Instructions for a play

1. Decide what you/your group would like to explore in your play. You can choose from the following ideas or pick your own:

• How would a local business owner respond to working with an artist?

• What have the young people in this town got to offer?

• How might we unlock the creativity of people who don't consider themselves creative?

• What would happen if we put a musician on a building site?

2. Choose a backdrop and insert into theatre.

3. Choose two or three characters from the following list, or make up your own:

• Shopkeeper

• Local councillor

• 7 year old boy

• 15 year old girl

• Construction worker

• Teacher

• Pub landlord

• Visual artist

• Tourist

• Lorry driver

• Musician

• Single parent

• Office worker

Use the cut-out character shapes and whatever material/photos/images you have to make your characters come to life.

4. Get to know them by asking each the following questions:

• What do you want most in the world?

• What is your greatest fear?

• What achievement you are most proud of?

• If you were given an unexpected afternoon off, what would you do?

5. Place your characters into the theatre space. Choose which one will speak first. You can pick from the following lines, or script your own:

• “I've always wanted to ...”

• “The thing is I'm not an arty person...”

• “I've had an idea...”

• “I haven't got time for this...”

• “Have you heard about...”

6. Let the scene develop. Trust your instinct. See what emerges from the dialogue.

7. Try starting again from the beginning and doing things differently.

Download the pdf to print out and construct your own theatre.