These plays provide:
- opportunities to build vocal confidence by using a different voice to the one used every day
- discovering the pleasures and benefits gained by rehearsing and modifying until satisfied with the result
- visualisation development to see in the mind new events because of what the words are conveying and how they are doing this
- vocabulary extension to see, hear and say familiar words in new and imaginative contexts
- an example of the power and energy words have in human communication
- an arena to try out personal preferences regarding dramatic expression, pace, volume, pitch, body language and so on
- ways to engage with an audience – discovering the benefits of memorisation; using facial expression, vocal variations and body language to convey emotion
- oral reading skill development including voice projection, word clarity, adding vocal surprises to build and release tension, the stretching of vowels, the exaggeration of consonants and so on
- social interaction and diplomacy development
- experience in trying out a variety of specific performance skills such as ways to enter, stand, move, acknowledge the audience, exit, and maintain the drama from start to finish
- opportunities to turn the ordinary into the extraordinary
- a vivid and memorable theatrical experience
‘I want to be the king!’ problem
No more bossiness over who plays what character as several books are in shared-reading format – to be read out-loud, in turn, by rows.
The main benefit is that everyone gets to be every character, everyone has the same number of turns reading, and the readers learn from each other how to show expression and ‘be’ the character.
By re-starting with a different person, the roles change again. (Of course, the books can be read solo for a lot of enjoyment.)