Preparation
Organise your class or group into small groups (no more then 4 people per group).
Activity
1: Read the quotes silently.
2: Discuss the quotes you feel most strongly about. Each group member highlights one quote each and then chooses a quote to cut out with scissors provided.
3: Take it in turns to read out the quotes you have selected.
4: Put the quotes on a separate piece of A3 paper allowing spaces in between. Move the quotes around in ways that might help you to make a storyline.
5: Think about a storyline that can link the quotes together. Write up your script and ensure everyone can have a turn at reading.
6: Develop the reading into a short performance.
7: Play around with tempo, tone and volume and think about gesture, expression and movement.
8: Act out your script to each other if you want to. Give it a title if you like.
Children's Quotes (age 10-11)
At my primary school you just had to go out with someone. It was a virtual rule!
They call the girls who go out with boys, ‘tramps’ and the girls who don’t want to hug and kiss, ‘fridge’.
They ask someone to ask the same girl out again and again. They like pass you round.
I’m not really, you know, fussy about girlfriends. I’m not a girl person …
I love horses.
In primary school, me and this girl used to always hang out. We made up a lie that we were cousins, and that lasted for like a year before we told anyone. When it was her birthday, I’d get her Happy Birthday Cousin cards.
Boyfriends are extra time, that I don’t want to give
The (dinner staff) go “the more the boys hit you, the more they love you”
For more quotes, go to Boys and Girls Speak Out.
What next?
Why not work with what you’ve created to make your own play. Or offer the scripts to your school drama department, or local drama group to work with and develop into a piece of interactive physical or forum theatre.
Before you begin adapting this activity for the children and young people in your setting, read the section on Safety and Support.
Download this DIY activity here:
