‘The best way for students to remember history is to experience it!' Transforming historical understanding through scripted drama

An article on scripted drama might seem an unlikely choice for an edition devoted to getting students talking. Surely the point about a script is that the words used are chosen and prescribed by others. However, the examples presented here by Helen Snelson, Ruth Lingard and Kate Brennan demonstrate how effectively a well-crafted script can serve not merely to clarify complex sequences of past events, but to prompt rigorous discussion and animated questioning among students about the motives and intentions of key individuals and their relationships with one another. With scenes ranging from the Wars of the Roses to Vietnam, characters as diverse as Ambroise Paré and Harry Truman, and commentators as perceptive as Ann Alysis and Eve Aluate, the scene is set for lively, critical and highly productive debate...