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Humpty Dumpty Unit

Read Student Plays here

Humpty Dumpty is a play about groups, power and bullying

Task 1 - Pre Reading

  1. Groups devise a scenario where the group forces an individual to do something he does not wish to do
  2. Discuss the roles & techniques and relate it to your own experience

Character profiles

As you read the play you should make notes on the characters you meet. 

Your notes should include what each character does and how they react to the situations they are faced with. You need to try to understand the personality of each character and how their personality affects their actions.

Click here for an example of how to set out your notes and some initial content taken from the play's character list.

Read Scene  2

  1. What would you have done in the place of Sammy/Terry?
  2. What will/should Sammy do now?

Read Scene 3

1 Analyse the language of the police officer. What is the register like? Why? How is it created? look at:
vocabulary
precision in factual detail
complex syntax
complex noun phrases

More Detailed instructions here

2 Rewrite the speech in an informal register

What did you change?
3 Look at the language of Mrs Dumpton. What do her 'mistakes' or non-standard features show?

4 Read the IST School Code on Bullying & discuss it

Read Scene 4

improvise the scene again, this time with more truth emerging. What does the father need to do?

Read Scenes 5, 6 & 7

List the stresses in the family

List the instances of violence

How could things have been different?

Read Scenes 8 & 9

Is Rob Webster doing a good job? List the pro's and con's of his approach

Read Scenes 11 & 12

What does Sammy mean when he says on P46, "There was something about Terry..."? Are some people more likely to be victims? Why?

Read Scenes 13 & 14

How does the Head use language to establish her authority? Why does she need to?

Look back on the play & list the acts of bullying? How did they grow? Why?

Who was responsible for Terry's death? List all those who are partly responsible and say why

MASTER PIECE for Folder

Write 2 monologues about the same day, one by a child bullying and the other by the bully. How do they see the same events differently? How much does each understand?

Make it seem as real as possible with all the detail of a child's life.

It should be different from Humpty Dumpty and need not be as violent or dramatic but should make the feelings of each person come across clearly in a convincing way