Verbatim Theatre of Empowerment: 3 Original Plays

Logical, creative and interesting throughout but with the essential points made about equality and diversity

S Isaacs, Drama/English Teacher & Peer Reviewer

Three short plays of a Verbatim Theatre framework using real voices from real people. Each play explores serious issues through minimalistic performances and roles for 6-8 actors. Also includes performance and rehearsal logs to use with the plays.


Stand Up is about discrimination that combines the real stories of students who left college as a result of prejudice. This play was nominated and showcased for the National Association of Colleges 'Exemplar of Equality and Diversity' award in 2010.
In Life and Death is a short play based on the story of Jen, a young girl from Northamptonshire who discovers she has HIV.
In Another World follows the stories of eight people who have been involved in domestic violence, either as victim or perpetrator.

What do teachers say about this resource? (5375)

A very enjoyable read!! Logical, creative and interesting throughout but with the essential points made about equality and diversity. Real life issues for discussion. Definitely suitable for A level target audience. Can be used for GCSE and differentiated

S Isaacs, Drama/English Teacher & Peer Reviewer

A good tool to use for those who are considering using Verbatim Theatre in their work. I liked the academic awareness and referencing that bookended the playlets, this will prove particularly useful to students of this genre, who can struggle to find useful resources. I liked it very much. Clean, clear, concise and coherent. I am teaching Documentary Theatre as the genre of choice for my [AQA] A2 devising students. I don't know if this resource is supposed to interpret this particular spec but there are moments when the two dovetail for my own demands

R Vines, HoD & Peer Reviewer

A very good resource to supplement any of the GCSE specifications. It is presented in a user-friendly, easy to read way. There is secure information on Verbatim theatre and Boal in the introduction and the subject matter is relevant to a younger audience. The final thought is grabbing and lists some influential practitoners of this style. The resource is helpful for any students choosing to rehearse and direct a piece of verbatim theatre or to schools wanting to introduce the genre as a precursor to creating a theme-based drama (a good introduction to a devising unit), or to work in a T.I.E style. I personally think it would work best as being solely a scripted topic. It has a lot of educational value as it covers a diversity of topics and themes (such as racism and homophobia to name but a few)

C Saddler, Drama Teacher & Peer Reviewer