Cost the Earth Introduction:
Introduction
Education Pack Introduction
God Almighty first planted a garden. And indeed it is the purest of human pleasures.
Francis Bacon
Cost the Earth is Gwent Theatre's fourth Key Stage 2 – 3 transition project and involves a play that has been commissioned as a direct result of consultation with teachers, on the theme of sustainable development and global citizenship.
The drama tells the story of Charlie, a twelve-year-old girl who is about to start secondary school. It is a period of assessment for her in which she looks back at her early youth and the events shared with her grandmother, Helen and forward to her adult future and the responsibilities of growing up.
Cost the Earth looks closely at a number of important issues which have significance to all areas of the curriculum. Work done before a performance or after will help pupils think about their future.
The main areas of interest developed in the play and this resource pack are:
- Sustainable development;
- global citizenship;
- growing up and relationships within a family;
- death and bereavement;
- starting a new school;
- nuclear power;
- regeneration
These are all serious subjects but the material is dealt with sensitively and not without humour. Some teachers may be concerned about the lack of male characters in the play but their absence is worth discussing. They are no less important in the narrative because of their absence and in a time when many young people are living predominantly with one parent an opportunity is afforded whereby issues arising from this can be discussed.
At the centre of the narrative is the garden and it is here that our story unfolds. Gardens have been central to our creative imagination for millennia and we still hold them close to our hearts. Mythology, art, poetry and music have used the garden as an endless source for ideas and we invite our young audiences to observe one as a paradigm of our endangered world which holds within it the possibility for regeneration and renewal.
This pack offers background material for the teacher and information and ideas for classroom practice which we hope will be of use in making the experience of Cost the Earth worthwhile and educationally sustainable.
Paul Gibbins
Education Officer
Gwent Theatre
January 2007
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Introduction Word Document (.doc) | 2.06 MB |