STAND UP

STAND UP is a play for students in Years 8, 9 or 10 (Level 4). It is designed for a normal-sized English class and for students with varying interests in acting. Since there are 41 roles - none of which are really minor - students who enjoy acting can perform in several scenes and play to their heart's content, whereas students who aren't particularly keen on acting only have one role to master in one single scene. Every scene deals in a very special way with the question of moral courage and the many challenges young people face in our modern world when it comes time to stand up for what is right. There are monologues, dialogues and scenes with as many as eight or nine performers. The themes are geared to extreme situations which confront students nowadays - such as peer pressure, cyber bullying and gender-related bullying, exploitation, unprovoked violence, self-destruction and rejection - and offer young actresses and actors the opportunity to discover a wide range of relevant dramatic topics and express