocal Expression exercises cards1)

A) Oh, hello you two.B) Where have you been?C) Yeah, where have you been? We had no idea where you’d got to.

A) Just away.B) What do you mean, just away?C) Where, exactly?

A) What’s it got to do with you two? It’s none of your business.B) Is that right?C) Are you calling us nosy?

A) I didn’t know I had to report back to the both of you.B) Well yeah, you do.C) Why, got a problem with that?



Our Day Out KS4

2)A) What are you two staring at?B) Wow! That’s a real look you’ve got going on there.C) Nice colour! A) Look at you two, you’re so boring.B) Boring?C) I think you mean stylish.

A) Go on then, laugh it up.B) Don’t be like that, I actually think you look great.C) Yeah, you just took it the wrong way.

A) You know everyone calls me a freak.B) Yeah, but you’re our freak.C) Yeah we love ya - just the way you are.



Our Day Out KS4

3)A) You’re an idiot, doing what he says all the time.B) I’ll do what I like, thanks.

A) You’ve changed.B) No I haven’t.

A) You act like his shadow.B) I can do as I please, you’re not my mum.

A) Everyone can see he’s controlling you.B) Like I care what other people think.



Our Day Out KS4

4)A) Look at the way they’re behaving.B) And the way they’re dressed.

A) I blame the schools.B) And the parents. The army would sort them out.

A) That one’s got blue hair. Look!B) His poor mother.

A) Chuck ’em all in prison and throw away the key.B) No, they get a pat on the back these days, and given a bar of chocolate.



Our Day Out KS4

5) A) Don’t move!B) What?

A) Just don’t move whatever you do!B) What? What is it?

A) A huge spider!B) Where? It’s not near me is it?

A) Yeah, on your back, but don’t worry I’ll get Joe.B) GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!



Our Day Out KS4

6)A) Are you sure you’re eating properly?B) For goodness sake.

A) Well?B) Yes. I’m eating very well - all good stuff.

A) I hope you’re not spending all your money down the pub.B) I can’t afford the pub.

A) Jackie said she saw you in the pub.B) Yeah, well tell Jackie to keep her fat nose out of my business.


KS4 Our Day Out by Willy Russell

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Transcript of KS4 Our Day Out by Willy Russell