Year 8 Melodrama: Lesson 1

Aims: To establish understanding of what melodrama is and learn some basic facts
about it.
To begin to understand the dramatic style of this form of theatre.

Resources: Student notebooks

Teachers’ notes
H/W sheets
Stereotype cards

Time Activity Notes

5 mins Starter:
• Explain that this half term’s work will be on
melodrama.
• Explain why this is what will be studied, bringing in
some of the aims of the unit.
20 Theory:
mins • Write notes onto board for students to copy, using
teachers’ notes.
• Explain and elaborate. Ask for student input – does
anyone know anything about melodrama? Has anyone
ever heard the word melodramatic?
5 mins Main Activity 1:
• Explain that characters in melodrama are usually
based on stereotype. Discuss what this means.
10 Main Activity 2:
mins • Organise students into groups of 4.
• Give each group 2 stereotype cards.
• Students create a tableau for each card, showing
stereotypical behaviour of people shown.
10 Performance:
mins • Each group quickly shows tableaux
10 Plenary:
mins • Discussion & feedback – what has been learned
today.
H/W Complete sheet on melodrama

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 Year 8 Melodrama: Lesson 3

Aims: To experiment with sound effects

To understand how SFX can contribute to a performance
To understand how music can contribute to a performance

Resources: Tape/CD of music

Story

Time Activity Notes

5 mins Starter:
• Rainforest noise picture
5 mins Main Activity 1:
• Explain that melodrama relied heavily on effects and
music.
• Explain that one of the reasons melodrama died out
was that theatre managers had to come up with
better and better effects to outdo each other and
attract audiences. Inevitably, they ran out of ideas.
• Tell “stealing thunder” story
15 Main Activity 2:
mins • Ask why music is used in Drama (think particularly
about film)
• Play music selection. Students write down what each
piece of music makes them think or feel, or what
sort of Drama it might accompany.
• Discuss
20 Main Activity 3:
mins • Explain that creating SFX these days is a very
technical process, but that when melodrama was
popular, certain technology was not available, and
therefore had to be created in a more simple and
man-made way.
• Organise students into groups. Give out copy of
story. Students must create a performance with
SFX, created any way they can, of the story – one
student to read, others to do effects.
10 Performance:
mins • Perform stories
5 mins Plenary:
• Discuss performances

Copyright ©2005 www.englishteaching.co.uk + www.english-teaching.co.uk

 Year 8 Melodrama: Lesson 4

Aims: To use scripts of original melodramas to enhance understanding of the style and
language of this type of drama.

Resources: Lines from melodrama (lesson 2)

Scripts of “Sweeney Todd”

Time Activity Notes

10 Starter:
mins • Recap what we’ve learned so far – record on board.
10 Main Activity 1:
mins • Remind students of melodramatic acting style.
• Ask for volunteers to read/act stock lines from
lesson 2.
15 Main Activity 2:
mins • Give out student sheets.
• Explain story of “Sweeney Todd”
• As a class, read through script extract.
10 Main Activity 3:
mins • Divide students into groups of 2 or 3.
• Allocate sections of script to groups.
• Students rehearse, aiming to use correct style.
10 Performance:
mins • Select groups to perform
5 mins Plenary:
• Discuss performances

Copyright ©2005 www.englishteaching.co.uk + www.english-teaching.co.uk

 Year 8 Melodrama: Lesson 5

Aims: To explore the contemporary sources for melodrama.

Resources: Maria Marten’s story

Newspaper story from time

Time Activity Notes

10 Starter:
mins • Explain that, often, melodramas were based on true
stories – mention that Sweeney Todd has become a
London legend.
• Tell story of Maria Marten (see teachers’ notes)
• Ask why this would be suitable for a melodrama.
• Explain that the story was changed slightly to fit in
with melodrama conventions – Maria was changed into
a typical heroine – an innocent victim of William
Corder’s evil ways.
10 Main Activity 1:
mins • Explain that we’re going to look at some material
actually written at the time of the murder.
• As a class, read through newspaper story extracts,
and discuss.
20 Main Activity 2:
mins • Organise students into small groups.
• Task is to create a TV news report of the story –
discuss how this can be done – groups could have
reporters, interview, a reconstruction etc.
15 Performance:
mins • Select groups to perform
5 mins Plenary:
• Discuss performances

Copyright ©2005 www.englishteaching.co.uk + www.english-teaching.co.uk

 Year 8 Melodrama: Lesson 6

Aims: End of unit assessment.

Resources: Scripts of melodrama – Maria Marten.

Time Activity Notes

10 Starter:
mins • Explain that today’s lesson will be a chance for
students to prove what they have learned during the
unit.
• Allocate groups, give out scripts and explain task – to
create a performance of the extract, using the
appropriate acting style, making the stock characters
clear, and following the conventions of melodrama
learned so far.
25 Main Activity 1:
mins • Students get into allocated groups, discuss and
rehearse script extracts.
20 Performance:
mins • Watch and assess performances
5 mins Plenary:
• Discuss performances. Encourage self-evaluation
from all groups.

Copyright ©2005 www.englishteaching.co.uk + www.english-teaching.co.uk