A collection of extracts from plays, designed for use in the short performance assessment in the GCSE Drama specifications. The plays have been selected from established, published plays to last approximately 20 minutes and aim to develop the performance skills of students from a wide ability range. A separate section of very short extracts are included to try to refine students' key dramatic skills (such as use of gesture and voice). This should boost students' performance power and give them the best chance to make a success of their short performance assessment.