Penguin

Everyone must sit down on a chair spread around the room or space with one chair vacant.
Choose one person to be the penguin. He/she must try to sit in the empty chair, but they are restricted to waddling like a penguin.
They must start from a point furthest away from the empty chair and then start their waddle towards it.
Anybody sitting down can stand up from their chair at anytime and walk normally to sit in the vacant seat and so stop the penguin from sitting down there. However once you stand up from your chair you cannot sit back in it. The aim of the game is to stop the penguin from sitting down
The penguin can sit in any chair that is vacant so you must be careful not to vacate a chair too close to the penguin at any time.
Once the penguin sits down the game is over and a new penguin can be chosen.
The skill of the game is working together as a team, keeping eye contact open at all times.

Marionettes with objects

Pick an object to work with
1. Stand in a space alone with your object for 5 minutes.
Really look at it and imagine it is you
What does it smell like?
How does it move?
Is it rough or smooth?
What Colour is it?
Does it make a sound?

2. Explain your object to a partner

3. In your own space try to move as your object might move and manipulate it at the same time.

4. With a partner give you objects to one another. You partner now manipulates your object and you have to react accordingly. Try doing it while having a conversation on the phone.

5. In fours sit with two of you facing each other. Your partner has your object and manipulates it as you have a conversation with the person from the other pair. Their partner is also holding and manipulating their object.

You can help the conversation to focus by giving them a task to accomplish like asking the other out to dinner, borrowing money off them or challenging them about an annoying habit. It is interesting to See how much the Puppeteers are able to influence the conversation.

Story Telling with objects

In a group of 5 put objects on the floor in the middle that you may have got from home.
Stand in a circle around the objects and nominate someone to go into the middle to start the story.
Give them an object to start with that they must use in the story.
As they are telling the story anyone can take the object off them and give to them another object to continue the story about.
This can be done again at any time by anyone. To make it even harder 2 or even 3 objects can be given to them at a time and they have to try and incorporate them into the story.
Allow every one in the group to have ago.

Variation 1
This could be done with 2 people in the middle who are having a conversation either on the phone or face to face with one another. As objects are given to one person or the other they have to find ways to bring them into the conversation in a natural way

Variation 2
This could be done with two people back to back and each is given 4 items. The idea is to be the first person to include all their items in the conversation in a natural way. To make it even more challenging you can vary it again by saying you have to get the other person to say all your items.

Eye contact

Walk around the room without making any eye contact with anyone else.
Then allow group to only flash eye contact to one another as they walk around the space.
Now allow group to have eye contact for just 2 seconds with anyone they pass
Increase this eye contact to 3 seconds, 5 seconds, 10 seconds.
Ask the group how this process felt.
Have half the group sit and watch while the other half of the group walk around the space and as they pass someone they must hold eye contact for 1 minute.
The group watching must observe the dynamic between the two people holding eye contact.
Who is pushing in the relationship?
Who is pulling?
Who is controlling the space in between?

adaption
You can give each person a specific instruction which they are to try and carry out on the partner they will be holding eye contact with. i.e. Keep half a rooms distance from your partner or Try to get your partner to stand in each corner in the room or See if you can touch noses with your partner etc.

Leading and following

With a partner label yourselves A and B
A has the job of leading B around the room holding their hand
B must keep their eyes closed at all times
(A Take your time to allow B to build up trust and especially be aware of objects and others in the room).
As B gets more confident you can loosen the grip and perhaps just link a finger with them.
Encourage them to move faster and experiment with levels and turning.
Create moments where you completely release their hand so that they are travelling alone.
(But stay close to them so you are able to stop them or guide them should they be heading in a dangerous position).
A swap roles with B

variation
1 Cars
Another method of leading you partner is from behind by simply touching your partner on the left shoulder to turn left, the right shoulder to turn right and in the centre of the back to stop. This means that if you are not touching your partner then they should move forwards. If you touch them twice in the centre of the back then they must move backwards.

2 Voice
Try leading your partner using your voice, either by reciting something or singing a song.
(The partner is now being lead by sound as opposed to touch.)

Throwing balls in a circle - leading to a scene

Stand in a circle and instruct the group to throw a ball to other people in the circle
A connection must be made with the thrower and reciever before the ball is thrown
The aim of those recieving is to be open and receptive to recieve at all times.
Once this is working well more balls can be added. (This increases the need foe the group to connect and be receptive to one another)

Progreesion - Throw ball to someone, say your name and then go to that space. Once the group become more familiar with opne another you can say the persons name you are throwing it to

Variation 1
A ball can be thrown around the circle but the person recieving must remember who threw the ball to them and who they then threw the ball to. The pattern of recieving and passing the ball is then maintained in the circle. Once you have revieved and passed the ball you can fold your arms to help the others know that you have had your turn.
More balls can be added as the group get batter at the activity

With both the above exercises a good question to ask the groups is What is needed for the activity to be succesful?

Variation 2
Throw ball to one another in the circle experimenting with diffrent levels and shapes. i.e. Under arm, over arm, flick it, bounce it etc
How does it change your body position as a thrower? or a reciever?
How does it make you feel?
What affect does it have on the group?
Does any emotion come out of the activity?
Or perhaps a theme for a narrative may be sparked?

It can be useful to have people observing who can be asking the above questions and watching for patterns and shapes.
As shapes, partnerships, groupings become visable they can be frozen and brainstormed for dramatic ideas.
Sound or words can be added by the group and a simple scene can be developed.
Push the group to improvise a scene bearing in mind the same idea of being receptive to offers made tot them. This will help them to build the improvisation.

Shoal of Fish

The whole group is instructed to move around the space together without allowing any gaps between them.
Be aware of:
who is leading at any time
Tempo
Shapes group makes
Patterns of movement
You can allow the activity to run for as long as you want and it may come to a natural end.
It can be useful to have a couple of people observing who can comment to the group afterwards
At the end of the activity ask the group
How the shoal moved? and how they felt?

Walking as a group

Get the group to walk around the space
Be aware of the group dynamics. Are you walking in the same direction? different directions?
Try to continually fill the space and not leave any gaps.
Beware as a group of your speed, rhythym, shapes you are making. (Group may come to a stand still)

Variation
All the group stand still and only one person is allowed to walk at any time
Once that person stops walking then someone else must start walking (No verbal communication)
You can add to the number of people allowed to walk
You can invert the exercise by getting all the group to walk and have one person stationary at all times. Again you can add to this number.

Hypnsosis

Stand facing a partner. One is A and the other B
A begins as the hypnotist and B follows A's instructions
A holds hand out in front of themselves as if with a stop gesture.
As A moves hand B must imitate the movement in their body and move accordingly
Try to keep at the same distance from the hand at all times.
A can steer with the right hand and hold the other scrunched up.
If A opens the scrunched hand then B must start to talk until A scrunches it up again.
If A scrunches up both hands then B freezes. A can then move to a position in the room a greater distance away. They then open their right hand again and control B from that distance.
B must try to always be equidistant away.
A can move B around the room to relate to others in the room being controlled.
Swap over the roles of A and B

Counting together

In a circle instruct the group they are going to count up to 10
It must be done with one person speaking at a time and each person can only say one number.
Once someone has said a number they can sit down.
If two people speak at once then you must start again
You can extend challenge to 20 and get them to count from 20 down

Variations
Try and do it with eyes closed
Count while also walking around the room
Do it by simply sitting or kneeling one by one in order.

Chair revelation

Sit on chairs in a circle
One person stands in the middle
He/She says one true thing about themselves
"I am wearing blue socks" or "I have never been to France" or "I don't like cheese"
Other members must change seats if they share the same truth.
The person in the middle must also try to sit down and whoever is left standing becomes the person in the middle.
You are not allowed to move to an adjacent chair.

Soundscapes

Sit in a circle
Explain to the group you are going to create a soundscape of an enviroment using just your voices and bodies.
For example, on a beach, a busy street, a restaurant.
Make sure there are differing sounds within the group
Choose a leader to control the sound by varying the volume and pausing certain sounds allowing others to be heard
If you divide the groups up to create a number of soundscapes then each group can try to work out where the soundscapes are.
Have the guessing group sit in the middle with their eyes closed
The leader can conduct the soundscape in a similar way.

Alphabet

In a group of 2 or 3 create a letter of the alphabet
Think of the clarity for the audience, Spacing and include everyone in the letter
Show your letter to the rest of the group and see if they can guess what it is
Get the rest of the group to stand around the letter and view it from different perspectives
Brainstorm as a group other images, stories, Scenarios that come to mind from observing the shape of the letter and the relationship of the group to one another.

Building on activity
You can add lines/Speech bubbles to the characters in the shape
Get them to say them out loud
Other voices can speak out their "thoughts"
If you want to focus the scenes then choose a topic or theme to locate the shapes in
Try to run a short scene by improvising what happens next.
You can build on this by getting other groups to devise scenes that might go before or after this event.

Sparkle

Stand in a circle
Introduce idea that there is a ball of energy that the group will be passing around the circle
The ball is passed with a CLAP in the direction you want it to travel
It can be passed around the circle, change direction or across the circle
Make sure your clap is clear and pointing at someone specifically.
You can animate your clap to give it the personality you want.
Encourage the group to experiment with different tempos.
Once the group have mastered this you can add a second clap and so on.