Reader's theatre
Parts: ballads for the whole class
Pick a ballad and a cast size. The stanzas are dealt across two to six voices in story order, and any refrain goes to everyone at once. Print the script as a PDF and read it standing up. Every text is public domain, nothing is stored, and nothing needs an account.
The Raven
by Edgar Allan Poe · Years 9+
A grieving speaker mourning the dead; melancholy throughout, no gore. Best for upper primary and up.
Staging: Give the narrator to one confident reader and the raven's refrain to the whole cast.
If—
by Rudyard Kipling · All ages
Advice verse with no violence, fright or sorrow. Fits any year level.
Staging: Short stanzas deal neatly across four voices; let the last two lines go to everyone.
Jabberwocky
by Lewis Carroll · All ages · text check pending
Nonsense words and a mock-heroic battle; nothing to frighten. A favourite for EAL oracy.
Staging: Nonsense begs for big voices: one voice per stanza, warnings and battle cries to everyone.
You are old, Father William
by Lewis Carroll · All ages · text check pending
A cheeky dialogue between youth and age; no violence, fright or sorrow.
Staging: Written as a dialogue already: cast the questions against the answers, chorus on the repeated rebukes.
Texts come verbatim from Project Gutenberg. Ballads marked “text check pending” use a new extract that has not yet been checked against the live ebook: confirm it before printing for class.