Concentration Drama Focus Game In

Read the extract from the story of The Crowstarver describing Spider’s visit to the village school. Repeat the exercise but this time the sculptor has a minute to complete the sculpture. On three beats, they move off in the direction they are looking. ’ Keep returning to the freeze. On a signal from you, ask them to freeze for a moment and then to continue touching the four walls in any order. So, it goes 1, 2, clap, still alternating between A and B. B stares at the hand as if hypnotised by it. Then, develop the exercise to link specifically with moments derived from the story of The Crowstarver, for example, ‘Imagine you are the German pilot running away’ or ‘Imagine you are a bully looking threateningly at Spider or ‘Imagine you are carving an animal with a knife’, or whatever. Add in turning the whole body as eye contact is passed on.

Then, stamp instead of saying 1.

As a group, try out different ways of speaking the words, or sounds, for example, fast and excited, or slow and cautious, or quiet and frightened. Hahlo, Richard and Reynolds, Peter, Dramatic Events, Faber and Faber, London 2000 ISBN 0-571-19161-4 Johnston, Chris House of Games, Nick Hern, London 1998 ISBN 1-85459-309-9 Johnstone, Keith Impro, Methuen, London 1981 ISBN 0-413-46430-X Lamont, Gordon and Readman, Geoff, Drama: A handbook for primary teachers BBC Educational Publishing, London ISBN 0-563-35525 theatre alibi. If people have developed their scenes based in a parallel engine fect purr repair small situation to that described in The Crowstarver (that someone has read about, experienced or imagined) this story could easily be drawn out from the group and/or the spectators. Encourage people to work in more detail and to see the way in which small adjustments can make a difference to the finished sculpture.
Encourage C to use different vocal qualities to try and attract B’s attention, not just shouting! They could for example, whisper, or plead, or command, or speak very gently in order to try and get B to break away.
Read the extract from The Crowstarver when Spider is being bullied by a gang of children: Page 56 ‘A lorry driver I met told me he’d seen this gang of kids…page 105 ‘…weak or crippled. Each person in the group should have one ‘line’ to say that is theirs. * The space suggested is a school hall, and that is the ideal, but any large size, cleared classroom will do, as long as children are able to focus and concentrate. ‘Can you tell what the relationships in the picture are? Where is the focus? What is happening? What are the different qualities and feelings expressed in the picture? What do you think the people in the picture might be thinking? What do you think they might be saying?’ ii.

The game is simply to touch another person’s hand by moving very quickly before he, or she, says ‘stop’. As workshop leader, go round the circle trying to remember everyone’s name. Ask people to walk anywhere in the space, no longer touching the four walls, but keeping their walk full of energy.

Meanwhile, C tries to break the spell by saying, or calling out B’s name to distract him, or her and break the spell. This game will encourage sharp, clear changes of focus. Whilst they are working together, encourage people to concentrate not just on what is happening in the picture, but also on the relationships, focus and feelings of the people involved. It’s no good asking B to move into impossibly uncomfortable positions, or too fast, because then the sense of power will be lost. Then A joins in again to make a new picture. * Below is a brief Bibliography in case that’s helpful.

It begins on page 47 ‘Mister was as good as his word…’ and continues till page 48 ‘…Spider simply clammed up. Silence could be used as a way of building the tension. * Do get back to us with any comments. ‘How did this happen? And what happened next? How might it have happened differently? What do you think each person is feeling? What do las vegas white tiger you think each person is thinking?’ And etc.

During this game, you, as workshop leader, could commit as many names as possible to your short-term memory.
MOVE, IMAGINE AND FREEZE IN A GROUP i. uk to accompany Theatre Alibi’s production of Dick King-Smith’s story (using frozen pictures, sometimes referred to as images, tableaux, freeze frames, or snapshots) A copy of an extract from Dick King-Smith’s book The Crowstarver Paper and pencils to write a six-line script (optional) Begin with physical games, moving in the space, working with each other, establishing control in a non-threatening way, developing vocal freedom. Perhaps make a list together on a big flip chart. Share each short scene with each other.

Gradually, A can start to lead B slowly around the room, or get them to turn and bend.

TRAFFIC LIGHTS IN A GROUP: STOP, LOOK, GO i. Encourage as many people as possible, to describe what they see.

We hope you’ll find them useful.

They could write it down if they want to, or just commit it to memory. ‘What do we see when we look at the picture? What qualities come across about the relationship? Caring? Bullying? Friendship? Can we tell who the people or animals are and what they are doing? Where is the focus? In the frozen picture, are they looking out at the audience or at something imaginary? Does the frozen picture communicate what is intended?’ iv. When they work on the scene again, encourage them to communicate as much as possible with their bodies, so that they marvel select black cat aren’t reliant on words. Perhaps refer to examples from Theatre Alibi’s performance, but make it junk yard simple man clear that they are not expected to imitate that performance, but rather, use it as an inspiration for their own. When you are looking at each picture, the story behind it could easily be drawn out from the group and/or the spectators, by asking questions.
Then, say and do the action plus the name, for example, ‘Jump for Josie’. In a way, these physical pictures, or ‘images’ in theatre, are like a kind of sign language for the audience.

‘What do you think is happening? And what do you think might happen next?’ And etc. Suggest to people that every piece of theatre is made up of a series of pictures and the audience understands what is happening by looking as much as by listening. It’s probably useful to have stated income mortgage program a ‘no touching’ rule. Briefly ask people which relationships they can remember from the story of The Crowstarver. Let the improvisation run for five minutes, or so, and go round to each group in turn and watch their progress. A variation of this exercise is to let each group make up or choose their own moment from the story of The Crowstarver. After the improvisation has run for five minutes or so, remind people about how important it is to use movement to express ideas and feelings and ask people to reduce their script to just six lines. Ask people to stand in pairs facing each other. WALKING AND FREEZING IN A GROUP i.
Experiment with different moments when the line of direct address is spoken. In contrast to STOP, this game asks people to maintain concentration whilst moving slowly.
One by one, each person looks at the picture and then joins in, until about six have joined. Suggest they start the scene with a frozen picture and end with one.
Try to find a reason for each different way of speaking, or making sounds, and decide together on a pattern that feels right. They will need to look all around them in order to do this.

This game encourages very fast changes of focus. This exercise is a lot easier in its final stage when just the body is working.
(You could encourage people to think about some of the moments from the story The Crowstarver whilst they are doing this exercise. In between, fill the scene with movement and energy and speak the text. A holds his, or her, hand in front educational foundation psychological technology of B’s face about 6 inches away from it. The relationship could represent two people in the story, for example Spider and the headmaster (page 49 in the book); OR it could represent a person and an animal, for example, Spider and a wild horse (page 146 in the book). If there are animals in the picture then sounds could be chosen. This game begins with A and B standing facing each other, and C standing nearby. Finish with self-evaluation: ask people if they managed to retain the detail in their article of news about canada pictures when they added the words and the movement. The improvisation could be based on the situation in the extract, or based in full script v vendetta a parallel situation from another story that someone has read, experienced or imagined. Ask them to spread out evenly around the room. A takes 10 seconds to sculpt B into a model of a bird, or animal. If you can’t, ask everyone to repeat the NAME GAME with the intention of really trying to get you to remember! With a specific focus they’ll probably find the exercise a lot easier. Then A moves the hand, turning it slowly from side to side, and forwards and backwards. Ask the spectators ‘Is the picture clear? Where is the focus? Is it interesting to look at? What title would you give the picture? iii. Leave all the sculptures in the space and let the sculptors move around to have a look at some of them. Essentially this is a power game but in a curious way, as in stage fighting, A always has to work with B. On a signal from you, ask them to freeze for a moment and then to continue. Explain that from now on many of the games will be using just the body, without words, and concentrating on how expressive it can be. FURTHER WORK IN GROUPS OF 5 OR 6 (If there is an extra 30 minutes, or if there is time) i.