What's said about us

Here is some of what has been written or said about our plays, shows and modules.

"We had a wonderful two weeks of live performances. Great performers and enthusiastic audiences. Thanks to Mark Casson for great scripts." Anne, Director, Australia.

'Mark Casson will also be writing plays for us once again – his expertise as a professional playwright provides us with international-quality when it comes to the scripts that we work with.'


'In any plate worth its salt, you should be surprise in a twist in the plot. Shakespeare was very good at that. In keeping with the Shakespeare tradition comes a new play by Mark Casson, called The Birthday Stain, which includes surprise and death ......whatever may be said of the play it is never dull. Casson has been writing plays for several years, this is his best yet. It has in anonymity of setting and in universality of appeal. The characters are all slightly, strangely recognisable. They could be your neighbour (but not I hope your family). The cast of five develop an overpowering sense of menace. The play deserves to be done and, as it certainly was in this case, done thoroughly well.' 

'..the evening would begin with a "quirky bit of fun" in the form of Tuesday's Stranger, written by another New Zealander, Mark Casson...'

'Casson is much more fluid and expressive with The Urinal, Mrs Fish and The Prime Minister.  This play is well structured, has meaning, resolution and goes somewhere. So too does Soldier Stale which earns the author high marks for dramatic tension, good writing in characterisation.'

'If you have a burning desire to see drama as it used to be go and see this play.'

'The Urinal, Mrs Fish and The Prime Minister was selected for the South Island finals of the New Zealand Theatre Federation One Act Play Festival.'

'The Coloured Room Through The Black-And-White Window was the Otago University Drama Society’s entry into the Australian Festival of Student Theatre in Australia where it was placed in the top three entries.' 

"For me these plays modify conventional methods of teaching and because they are different help switch students onto learning.” Hemant, Head of Department, New Zealand.

“Just a quick note to say thanks, once again, for sharing your resources with us. Both myself and my colleague have used the Skills, Skills, Skills resource, and have found it very useful as a structure for our lesson plans.  The students particularly enjoyed the role play, and the skills treasure hunt has worked well as an ice breaker as we both have mixed classes and students don’t always know one another.  We have also used the ‘What Could I Be’ exercise, and have asked groups of students to prepare presentations based on this, asking them to talk about their skills, weaknesses and how to overcome them, and then to come up with a business/enterprise that they could develop, combining all their skills.  It’s proven to be a success, and the different elements have lightened the classes and made them much more fun, so thank you. We will certainly be looking at the other resources in the new school year to see if they will fit with our plans, so I will pass on any feedback from them also.” Tara, Programme Manager, Northern Ireland.

"Although I am an ICT teacher I also love drama and roleplay is such a great motivation and discussion starter. Thanks for the great work. Keep it going."  Heather, ICT Manager, New Zealand.

 

“I used my scripts with great enjoyment by my pupils.”  Elza, Counselling Centre Manager, South Africa.

"I found the playscripts very good and I passed them on to the relevant teacher at our school."  Maria, Careers Adviser, Australia

"Everything arrived safe and sound, looks great, I have tried one module and it worked really well." Heather, CRLT, Canada. 

"I have read the role plays and believe, on close reading, that they are easily adapted for our Primary age students. The themes are basically the same as the ones we explore in our learning at curriculum level 2. For example, concepts about fitness, media, rights and responsibilities. Our learning, this year, has been centered on these topics with an added focus on living things, in science, and culture and heritage in social studies. I believe that what you are offering is of tremendous value to all students and especially ours. Our students tend to learn better through the arts and offering these concepts through role playing may be a valid classroom learning tool." Lorraine, Teacher, New Zealand.

Performers 
Awesome. Tremendously cool.
Good storyline and great twist to all the fairytales in the play.
It's great. Really, really great.
I think the play was so so so so so so cool. Thank you.
The play was terrific.
I like the play.
I loved her all the fairytale characters and stories were all muddled up and weird.
I like wearing freaky glasses and I like how it didn't make any sense at all.
I like the play.
For the performance, I really liked how everyone put in 100% and everyone did rad face expressions.
I really liked Peter Rabbit and the pig they were cool.
It's very cool, funny sort of but I like it.
I would like it more if we got given characters names, it was entertaining and a lot of fun.
It was thrilling.
Wicked.
I loved it.
It was funny.
It was really fun and cool.
It was great.
A quirky bit of fun.
Director 
"The students absolutely love it! They love the humour, the mix of fairytales and the world of today. The characters are brilliant, the variety is outstanding, with opportunities for larger and smaller roles and the opportunity for some fun costuming. The children had a ball!"

'The students loved the characters and I found it very easy to direct. The play gives the director the opportunity to use different levels, groupings and a variety of characters. The blend worked well. You couldn't 'beat it'."

"As a director you have scope to ‘really move’ this play and use all moments accordingly, making the most of the ‘moments’ and enhancing characters. The opportunity for the actor’s to develop their own identity, their own history and individuality, creating the perfect mix. Facials, little looks here and their, the rolling of the eyes, the opportunity to create suspense. A fun and thoroughly enjoyable play to direct, perform and watch. It has the ability to take the audience on a mystery journey that will not leave them disappointed."
 
"As an experienced classroom teacher and drama teacher, I have been lucky enough to have the opportunity to trial some of Mark Casson’s plays. What an exceptional playwright. He writes with wit and humour and caters for the age group specified. His plays not only capture the hearts and minds of the actors, but the audience as well."

"As a director his plays are easy to direct and can be adapted to suit. His plays are versatile and easy. As a teacher/ director you are able to make the plays as simple or as complex as you like. Leaving room to cater for all learning and reading levels. Mark writes appropriately for specified age groups. The plays I have used have made the performers and audience smile."
Audience 
That was a lot of fun to watch.
I could see that they enjoyed being in it.
Good to see a full house watching.
Very funny.
Moved along quickly.
Recognised lots in the play.
Great job.