Performing Scripts & Poetry
Improvise, rehearse, and perform play scripts and poetry. Use role, intonation, tone, volume, mood, silence, stillness, and action to generate language, explore meaning, and add impact to performance.
What a learner can do afterwards
- Perform a scene from a play using appropriate intonation, volume, and pauses to convey character and mood
- Use improvisation to explore how a character might respond in a new situation
- Rehearse and perform a poem aloud, using pace and emphasis to bring out the meaning
1 · Read
You have practised expressive recitation and explored actors' choices. Intonation means changes in pitch: how high or low your voice sounds. Volume is loudness; pace is speed. Tone conveys an attitude, and emphasis makes a word stand out. Use the words and stage directions to choose your delivery. Anger can sound loud or quiet, depending on the scene. Pauses and movement can also suggest feelings.
Improvisation means inventing words and actions in character without a fixed script. Keep the character's situation and wants in mind. Imagine a careful sailor spotting a leak. Try a response that fits this person, such as checking the boat and asking for help. Use what you discover when you rehearse the written scene.
Amara rehearses a storm poem with a calm opening and a noisy middle. She speaks slowly and softly at first, then uses a quicker, louder voice as the storm arrives. She stresses 'crash' to bring out the sound. Before the quiet final line, she pauses. Her choices follow changes in the words. Other poems may call for different choices.
Silence and stillness can be deliberate choices. After shocking news, a pause may suggest that a character needs time to take it in. It may build tension before the next line. Test its length during rehearsal. A pause alone does not tell you whether an actor planned it or forgot a line.
Check whether your delivery fits your aim. If a poem changes from calm to lively, the same rushed, flat delivery may hide that contrast. Try changes in pace and emphasis, then listen again. A steady voice can also be a deliberate choice when it fits the words.
Read for meaning, try responses in character, and rehearse voice, pauses and movement that fit the script or poem.
Lesson, questions and flashcards written for this dataset. Performance situations are invented teaching examples.
Four performance-practice readings written for this dataset, including the short lines used in the poetry activity.
More to read
Choose a voice from the scene
Read the whole scene before choosing how to say one line. What has happened? What does the character want? Look at the words and any stage directions for clues.
Imagine a character saying, 'Stay here.' They might be protecting someone from danger or asking a friend for company. The surrounding scene helps you choose. Try two deliveries and explain which details support each one.
Change one feature at a time. You could try a different pitch, volume or pause. Notice how that changes the request. Movement and facial expression can add information too.
Avoid using one fixed voice for every character who feels the same emotion. A person might express anger quietly or loudly. Choose an interpretation that fits this scene and rehearse it with the other performers.
Try an unscripted response
To improvise a scene, agree on the characters, place and situation. Keep those details while inventing words and actions. Listen to your partner before deciding how to respond.
Imagine two neighbours finding a lost dog outside their building. One wants to help but feels nervous around dogs. The other has cared for dogs before. Their responses should reflect those differences. There are no fixed lines to recite.
After trying the scene, discuss what each character seemed to want. Which actions made that clear? Try again with one change in the situation and notice how the responses change.
You can use improvisation to explore a role before rehearsing a written scene. Discovering a possible reaction does not mean you must replace the script's lines in the final performance.
Mark a poem for performance
Read the whole poem and notice where its ideas or feelings change. Mark words you want listeners to notice. Choose places to pause by following the meaning, not by stopping at every printed line ending.
Try these lines written for this activity: 'The empty path lies quiet. Footsteps hurry round the bend.' You might take more time over the first sentence and make the second quicker. Stressing 'empty' draws attention to the setting. Stressing 'footsteps' draws attention to an arrival.
Read the passage aloud with your choices. Then try another version. Ask a listener what stood out in each one. Choose the delivery that brings out the details you intend, and check that listeners can still hear the words clearly.
Use rehearsal feedback
Choose a short passage and decide what you want listeners to understand. Rehearse aloud, including any planned movement. Silent reading cannot tell you how your spoken pace or pauses will sound.
Ask a partner which feeling or change they noticed. Compare their response with your aim and the clues in the passage. If a detail was unclear, try changing one choice, such as the word you stress. Perform the passage again and compare the results.
Test silence too. A pause might give listeners time to consider a thought or suggest that a character is taking in news. Try different lengths. Choose a length that serves the passage rather than using the same number of seconds everywhere.
You can use notes and support during rehearsal. Follow the performance task's requirements about scripts and memorisation.
2 · Watch
En anglaisTake it off screen
Where it sits
This opens up
Where this leads
Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.