AQA GCSE Drama Student Book: Revised Edition

Home at Night An agitated Ben arrives looking for his parents. Rosie says they are out celebrating their anniversary. When Fran and Bob return, they suspect Ben has taken drugs. Bob goes to attack Ben, but is stopped. Ben explains that he has stolen some money. Over a period of time, he has taken a large amount of money from his company. He wanted to keep up with people from more a uent backgrounds. Bob again goes to attack him, but Ben hits himself. As Fran and Rosie try to stop him, Ben raises his st to Fran. Fran says that they will remortgage the house to help Ben pay back the money. When Bob disagrees, she says she will use her secret stash. Bob insists that Ben must tell his employers and go to jail. Bob confronts Fran about her secret money. She also confesses that there was another man who wanted her, but she chose Bob and the family. Bob says he knew she was unhappy and that he was glad Rosie was born as that kept Fran with them. Bob says she can give money to Ben, but she has to give an equal amount to the other children. Summer A year after Rosie’s return from Europe, she tells her father she is going on a creative writing course in Brisbane. Bob is distressed that she is moving so far away and that all of the children have chosen lives so di erent from his and Fran’s. Life Goes On Fran wonders if she drove the children away. Bob says they ‘made their own choices’. Fran suggests they tear up the garden and start all over again. And It Ends Like is e phone rings and Bob answers it. e children narrate what it is like to receive bad news. Rosie describes Fran’s last journey from the hospital when she died in a car accident. In despair, Bob tears up the rose bushes in the garden. Pip, Mia and Ben, dressed in their funeral clothes, tenderly wash and dress Bob. Rosie breaks o from her journey and re ects on the things that she knows, including that the day her mother died her childhood ended. She joins the others and they leave for Fran’s funeral. TASK 1 a Read the synopsis, then work in your group to choose ten important plot points. Create a still image for each. Discuss which moments you think are the most exciting and dramatic. b Then list some of the performance and design challenges in staging Things I Know to be True . It is important to consider: lighting, sound, costume and setting. You might begin by deciding how to: create the setting portray the different characters explore the play’s themes mark the transitions between the play’s scenes. 74 COMPONENT 1 UNDERSTANDING DRAMA