Intermediate

by Peter Griffith

 

Ravi has crossed the world to find a new home, away from the horror and bloodshed of war-torn Syria. Acquiring asylum in Great Britain is difficult enough. But when Ravi is finally accepted as a refugee, his problems really start. He and his mother are accomodated on a run-down estate on the outskirts of one of England’s big cities – an estate dominated by a racist gang…

 

The accompanying Teachers' Pack contains information about racism, including material from the Refugee Council, an organisation which helps immigrants and refugees in Great Britain.



 

Photos of 'Promised Land'

 

 

Extract from the script 'Promised Land'

Ravi: Hi…I’ve just moved in here.
Jaz: Well you’d better just move out again, hadn’t you?
Ravi: What do you mean?
Fiz: This is Gough Street. This is our patch.
Snoz: And we don’t like people like you.
Ravi: But…you don’t know me.
Jaz: We don’t want to know you, kid.
Fiz: Where are you from?
Ravi: I’m from Syria.
Snoz: Never heard of it. Where’s that?
Ravi: It’s to the south of Turkey.
Jaz: Well you can just get back to Pingy Pongy or wherever it is. Because we don’t want you here.
Ravi: But I live here. This is my home.
Fiz: Wrong. This is our home.
Snoz: We live here.
Jaz: And there’s no room for you – foreigner!

by Peter Griffith

 

Tommy loves Wendy – but Wendy only has eyes for Tommy’s sensitive friend Grant. So Tommy plans a mean trick, to try to separate Grant and Wendy. The trick works only too well, and soon the situation is out of control. Tommy, Grant, Wendy and her friend Ellie find that they are out of their depth in emotions that they can barely understand…

 

Salt and Vinegar is a play about first love – and first jealousy. The accompanying Teachers’ Pack gives lesson-plans, exercises for preparatory and follow-up work, and suggestions for discussion about relationships, and about the importance of friendship.

 

 

Photos of 'Salt and Vinegar'

Season 19/20

Formers productions

 

 

Extract from the script 'Salt and Vinegar'

Tommy: I think I know Grant better than you do. He can’t handle it when a relationship gets too…close. It was the same with the girlfriend he had back at home two month ago –
Wendy: What? He had another girlfriend?
Tommy: Oh, didn’t he tell you? Oh god, I shouldn’t have said anything. I’m sure it was nothing. Forget I mentioned her.
Wendy: He had another girlfriend back home?
Tommy: I promised him I wouldn’t tell you. I’m sorry. I shouldnt have said anything about her.
Wendy: The bastard!
Tommy: Yeah, he’s treated you really badly, hasn’t he? You trusted him, didn’t you?
Wendy: That’s right, I trusted him.
Tommy: Look Wendy, I’m here for you. Forget Grant. I’ll look after you.

by Peter Griffith

 

Tony doesn’t want to go to school. Every day his life is made miserable by Jim Jarvis and his gang, who attack Tony, steal his lunch-money, punch him and spit on him…on her first day in her new school, Ruth meets Lauren, who calls her 'Fatty'. The other girls laugh at this, and Ruth never has a chance to make friends. The girls spoil her homework and make fun of her in class. The teacher is no help at all. Eventually Ruth can stand it stand it no longer, and she runs away from the school…

 

This hard-hitting play looks at the phenomenon of bullying in schools. It shows the misery and despair of the victims. It also allows the aggressors to speak – why do they do it? And most of all it concentrates on the role of the watchers – those fellow-pupils who see what is happening, and haven’t got the courage to try to stop it. If the victim seeks adult help, it often makes the bullying worse. Only the watchers have the power, by withdrawing their support from the bullies, to give the victims a chance.

 

 

Photos of 'Sticks and Stones'

 

 

Extract from the script 'Sticks and Stones'

Victims: all alone
no-one to talk to
on our own
we suffer in silence
Try not to cry
Try not to show our pain
Hoping they won’t do it again

Can’t tell our parents
They wouldn’t understand
Can’t tell the teachers
They’d only make it worse
Can’t tell our friends
What friends?
The others are all on the side of the bullies
Watching our misery, watching our pain