Satire remains one of the most powerful means of censuring human flaws and foibles on either a societal or personal level. It incorporates wide-ranging literary and media forms and can vary in tone from light-hearted ridicule to scathing condemnation. Wrongdoing has been targeted in various ways and mediums throughout the centuries but the best satire has shown the potential to trigger positive change and reform. Criticism can be direct or inferred but absurdity can also be mocked for its own sake. Regardless of purpose and style however, audiences are typically encouraged to see values, individuals or institutions within their world through a satiric lens. It works best when it is easily recognised and grounded in reality but it need not be political or highly moral in subject matter or focus. Satire retains contemporary appeal and relevance because it continues to have the seductive potency to challenge, mock and expose what needs to be brought to public attention.



The books in the ‘Exploring Genre and Style’ series provide in-depth analysis and activities to help students evaluate, interpret and articulate their understanding of representative texts. The changing face of satire over time as well as the conventions and techniques have been examined to explore the many reasons behind the enduring popularity of satire. Recurring themes and stylistic elements are also evaluated alongside changing historical, social and literary context and shifting societal views, values and ‘norms’. The aim has been to help teachers develop student understanding, critical evaluation and the development of personal interpretation.

Bind: paperback

Framed !! is a collection of four plays, each of a different genre of play. All plays are designed for a large cast so that as many of the class as possible are involved.



Murder Mystery: FRAMED!!



Mona Lisa has been viciously murdered. The only witnesses are a whole lot of paintings, a white rabbit and an albino monk covered in blood. Can the cream of sleuths and detectives: Inspector Moutarde, Sherman Bones, Inspector Chapeau and Miss Petal solve this difficult crime? 25 Characters (can double)



Adventure: Bob Babstock and the Red Moustache.



Bob Babstock, living in suburbia with his unimaginative wife Jean, has retired and can only dream adventures. As Bob and Jean board ‘The Cruise Away Over Sixties Pacific Trip of a Lifetime’, they are followed by Bob’s imaginary other life in which Bob is the hero and the supporting cast is Indiana Jones, the evil Dr Skrebels, Errol Flynn and Bob’s ideal woman, Marilyn Monroe. 14 Characters



Crime/Film Noir: The Crystal Case



When Saffron Crystal enters Sam Holloway’ s Detective Agency, he knows that this dame is trouble. Sam untangles a linear plot with a small flashback to answer the many questions: Where is Rick Crystal? Why does Tony Two Tooth only have two teeth? Who was on the Grassy Knoll and why doesn’t Rosie feel like dancing? 18 Characters



Science Fiction: To Boldly Go (where no man has gone before)



Commander Blogg, with his crack team of Trekkies, including a computer named Hell, has a mission to land on Planet Xanadu to save the Stickons from the Norrebos, all of whom bear names from the Ikea catalogue. Love triangles, split infinitives and recipes for Sticky Pudding never deter the Commander from his objective To Boldly Go where No Man has Gone before.

Bind: paperback

Language Investigations is a resource book for teachers specifically focused on meeting the requirements of The Australian Curriculum: English. It has 25 practical units which individually and together explain and address terms like the following, referred to in the curriculum:



accent

dialect

monologue

satire

adjective

dialogue

myth

setting

adverb

ellipsis

narrative

sentence structure

allegory

idiom

nominalisation

spelling roots (Greek/Latin)

allusion

imagery

noun/abstract noun

Standard Australian English

analogy

innuendo

parody

stanza

apposition

intertextuality

point of view

suffix

characterisation

juxtaposition

prefix

symbolism

clause/embedded clause

metaphor/extended metaphor

prepositional phrase

theme (grammatical)

cohesion

metonymy

pun

topic sentence

contrast

modality

rhythm

verb

voice

Bind: paperback

Maths Topic Tests and Assessments are resource books for teachers including all the major topic areas required for Year 7 and Year 8. (Titles for Years 9 and 10 will be available in 2013.)



Each topic area includes



The learning outcomes required for the topic

Key words for the topic

Two comprehensive tests for the topic

One to test the basic knowledge and skills required for every student

One more advanced and challenging

Short answers

Worked solutions



Each book is photocopiable

Bind: paperback

The Complete Shakespearience is a practical guide to teaching Shakespeare in the secondary school. Peter Thomas provides a stage-by-stage programme for introducing students to Shakespeare as a living dramatist for a popular audience. Using practical drama techniques for classroom, individual and group work, the book shows how to make Shakespeare’s scriptcraft the basis for satisfying activities which appeal to all students.

Starting from the principle that Shakespeare was an entertainer and impresario, and that his original audience enjoyed theatre as a physical, visual and auditory experience, this book creates a sequence of classroom activities to promote confidence and enjoyment in performances which do not need great dramatic skill but which get to the heart of Shakespeare's dramatic genius. Beginning with a section on building confidence, there are further exercises in voice, action and group practice, as well as reading to appreciate Shakespeare's stagecraft and how his scenarios relate to our 21st century world.

The Complete Shakespearience also offers edited versions of many scenes from a range of plays which can be presented, practised and performed as stand-alone dramatic experiences. In the upper secondary school, these can form the basis for written and/or Speaking and Listening work and lay the foundation for further study.

A chapter on The Screened Shakespearience will serve as a valuable guide to what is available on film and offers ways to explore and compare both film and stage versions of the plays. The section on Shakespearience for teachers provides a section of short articles on aspects of Shakespeare's thought and writing that will develop the subject specialist expertise of any secondary English teacher.

The chapter on assessment is directed at UK examinations but nevertheless has a lot of valuable suggestions which can be applied in any context.

An accompanying CD contains adaptable, photocopiable material from the book which will help teachers create resources and use scripts in the classroom.

Bind: paperback

Publication Date: 24-01-2013

Working Title is the play you have when you don’t have a play.



It is one of only a handful of plays entirely devoid of any recognizable plot. And that’s not easy to do. The characters come and go. They interrupt each other. They behave irrationally. They are funny. They are violent. Occasionally they burst into song.



So what’s going on?



Working Title is an excursion into various types, kinds and fashions of theatre. In itself it is a sort of vaudeville experience. It introduces us to



Ionesco

Brecht

Ibsen.



There are scenes here illustrating



Theatre of the Absurd

Brechtian Theatre

Musical Theatre and the

Theatre of Realism.

And all in the one play! Now there’s value for money!



Furthermore, members of the audience are right royally entertained.



As they should be.

Bind: paperback

tufff..." is about the friendship which develops between three schoolboys and what they can achieve together through understanding and tolerance.

...is played with much energy, simplicity and sheer delight .

...is about fear, pain and the contagiousness of shared experience — caring should be a key word.

...is about prejudice — how the minds and attitudes of people, especially young people, are crystallised into 'closed shops' filled with sometimes wrong and dangerous preconceptions and lasting misconceptions.

...is also very funny

The plot is simple ...

Emmett Rosebury, a boy who has lost the use of his legs, spends a lot of time at the beach. He finds a shell on the beach which gives him ideas.

His solitude is interrupted by the arrival of Springle and Blackburn.

It is a school day and everyone at the school has to receive the needle but unbeknown to Springle and Blackburn, Rosebury has already had his needle and school has been cancelled for the day. Springle and Blackburn had already decided to skip school, and the needle, and spend the day at the beach.

They meet Rosebury at the beach and from there the relationship between them develops into one where Springle and Blackburn overcome their prejudice and come to accept Rosebury and understand that he is not really that different…

Bind: paperback

Publication Date: 24-01-2013

Over the Moon and Far Away is based on the historical experiences of many women interned during World War II.

The play takes us on a year long journey, from December 1943 to December 1944 in one women’s POW Camp somewhere in Java. The play is therefore an allegory for all the women’s camps across south-east Asia – names and places are not important, but the stories are. Over the Moon and Far Away represents the sufferings of a cross section of the 70,000 women and children interned in what was then the Dutch East Indies and now Indonesia during World War II.

It is about the women who escaped Singapore and Malaysia on boats only to be torpedoed, picked up 24 hours later from the sea to be brought to camps on shore.

It is about the women who were Australian nurses who worked with no medicines or equipment against a tide of tropical diseases.

It is about the women who had no skills other than their ability to socialize before the war, who dug deep and became innovative survivors.

It is about the women who kept their husbands’ children safe through three and a half years of deprivation and incarceration.

It is about the women who made sacrifices for others because that was just the way they were.

It is about women, who looked at the moon every night and dreamed of freedom.

Bind: paperback

Publication Date: 11-07-2014

What if, Peter Adams asks in this important and original book, as English teachers, instead of always requiring our students to respond discursively to the literary texts that they encounter in our classrooms — by asking them to analyse, compare, describe, evaluate, explain or to defend a set position with a series of arguments — we were to offer them opportunities to sustain and deepen their engagement with those texts, both intellectual and emotional, by writing about them in creative–imaginative ways? What if, in Robert Witkin’s resonant phrase, we were to ask them “to make an artistic response to the artistic work of others”?

The result is evident in the remarkable pieces of writing which form the heart of this book, pieces of writing which not only show young writers working “at the far reach of their capacities” but which represent a deeply thoughtful, sustained and personal exploration of the significance of the work in question.

Bind: paperback

Publication Date: 28-08-2013

The Black-bearded Bai is the first of six plays based on Asian folk lore and written specifically for use by junior and middle secondary students.

The plays are:


The Secret Housewife

The Secret Housewife illustrates a common theme in Oriental folklore. The story may be about a tien, or immortal, but it is really about loneliness, growing old and the difficulty of adapting to a changing world. This sad tale works well as a quiet, tragic mystery.

The Black-bearded Bai

A favourite theme in Chinese folklore is the triumph of intelligence over brute force. This idea is often linked with the victory of a poor person over a wealthy one. The story of Aina-kizz and the Black-bearded Bai fulfils both of the above, and is an amusing and satisfying tale. It seems natural to present it as a Brechtian comedy.

Ido and the Devil

This is a traditional story of good versus evil. Rather than turn Ido into an angel it seemed more fun to portray him as a large, innocent, artless adolescent schoolboy. And rather than portray the Devil as a traditional monster, it seemed more entertaining to depict him as a comic character, lacking in confidence but with a cheeky irrepressible nature. This script has turned into a modern-day absurdist morality play.

Ken Arok

Ken Arok is a fascinating, complex character. He is both a treacherous man and also a brave warrior. To some he is a hero, to others a villain. There is some cheerful comic banditry in Act 1, but the piece ends as a riveting physical drama, complete with stage fights and murder.

The Kimono of O Same San

This story is set in old Tokyo during a famous tragedy that took place in 1657. It is a gentle tale about a girl named O Same. It is also a very violent story. These two seemingly opposing qualities of gentleness and violence have always lain together at the heart of Japan’s history. This play, then, is a tragic love story.

Harisarman

There are many folktales in other cultures about being in the right place at the right time. This is a satisfying story imbued with a quiet Indian humour. It seemed appropriate to present it as a short Bollywood musical.

Apart from being enjoyable and relevant plays, they offer an insight into the culture of the country the play comes from.

Bind: paperback

Publication Date: 28-08-2013