Restoration Comedy Scheme of Work

(ages 13-14)

This six-week scheme introduces students to Restoration Comedy through practical workshops and text study. Lessons use well-known plays (for example 'Bartholomew Fair' and 'The Way of the World') to explore comic characterisation, improvisation and period plot devices. Students modernise plot ideas, write monologues, rehearse extracts and use music and comic devices to shape tone. The unit concludes with a prepared extract assessment that is filmed for self-evaluation.

What Students Will Learn

Students will learn to identify and perform key features of Restoration Comedy: character names and traits, comic timing, asides and dramatic pause. They will devise modernised scenes from period plots, write and perform monologues, apply theatrical comic devices, use music to create atmosphere and rehearse extracts for a filmed performance assessment.

Week 1: An Introduction to Restoration Comedy
This lesson introduces Restoration Comedy, examining character names and how they signal traits to an audience. Students modernise a typical plot device through role-play to focus on character and comic effect rather than language.
Resources Include
Powerpoint Slides
Restoration Comedy - An Overview
Week 2: 'Bartholomew Fair'
The class creates a prepared improvisation of an old-fashioned fairground to build ensemble and atmosphere. Students then develop an extract from the play and use music deliberately to shape tone and setting.
Resources Include
Resources
'Bartholomew Fair' by Ben Johnson
Music
Merry Go Slower
Week 3: 'Man of Mode'
Students devise a scene from 'Man of Mode' in their own words before working with the original text to bring language to life. The lesson introduces a theatrical comic device and techniques to develop humour.
Resources Include
Resources
'Man of Mode' by George Etheredge
Week 4: 'The Way of the World'
Students write a monologue about a relationship and the act of breaking up, then explore the idea through a scene from the play. The class studies dramatic pause to create both tension and comedy.
Resources Include
Resources
'Way of the World' by William Congreve
Week 5: 'The Country Wife'
A group improvises a pub scene of boastful friends and then develops the scripted version, using dramatic pause and asides to refine comic delivery. The lesson focuses on timing and vocal/physical delivery.
Resources Include
Resources
'The Country Wife' by William Wytcherley'The Beaux Strategem' by George Farquar
Week 6: 'The Beaux Strategem'
This lesson is an assessment: students present a prepared and rehearsed extract from 'The Beaux Strategem' and are filmed. The recording is used for performance delivery and self-evaluation purposes.
Resources Include
Resources
'The Beaux Strategem' by George Farquar