Education Resource Packs
Discover tailor-made resource packs for teachers and educators to assist you in the classroom.
What materials are available?
Resource packs for Charlene James’ 2016 play Cuttin’ It, Inua Ellams’ 2019 adaptation of Three Sisters, and Jasmine Lee-Jones’ 2019 play seven methods of killing kylie jenner are available below. Resource packs for GCSE set-texts Leave Taking (1987) and Princess and the Hustler (2019) will be made available soon.
All resource packs are freely available for educators and include information on:
- The play’s original performance
- Historical and cultural context for the plays
- Interviews with the writer or director
- Analyses of characters and themes
- Breakdowns of the play’s structure
- Exercises for students
- Further reading and useful links
Further plays from the Black Plays Archive are available to watch on the National Theatre Collection, including Michaela Coel’s Chewing Gum Dreams, Inua Ellams’ Barber Shop Chronicles, Winsome Pinnock’s Rockets and Blue Lights and many more.
The National Theatre Collection is free for UK state primary and secondary schools and FE colleges. For more information, please head to the National Theatre Collection page on the National Theatre website.
Cuttin' It by Charlene James
Tsion Habte (left) and Adelayo Adedayo (left) in Charlene James’ Cuttin’ It. Photo © David Sandison.
Cuttin’ It is a play about the heart-wrenching connection between two London school girls from Somalia.
The past and present collide in a tale centred around friendship and the harrowing impact of female genital mutilation (FGM) in Britain.
The play was written by activist, actor and playwright Charlene James in 2016.
For Key Stages 4 and 5.
Three Sisters adapted by Inua Ellams
Sarah Niles (left) as Lolo, Natalie Simpson (middle) as Nne and Rachel Ofori (right) as Udo in Inua Ellams’ adaptation of Chekov’s Three Sisters, National Theatre, 2019. Photograph © The Other Richard.
Anton Chekhov’s original story of Three Sisters is set in Russia, in the 19th century, during a time of upheaval.
Inua Ellams’ adaptation is set in Nigeria in the 1960s, a country struggling with the legacy of colonialism.
Independence brings the possibility of change but white Europeans are still in the background, pulling strings and reaping the benefits – nothing has changed.
For Key Stages 4 and 5.
seven methods of killing kylie jenner by Jasmine Lee-Jones
Danielle Vitalis as Cleo (left) and Tia Bannon as Kara (right) in Jasmine Lee-Jones’ play Seven Methods of Killing Kylie Jenner at the Royal Court Theatre, 2019. Photograph © Helen Murray
Jasmine Lee-Jones’ play seven methods of killing kylie jenner (styled in lower-case) is set in the real world and online.
The play follows two young Black women navigating race, colourism, misogyny, power, and privilege after a Twitter thread goes viral online.
This resource pack was made by Maylene Catchpole and the Open Court Education Department at the Royal Court Theatre. The resource is hosted on the Black Plays Archive with permission of the parties involved in its creation.
For Key Stages 4 and 5.
National Theatre Collection Learning Guides
Actor Anthony Welsh (left) and writer Inua Ellams (right) in rehearsal for Ellam’s play Barber Shop Chronicles. Photo © Marc Brenner
Drawing on 15 years of NT Live broadcasts, alongside high-quality archive recordings never previously seen outside of the NT’s Archive, the National Theatre Collection offers filmed performances to stream in schools.
Learning Guides include all the information you need to enable you to study the production and write about it in detail. These include plot synopses with timecodes, notes about the key elements from performance style to design, pointers for further research, and much more.
Learning Guides are available for the following plays from the Black Plays Archive:
- Barber Shop Chronicles by Inua Ellams
- Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov (adapted by Inua Ellams)
- Chewing Gum Dreams by Michaela Coel
- Rockets and Blue Lights by Winsome Pinnock
- Small Island by Andrea Levy (adapted by Helen Edmundson)
- The Wife of Willesden by Zadie Smith.
More to explore
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Need an audition monologue? Check out this variety of classic and contemporary pieces by Black writers.
That Black Theatre Podcast
Explore That Black Theatre Podcast, hosted by PhD student Nadine Deller focusing on all things Black Theatre and its history in the UK.
National Theatre Archive
Dive into an exciting world of theatre history inside the National Theatre Archive. Located offsite from the National Theatre on The Cut. This link opens in a new tab.