by Peter Griffith
Tony doesn’t want to go to school. Every day his life is made miserable by Jim Jarvis and his gang, who attack Tony, steal his lunch-money, punch him and spit on him…on her first day in her new school, Ruth meets Lauren, who calls her 'Fatty'. The other girls laugh at this, and Ruth never has a chance to make friends. The girls spoil her homework and make fun of her in class. The teacher is no help at all. Eventually Ruth can stand it stand it no longer, and she runs away from the school…
This hard-hitting play looks at the phenomenon of bullying in schools. It shows the misery and despair of the victims. It also allows the aggressors to speak – why do they do it? And most of all it concentrates on the role of the watchers – those fellow-pupils who see what is happening, and haven’t got the courage to try to stop it. If the victim seeks adult help, it often makes the bullying worse. Only the watchers have the power, by withdrawing their support from the bullies, to give the victims a chance.
Photos of 'Sticks and Stones'
Extract from the script 'Sticks and Stones'
| Victims: | all alone no-one to talk to on our own we suffer in silence Try not to cry Try not to show our pain Hoping they won’t do it again Can’t tell our parents They wouldn’t understand Can’t tell the teachers They’d only make it worse Can’t tell our friends What friends? The others are all on the side of the bullies Watching our misery, watching our pain |