Readers Theatre High School British Migrants History Drama Script With Tasks

The Big Ship Sails is a one act drama script that tells the heartbreaking true stories of the children who were 'exported' during the British Child Migration Scheme.

Suitable for ages 11+

Cast size: 31

Can increase cast size to 40 with additional non-speaking Children and extra Narrators

Can reduce cast size to 28 by giving some students more than one role to play

Running time: approx. 40 minutes, depending on the inclusion of children's songs and games.

The Big Ship Sails is an emotional one act stage script about the British Child Migration Scheme of the 1940s and 1950s. This was a scheme that saw tens of thousands of children - some orphans, many not - 'exported' from Britain to colony countries around the world. The play is created from the testimonies and actual stories of the children and adults involved. It's a powerful piece of theatre for students to perform and works well as an ensemble piece for a large group, allowing some less confident students to perform in non-speaking roles. The play also provides students with opportunities to include singing, mime and tableaux in their performance. The theme of this play also links to the issues and emotional challenges faced by refugees today.

This script includes fabulous full production notes, with ideas for staging, props and furniture, lighting, sound effects, any music and costumes. It also contains lots of great follow-on activities covering story, characters, theme, script layout and performance-related tasks for further work in the classroom or drama studio. These additional activities also include links for further information about the British Child Migration Scheme.

If you are giving a performance of this play to an audience, regardless of whether you charge admission or not, you must purchase the appropriate Performance Rights License, available in this store.