Play Groups Books

Nigel Hinton tells the story of a boy who cannot resist the temptation of trying out a motorbike that has been parked outside a pub with the engine running. The reader feels Ray's fascination as he mounts the bike and goes for his first ride which ends in a fatal accident as he loses control of the bike and runs down an elderly lady (chapter one). It is particularly this chapter that lends itself to EFL-teaching as it is exciting and full of useful vocabulary.

An intesting book about the story of the narrow minded puritans fighting back against the british army ,once a great powerful one. A great book espescilly when the army are made out to be fools. A well written book of life in 1777.

Here is a play that conflates the rhetoric of war into bite size pieces and shows us that one war, particularly as we Americans get involved in them, is all wars. Churchill's staccato lines, and disjointed dialogue is not for everyone, and her play presses our continuity buttons, but this two person dialogue between an allegorical Uncle Sam and an allegorical Guy who is drawn to Sam's cockiness underscores how the language of war is a language of insanity.

Peter Brook has staged many successful (and unsuccessful)productions of Shakespeare. Find out what he thinks aboutcontemporizing Shakespeare. Brook writes very simply, as most of his works are transcribed speeches. This book is easy to follow and wonderfully illuminating. Has large print, so that's sort of hard to swallow. This book is packed with information, but it is a SMALL book.

A FAIR COUNTRY is the sort of play that you find yourself coming back to for repeated readings. I've never seen the play produced but I have read it numerous times. Each time I think to myself how the play isn't really exceptionally well written at all, but somehow incredibly moving and relevant. In other words, its content far surpasses its form. Worth reading though, as it is a major step in the career of a major dramatist.

Challenge Of the Superfriends is a very visual, fast-paced episode, and unfortunately this greatly truncated novellization lacks the fun of its visual gags and many parodies. But considering the shortness of such a book the writer must surely be forgiven; and despite that the story itself is still faithful. Included with this book, which was released in time for Easter 2007, is a set of Eduardo, Coco (of course!) Mac/Bloo, and Bloo cardboard Easter egg stands.

Reynolds Price is one of those writers who writes nonfiction and fiction equally well. Being a fan of this author's work, I was delighted to find this book of plays - and equally delighted to discover that he writes vivid, resonant plays. The themes are the usual ones for Price - love, sex, death and the variations of human relationships, written with his usual mix of compassion and poignancy. Containing a strong voice (often unmistakably a Southern voice), a great find for those who love drama as well as those who like southern writers. These plays fall into the "storytelling" tradition of drama, rather than those which are more modern, even surreal in tone.

this is a very good book. it is great for lessons. i use it all the time!!!!
:) :)

I bought this book because I wanted to get into doing puppet shows with our small children and the neighborhood kids. It's not Jim Henson's muppets or anything, but I think it's an okay place to start if you don't have the natural acting flair that some folks have. The actors are mostly 8-10 year old kids, with some adult actors sprinkled throughout the book. Each skit has non-vocal introductory and ending music that reminds me of Nickelodeon kids shows or after school specials. Each skit uses only two or three people puppets, and no animals puppets are used (which is nice if all you have is people puppets). The dialogue is very simple, and is geared toward elementary school kids. Your basic 8-10 year old could perform these skits with just a small amount of practice. The sound effects are a nice touch. One thing I hoped for that this didn't have was songs that the puppets sing and would stick in the mind of the audience.

nevertheless a very nice book. "Kes" is essentially about a community which fails its young. The protagonist, Billy, is an apparently backward kid. The three worlds of the play are home, school and field. Home is Billy, his brother Jud and his mum where he is neglected and beaten up. School is a boy lost in a muddle of many others each hoping for futures out of this existence. Billy's solace is his pet kestrel, on which he lavishes all the tenderness he has never known. That's why the field where he flies his bird is a world of adventure and of escape. A land without maps or boundaries.
The author manages to create an image in the reader's mind that gives him a deep insight into Billy's live and his problems. You feel with the protagonist and also feel sorry for him.
That's the reason why I really enjoyed reading this book and if you like rather sad books that make you think even after finishing them I would recommend you to read "Kes"!!!