That GCSE drama script is littered with the f word

[Sidelook]

Ds brought his drama script home to revise. I said that I would help him with it. He starts to read it out and the second sentence in says “who gives a fuck” followed on by “oh fucking hell”. And so on.
As a rule we do not use swear words, never have. It’s a personal preference. I am not naive in thinking that DS does not do it outside of the home. However, he has never used swear words in front of me. He knows that I do not like it and will not tolerate it. No matter how old he is.
He said that he has to read the script out in school in front of the teacher, using the f words!!

Grow up OP, its only a word.

@LakieLady I was going to use Chaucer as an example too. I remember translating the word "quentye" into the C word for my A Level English Lit exam

I remember the class giggling and excitement at being set Larkin’s ‘They fuck you up’ and our teacher reading it aloud. Everyone got over it fairly quickly once we started studying the poem.

And Shakespeare was a dirty bugger, studying him aged 14 was an eye opener!

Wouldn’t worry about it OP to be honest but then I am fairly liberal about bad language because it just doesn’t bother me. My parents would have been horrified but equally they wouldn’t have let me do drama in the first place!

OP. I'm with you.

DD1 did GCSE drama and DD2 will do it too. We are also a non swearing household. It seems to me there are plenty of good scripts around without needing to resort to scripts with a lot of swearing. In y10 some pupils will only be 14, and at this time in y11 the majority will be 15.

Ds is in year 11 and doing GCSE drama, he's not 16 until March.

His first set piece was Blood Brothers which was fun as it's set in Liverpool where we live and isn't exactly tame. Ds said everyone was given the option of what roles to play as some were a bit racier than others.

I wouldn't have a problem with ds doing this at all and I'm sure the teacher has heard it all a million times before

My Dsis is a head of creative arts (Drama specialist) and we were discussing GCSE options last night for DS1. She said Blood Brothers is the most popular and common of the texts to study.

How much swearing is their in Blood Brothers? DD2 (y9) just did a bit of it, but the characters were only 7 at the time.

I'd rather Blood Brothers than 'Bouncers' any day.

ds2s english teacher was very impressed with his rendition of 'TITS TITS TITS' during their reading of blood brothers

She brought it up during parents evening

My ds is doing gcse drama.

He also isn't allowed to swear at home (he does and there's consequences!) and knows if he chooses to do it outside of home he suffers the consequence there too.

He'd love to come home with a script like this and repeatedly practise the lines in front of me 😂😂

I'm of the opinion it's drama and they need to get something relatable to teens that they can get into character with and act well.

Rufus they are doing blood brothers again! Just had letter about them going to see it! And a huge bill for 3 plays they are off to!

DS2 is studying BB too. His elder brother had The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, lots of swearing in that too.

Meh.

youare

Yep

There is one school year between mine and im getting a bit sick of it my self...

But ill take any opportunity to brag about the talents of my children

Yabu to have your own rules and expectations at home however the rest of the world won't always align with them. I don't think it's a bad thing for him to learn this and for him to work out how to deal with it himself. It's not going to be the last time he comes across ways of living that don't match up with his own upbringing. Let him grow up, trust him, and don't impose your own feelings about this on him. Give him some freedom to do what he needs to do without thinking he is worrying or upsetting you.
Also let's be honest there are worse things in the world than the odd fuck in a book 🙄

Sorry you are Not being unreasonable to have your own rules and expectations at home!!

I took my ten year old son to see Hamilton during half term. We've been singing along to the soundtrack ever since but he won't sing the swear words because he feels bad about it, even though I don't care.
I did have to explain what a 'bastard son of a whore' was though.

I am a freelance drama teacher and run my own youth theatre company.

The senior groups will sometimes be given scripts with swearing in them. Their parents don't bat an eyelid. It's theatre, not real life. The students know when a swear word appears in a play it's not a free license to swear. They're not stupid.

And the devised performances are usually shocking in one way or other.
Acting out Lobotomies in year 9 or this year cyber bullying and rape.

Just to add that ds did his GCSE English lit in year 10 and BB was one of his set pieces which massively helped as he was doing it in both drama and English.

Seems to be a popular choice :)

Drama is play- it allows young people to explore all kinds of things safely.

Well everyone knows all the swear words, even if they don't use them.

As long as your ds knows when it is and when it is not, appropriate to use them he will be fine.

No ones ears ever fell off because they heard the word "fuck".

The script is for: The curious incident of the dog in the nighttime.
“What the fuck have you done to my dog” and “why oh why fucking Christ”!!
I just don’t see why a script for school has to have swear words in it no matter what the characters are or the age of the student performing it. Surely there is another way to articulate the part!

I've read the novel - I didn't know it was a play. The dog has been killed IIRC so I think the swearing here is to emphasise how shocked the speaker is. I'm not much of a swearer usually but I can imagine myself swearing if something happened to one of my animals.

I find it fascinating that out of the following; violence, sex and swearing, the first is always harmful, the second is sometimes harmful, the third is not harmful (in itself). And people complain most about the last. That is REALLY interesting.

Presumably he is reading and performing scripts with violent and/or sexual content, I mean Shakespeare is full of stabbings and sex. With underage sex and suicides! But a 'fuck' or two is problematic? Maybe examine your own stuff around this. Why is the appearance of respectability, because that's what I think it is, more important than expression in art?

We read some startlingly sweary stuff at that age, both in French and English. They were really interesting texts.

My DD is doing both A Level theatre and A Level English. Both have very challenging texts and theatre productions attached to them. It’s part of growing up - in a few years your son may well be at university and will be dealing with more than a few swear words. And no, we don’t wander about the house swearing and neither does my DD despite some the texts she’s read!

• The script is for: The curious incident of the dog in the nighttime. “What the fuck have you done to my dog” and “why oh why fucking Christ”!! I just don’t see why a script for school has to have swear words in it no matter what the characters are or the age of the student performing it. Surely there is another way to articulate the part!*

If your DS agrees with you, maybe he should try to come up with an alternative wording which authentically conveys the shock and outrage of a man who has just found his murdered dog.

Maybe DS can just substitute a different word into the sentences. Might get a laugh from the audience.

“What the feck have you done to my dog” and “why oh why plucking Christ”!!