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Creating the Script

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Creating the Script

At a busy aquarium, a power cut interrupts the last tour of the day. Read the short script extract, then investigate how its characters, dialogue and stage directions work. Finish by planning and writing a short scene of your own. There can be more than one successful creative answer; example answers are provided.

Read the script extract

THE LAST TOUR Characters: ANA, an aquarium guide; KAHU, a visiting student; ISLA, the duty technician. Setting: The deep-sea gallery, just before closing. [The lights flicker. The tank glows blue. A low alarm sounds once.] ANA: Everyone stay together, please. The emergency lights are on. KAHU: (looking into the tank) Is that little ray still moving? [Isla enters quickly, carrying a torch.] ISLA: The main lights are out, but the tanks have backup power. We have time to check them. ANA: Then let’s make this final stop count. Kahu, can you help me keep the group calm? KAHU: (taking a breath) Sure. Who wants to hear how rays find food in the dark? [The visitors lean closer. The alarm stops. Isla smiles.] ISLA: Backup power is holding. The tour can continue—quietly.

Explore how scripts work

Use evidence from the extract when you can. For writing tasks, your answer may differ from the example.

1.Which option names three features that appear in the extract?

Characters, dialogue and stage directions
A narrator, rhyming couplets and a chorus
A contents page, captions and a glossary
A list of camera shots, voice-over and credits

2.Match each example from the extract to its purpose.

[The lights flicker.]
ANA: Everyone stay together, please.
Characters: ANA, KAHU, ISLA

Dialogue
Cast list
Stage direction

3.Put these events in the order they happen: Isla reports that backup power is holding; the lights flicker; Kahu offers to explain how rays find food; Isla enters with a torch.

4.What does Kahu’s line, “(taking a breath) Sure,” suggest about how Kahu feels or acts? Give one detail from the extract to support your idea.

5.The stage directions are spoken aloud by the characters.

TrueFalse

6.Rewrite this line so it sounds more urgent and gives the actor something specific to play: “We need to do something.” Add one short stage direction in brackets.

Plan and create a scene

Your scene takes place in the aquarium after the tour. A sound comes from a closed exhibit, and Ana, Kahu and Isla must decide what to do. Build a clear problem and a believable response.

7.Which problem gives the characters a clear, safe challenge to solve on stage?

A mysterious tapping comes from the closed penguin exhibit, and the team must check it using the aquarium’s safety procedure.
The characters remember a problem but never explain what it was.
A character solves everything offstage before the scene begins.
The aquarium disappears and the characters change into superheroes without explanation.

8.Write a brief beginning, middle and end for the aquarium scene. Include the problem, one choice the characters make, and how the scene finishes.

9.Write a short script scene of at least six character lines using Ana, Kahu and Isla. Include a character label before every spoken line and at least two stage directions in brackets. Let the characters disagree or react differently before they decide what to do.

10.Choose one line from your scene and improve it so an actor can show a clearer emotion or intention. Write the original idea and your revised line, with a stage direction if useful.