This man called Jesus

‘There aren’t many songs about the resurrection, are there?’ said a colleague of mine one Easter. ‘Why don’t you do something about it?’

This was just one of the comments that motivated me to set the ball rolling with This Man Called Jesus. It was a while before things started moving, but I began to realize how little we really celebrate the amazing festival of Easter. It was through Jesus’ death and resurrection 2000 years ago that the Christian Church was born, but I have become increasingly aware of the fact that, for many people, the word ‘Easter’ is associated with bunnies and Easter eggs rather than Jesus. I’m not saying that there is anything wrong with bunnies and Easter eggs—after all, they do symbolize new life, which is what Jesus gave when he died on the cross and rose again—but my main motivation for writing This Man Called Jesus is to help children to understand the true meaning of Easter.

In January 2003, Stephen Mackel, Zoë Longley (two actors who help me with assemblies in local schools) and I began to think of ways we could help children hear the Easter story. We were well aware of how much children learn when they are actually taking part in something and so began to write the Easter story as a play for Key Stage 2 children to perform. What transpired was a five-act play with six songs, beginning with Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem and ending with his death and resurrection, using words that adhere closely to the original Bible texts. We also linked the play to other parts of the National Curriculum to give the play This Man Called Jesus the potential of being project-based.

The whole production was tried and tested at St Edward’s School, Rusholme in Manchester, where we worked with a Year 4 class and their excellent teacher, Louise Parr, who helped us fine-tune the script. The children performed the play at Easter after a rehearsal time of around half a term, with one or two rehearsals each week. Since then, part of the play has been performed again and we have worked with other local schools on individual sections of the play.

The book is divided into four distinct sections.

Section One contains all the information you will need to prepare for the production itself, such as the scene synopsis, characters, props, costumes, stage set-up and rehearsal schedules.

Section Two contains links to other curriculum subjects, with lesson plans, drama workshops, vocal warm-up ideas and ideas for art, design and ICT. Feel free to use as much or as little of the curriculum links as you like. If need be, the play can stand on its own without any of the links being used.

Section Three contains ideas and information to help you link the material to your RE syllabus.

Section Four contains the full script of the play. The five scenes can be approached as a single performance, or divided up and performed by different classes on the same day or over a week. It is also possible to take just one scene (such as Scene 2, ‘The last meal together’, which one school did this year) and perform it in isolation. The script of the play closely follows the Bible text, using the wording of the Contemporary English Version.

Finally, there are two sections where you will find a photocopiable wordsheet for each song, so that you can give copies to each performer, or even include the audience if you would like some interactive input, as well as the sheet music for the songs. Much of the material in this book is based on the work of the children who piloted the project. We hope you enjoy preparing and performing the play as much as we did.

A CD of the music for the play can be obtained direct from the author. For more information, e-mail contact@thisman.co.uk or visit the website www.thisman.co.uk.