Roald Dahl's Matilda: A look at the book through drama

Roald Dahl’s Matilda is an enduringly popular story, and has come very much to the fore recently due to the popularity of the RSC’s stage adaptation, which is currently playing to packed houses in the West End. A delightful book with a dark edge, it has plenty of characters and themes that  lend themselves beautifully to exploration with KS2 groups. Unacknowledged talent, bullying, fear, friendship, loyalty and trust – they are all here, and can be used to springboard into very interesting  drama work.

I have written this scheme with a leaning towards chronological order, so if you are reading the book with the class you could deliver the lessons as you go along. However, it can also be used  with groups who have already read the whole story. The scheme uses games, drama exercises, improvisation and role-play to explore the characters and themes of the book, and broadly covers all aspects of the KS2 National Curriculum drama objectives. There are also links to the speaking, listening and group discussion and interaction objectives within KS2 English, and the scheme can be used to inspire creative work across the curriculum.

Number of lessons: 4