DRAMA • MEET A CELEBRITY
Teaching notes
Summary
This drama is about a TV show called Meet a Celebrity,
where the contestant, Gary, has to choose which one
of three celebrities he will go to a film premiere with.
However, he cannot see the celebrities (a male model, a
soap star and a pop musician) because they are behind
a screen. He has to make his choice by asking them
questions and finding out information about each of
them. Tessa, the presenter, guides him and Gary is very
excited about being on the show because he is very
impressed by fame and celebrity. Unfortunately, when
he makes his choice, he is very disappointed!
Characters
• Tessa is the presenter of the TV show Meet a Celebrity.
She is in her thirties and is very friendly and smiley.
She always tries to make the contestants feel at ease
and thinks that the show is great fun. This role is for a
confident performer.
• Gary is the eighteen-year-old contestant on the show.
He is very excited about meeting a celebrity and going
to a film premiere with them. He is desperate to be
famous and wants to choose the most well-known
celebrity so that he will receive the most attention
from the media when they go to the premiere. He is
hoping that as a result of being on the show, he too
will become famous.
• Lewis is one of the three celebrities that Gary will
choose from. He is twenty-three and a fashion model.
He is always in the celebrity gossip magazines. He
absolutely loves being famous and going to all the
celebrity parties.
• Lisa is another celebrity on the show. She is thirty-two
and a famous British soap star. She has been in show
business since she was ten years old. She is a warm,
down-to-earth person, who hasn’t let fame go to her
head.
• Jake is a twenty-one-year-old pop star, a solo singer.
He is world famous and quite big-headed. He thinks of
himself as a serious musician and he enjoys being
famous.
Preparation
Props
• four chairs
• a large screen
• sunglasses for Lewis (optional)
• small cards that Gary could have his questions
written on (optional)
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Vocabulary and useful expressions
• Pre-teach the following:
stage right / left  separated
film premiere  top tip
• Read the following expressions and ask the students
to find them in the text:
of your choice  That’s a shame!
Better luck next time!  That sounds good to me!
Keep your feet on the ground.
• Check that students understand the meanings.
Drama warm-up
Divide the class into pairs, A and B. Student A thinks of a
well-known celebrity. Student B then asks A questions,
in English, to try and guess which celebrity A has chosen.
A must answer as if he / she is the celebrity, e.g. B asks
‘Have you ever been in a film?’ A replies ‘No, I haven’t.’
B continues to ask questions until he / she guesses
which celebrity A is. Then the pairs swap roles.
Performance
$ 1.15 Follow the preparation and performance
guidelines in the introduction. In addition:
• Ask the students to think about the staging of the set
for the TV studio. Ask them to follow the stage
directions and put chairs stage right and stage left.
• The celebrities’ and Gary’s voices are important as
they can’t see each other – remind the students to
speak loudly and clearly.
• Encourage the students who are watching the scene
to be the TV audience, and to react and clap where it
says ‘applauds’ in the stage directions.
• Make sure the students who are playing the celebrities
react when Gary announces which one he has chosen –
they need to show how their character feels about
being chosen or not.
• When Gary doesn’t recognize Lewis as a celebrity, the
students playing Gary and Tessa need to talk to each
other in stage whispers, i.e. loud enough for the
audience to hear.
Follow-up
You could get the students to improvise being at the film
premiere. Some of them could be celebrities, some of
them fans, some of them photographers and journalists.
The journalists, fans and photographers could think of
questions to ask the celebrities as they make their way
along the red carpet.
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 DRAMA • MEET A CELEBRITY
[A TV studio. The celebrities Lewis, Lisa and Jake are
sitting on chairs stage right. There is another chair stage
left, separated from the others by a screen. Tessa, the TV
presenter, is standing next to the chair stage left.]
Tessa Good evening, everyone! Welcome to Meet
a Celebrity! Let’s meet our lucky contestant,
Gary!
[Audience applauds. Gary enters and sits on the chair
stage left.]
Tessa Hello, Gary!
Gary Hello, Tessa!
Tessa Now Gary, our three celebrities are sitting
behind that screen. [She points to the screen.]
Number one [Lewis waves to the audience.],
number two [Lisa waves.] and number three
[Jake nods his head.]. You can’t see them and
you don’t know who they are. You must ask
them questions and then you have to choose
one of them. You and the celebrity of your
choice will go to a film premiere in London!
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Gary Oh wow! I want to choose a really famous
celebrity, because I want to be in all the
gossip magazines with them!
Tessa Do you want to be famous, too?
Gary Oh, yes! I’m always entering talent contests
and last week I auditioned for a show.
Tessa What happened? Tell me about it.
Gary I did really well, but I didn’t get through.
Tessa That’s a shame! Better luck next time!
Gary Thanks, Tessa. I just haven’t had my big
break yet!
Tessa OK, are you ready to play Meet a Celebrity?
Gary Yes!
Tessa What’s your first question?
Gary Hello, everyone! I love the internet! I’ve
created my own website and I’m always
chatting online and downloading films. How
often do you appear on the internet at the
moment? Um, number one.
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 DRAMA • MEET A CELEBRITY
Lewis Hmm, I’m not very interested in the internet,
so I’m not sure. I do like internet shopping
though! I love clothes!
Lisa Hi, Gary, I’m number two. I’ve never used the
internet!
Gary Oh! Number three?
Jake My music videos are always online.
Gary [to Tessa] Music videos! He’s a pop star!
[to Jake] Have you had a hit single yet?
Jake Yes! I’ve already had five hit singles, two hit
albums and I’ve sold thousands of CDs – my
last song went to number one!
Gary Wow! I didn’t realize that you were really
famous!
Tessa OK, Gary, have you got another question?
Gary Yes, I have. Number one, have you ever spent
a lot of money?
Lewis Oh, yes! I like luxuries. I’ve bought a house
and I’ve just bought a yacht. I’ve visited other
countries and met a lot of famous people –
film stars and princesses!
Gary That sounds good to me! Have you been in
celebrity gossip magazines?
Lewis A lot of times!
Gary Wow! Number two, have you ever appeared
in a film?
Lisa No, I haven’t been in a film, but I’m on TV
three times a week!
Gary Cool! How long have you been famous?
Lisa I’ve been in show business since I was ten
years old. I’m now thirty-two.
Gary Were you famous when you were still at
school?
Lisa Yes, I was.
Jake Wow! How about you, number three? Have
you been famous for as long as number two?
Jake I wasn’t famous at school! People bullied me
at school and I left when I was sixteen. My
big break came four years ago, and my songs
have been in the charts for the last three
years!
Gary Amazing!
Tessa What’s your next question, Gary?
Gary What qualities do you think are important for
a celebrity? Number one?
Lewis You need a lot of style! I’m very stylish and
good-looking!
Gary Do you have to be talented?
Lisa It’s important for an actor to have talent.
Jake I agree with that. A pop star needs to be
talented, too, and creative. You don’t need
much creativity or talent to be a model!
Lewis Huh! I disagree with that!
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Gary OK, so number one’s a model, number two’s
an actor and number three’s a pop star! But I
still don’t know which model, which actor or
which pop star!
Tessa Why don’t you ask them another question?
Gary OK! What’s the best thing about being
famous? Number one?
Lewis I love everything! The parties, the fans, the
famous friends!
Lisa You don’t have to worry about money.
Jake I love singing in front of thousands of people.
Tessa OK, Gary, one last question.
Gary What’s your top tip for someone like me, who
wants to be famous?
Jake You should work very hard – you mustn’t be
lazy.
Lewis You must go to the right parties and meet the
right people!
Lisa I think you should remember to always keep
your feet on the ground.
Gary Thanks!
Tessa OK, Gary. Now you must choose your
celebrity!
Gary Hmmm … because he’s often in celebrity
magazines and he knows a lot of famous
people, I choose … number one!
Tessa Number one is … Lewis Anderson, the famous
model! Gary, meet your celebrity!
[Audience applauds. Lewis walks around the screen. Gary
looks very disappointed.]
Lewis Hi!
Tessa What’s the matter, Gary?
Gary [whispering to Tessa] I’m really sorry, but I
don’t recognize him! I’ve never seen him
before!
Tessa [whispering to Gary] Well, don’t worry! Have a
great time at the film premiere!
Drama  Meet a celebrity  ENGLISH PLUS 3 Second edition 3