Richard Gent | Saturday December 30, 2023
Categories: KS5 Resources, KS5 Literature, Cambridge AS and A Level 8695 IGCE, Drama, Athol Fugard, The Train Driver, Coming Home , Have You Seen Us?
The Train Driver Synopsis and Overview Sometimes referred to a ‘memory play’ it is bookended by soliloquies by Simon Hanabe, one of the two characters in the play. He has lost his job as the gravedigger and cemetery attendant at the graveyard of Shukuma, a squatter camp on the outskirts of Port Elizabeth. The play, a series of exchanges with Roelf Visagie, the second character in the play who has much the bigger role and is inclined to lengthy monologues, is the story of how and why…
[ read full article ] »
Richard Gent | Thursday January 03, 2019
Categories: KS5 Resources, Cambridge AS and A Level 8695 IGCE, Drama, Athol Fugard, The Train Driver, Coming Home , Have You Seen Us?
All Plays Sample Essay Titles Recap: the following tasks have already been set in Specification 9695 papers 31-33 for all three texts In what ways and with what dramatic effects does Fugard present characters who face moral choices in these plays? Discuss Fugard’s dramatic presentation of ‘white guilt’ in ‘The Train Driver’ and ‘Have you seen us?’ Discuss Fugard’s dramatic presentation of prejudice in these plays. Discuss Fugard’s dramatic…
[ read full article ] »
Richard Gent | Thursday January 03, 2019
Categories: KS5 Resources, KS5 Literature, Cambridge AS and A Level 8695 IGCE, Drama, Athol Fugard, The Train Driver, Coming Home , Have You Seen Us?
Sample Essay Titles Recap: the following tasks have already been set in Specification 9695 papers 31-33 for all three texts In what ways and with what dramatic effects does Fugard present characters who face moral choices in these plays? Discuss Fugard’s dramatic presentation of ‘white guilt’ in ‘The Train Driver’ and ‘Have you seen us?’ Discuss Fugard’s dramatic presentation of prejudice in these plays. Discuss Fugard’s dramatic presentation…
[ read full article ] »
Richard Gent | Thursday January 03, 2019
Categories: KS5 Resources, KS5 Literature, Cambridge AS and A Level 8695 IGCE, Drama, Athol Fugard, The Train Driver, Coming Home , Have You Seen Us?
All Plays Sample Essay Titles Recap: the following tasks have already been set in Specification 9695 papers 31-33 for all three texts In what ways and with what dramatic effects does Fugard present characters who face moral choices in these plays? Discuss Fugard’s dramatic presentation of ‘white guilt’ in ‘The Train Driver’ and ‘Have you seen us?’ Discuss Fugard’s dramatic presentation of prejudice in these plays. Discuss Fugard’s dramatic…
[ read full article ] »
Richard Gent | Wednesday January 02, 2019
Categories: KS5 Resources, Cambridge AS and A Level 8695 IGCE, Drama, Athol Fugard, The Train Driver, Coming Home , Have You Seen Us?
Lesson Plan Two Starter Activity In class re-read the epilogue to the play and carefully consider both what Henry says and how he says it. Solly has told him that he is forgiven: he has told Solly that he loves him. For Henry at the moment there is nothing more to say: he wanted ‘nothing that would violate the moment’. He does not regret never seeing Solly and Rachel again. They have been the agents of his ‘short journey from hate to love’ and their job is done. But he…
[ read full article ] »
Richard Gent | Wednesday January 02, 2019
Categories: KS5 Resources, KS5 Literature, Cambridge AS and A Level 8695 IGCE, Drama, Athol Fugard, The Train Driver, Coming Home , Have You Seen Us?
Lesson Plan One Music in the Play Starter Activity Go through the play and list the occasions when Fugard introduces musical accompaniment to the action and which of the characters does so. Re-read the passages and research the detail of the different types of music we hear: for example Afrikaans folksong, Name songs, Mariachi music and Hebrew songs of praise. This might well be done as preparation for the Main Activity. Printable Activity Sheet New PDF Main Activity There are four musical…
[ read full article ] »
Richard Gent | Wednesday January 02, 2019
Categories: KS5 Resources, KS5 Literature, Cambridge AS and A Level 8695 IGCE, Drama, Athol Fugard, The Train Driver, Coming Home , Have You Seen Us?
Lesson Plan Two Starter Activity Look at this early scene in Act One on PP 62-65 starting with the SD ‘Mannetjie begins taking off his shoes……’ to Veronica: ‘Dead and buried in Cape Town’. Working in groups of three or four read through the exchange to yourselves and then divide it up into the group number and read it (or portions of it) aloud to each other. Then: discuss and agree on the tone, nuance and emphasis of the lines and how those qualities…
[ read full article ] »
Richard Gent | Wednesday January 02, 2019
Categories: KS5 Resources, KS5 Literature, Cambridge AS and A Level 8695 IGCE, Drama, Athol Fugard, The Train Driver, Coming Home , Have You Seen Us?
Lesson Plan One Starter Activity Look at Alfred’s long speech to Veronica from Act One, P73 ‘Here they are….. ‘ to P74: “So that is how it was’. Working in groups of three or four read through the speech to yourselves and then divide it up into the group number and read portions of it aloud to each other. Then: discuss and agree on the tone, nuance and emphasis of the lines and how those qualities are modulated and varied/ developed as Alfred speaks it.…
[ read full article ] »
Richard Gent | Wednesday January 02, 2019
Categories: KS5 Resources, KS5 Literature, Cambridge AS and A Level 8695 IGCE, Drama, Athol Fugard, The Train Driver, Coming Home , Have You Seen Us?
Lesson Plan Two Look again at scene six P34 Simon: ‘So what you thinking Roofie?’ to P38 Lights fade out completely on the image of Roelf digging. As in Lesson One take roles and read the passage aloud, or in groups with one member of the group reading the stage directions and others (if there are more than three) offering constructive criticism of the performance. Make sure you record your responses. Starter Activity 'Nobody else wanted her, Simon… I do, and that’s…
[ read full article ] »
Richard Gent | Wednesday January 02, 2019
Categories: KS5 Resources, KS5 Literature, Cambridge AS and A Level 8695 IGCE, Drama, Athol Fugard, The Train Driver, Coming Home , Have You Seen Us?
Lesson Plan One Remind yourselves of and re read pages 4-9 of the Faber edition of the play (the first five pages of the text at the start of Act One). Take roles and read the passage aloud, or in groups with one member of the group reading the stage directions and others (if there are more than three) offering constructive criticism of the performance. Look especially hard at the implications of the third of these tasks as you do this. The central question here is what are your first…
[ read full article ] »
