Author Description

This dramatisation specially for schools of Wilkie Collins’ novel conveys the complex plot accessibly, while preserving the pace and tension of the book. The rich symbolism of the play opens up areas for discussion and the resource material relates the play to students’ own experience.Playscript – the book contains a playscript dramatising Wilkie Collins’ pre-20th-century novel. The adaptation focuses on issues that are of interest in schools.Resources following the playscript contain activities for drama (including role-play), reading, writing, and speaking and listening. These are accompanied by extension material, including extracts from modern and contemporary works for comparison, and documentary material. The resources are organised under the following Staging the play Work on and around the script From novel to playscript (including the language of the novel) Life and times of Wilkie Collins Themes in and around the play (such as mental illness, mystery/detective story genre, melodrama, marriage and love, the supernatural, the role of women) Media.