ABSTRACT
In this chapter the emphasis is on performance and on playscripts as texts, those playscripts children read and perform and those they write and perform. Plays, like stories, have a strong narrative drive and appeal partly because we want to know what is going to happen next. The plays children study can, like the stories and novels they enjoy, be based on ancient myth and legend from different cultures and traditions or be concerned with modern themes and dilemmas. There have always been primary school teachers, including the present writer, who have introduced young children to Shakespeare as part of a literature programme. And so this chapter includes a section on how Shakespeare can be studied and presented for different age groups. There is also a section on film making now that the digital camera has made it much easier to make short films in school.
