Three taster sessions to build a Youth Theatre (Green Shoes Arts)

Session 1: Aim - To give young people the experience of working together and being able to focus in drama.

Warm up games:
Presenting: Form a circle and in turn each person walks into the middle and says their name and something interesting about themselves.

Budge: Click on link here

Focus Warm up: Click on the "walking as a group" link here - Also you can use a variation of commands: Stop, Go, Jump and duck. The group must respond by first doing the commands they hear and  then by doing the opposite i.e. Jump when they hear duck or stop when they hear go. Progress by getting the group to say the opposite command before they do it.

Create a scene from an image playing Grandmothers Footsteps. Choose 3 images and illicit from the group what they see. What story? Who are the characters? The task is to create a story in pairs using these 3 images.

Create a scene representing the local area
Brainstorm on Dagenham Heath (your locality) 1. Adjectives that describe it, 2. Places, 3. What can you do there?
Pick a word from each list randomly and create a scene using those 3 words i.e. Windy, Swimming pool, Reading.

Session 2: Aim - To create stories through improvisation

Warm up activities: Passing a clap around the circle, Passing an imaginary ball around the circle under your feet, Throwing a tennis ball in the circle,

Create images in groups: Walk around the room and on the command 2.3.4.5's etc get into groups. When you hear an image called out in your group create that image without talking.
Progress by creating a big group image. For example a Kitchen or a hurricane.

Story telling exercise: In a circle tell a story around the circle with each person adding a sentence. One person act a s a scribe to get the main points of the story recorded on paper.

Physical story-telling: In a group narrate and physicalise the story the group has created.

The improvisation Party exercise: Everybody must act that they are at a party, talking, pretending to drink, eat food, dancing. The door bell will go and someone will enter the room acting like a particular character they have been given, i.e. Superman, an alien etc. The guests must carry on improvising and interact with the new guest. The aim is for the party guests to guess who the characters are.

In the style of... Give the group the scenario of buying something in a shop in the style of different theatrical genres. e.g. Eastender's, a cartoon, Opera, Bollywood, Melodrama, etc

Session 3: aim - Create characters using props

Warm up games: Come into the middle of the circle and say your name and what it means. You can make it up and the rest of the group have to guess if it is true or false. Variation - No one can say umm! or make a noise before a name or they are out.

Characteristics brainstorm: Create as many words that describe people i.e. angry, happy, devious. Put a range of hats and props in the middle of the room and a hat of random ages to pick out from. Each person is given a prop and picks out of the hat a characteristic and age.

Character improvisation: Walk around the space thinking about who your character is. How do they walk, hold their body, how fast, slow, heavy or light. Stop! How do they stand? Where is the weight? Head position?

Progression: By putting the character into different scenarios. Waiting for a bus, Sitting on a bus, At the cinema, buying a ticket? In a argument with the cashier etc.

Big Group feed back: Share things you observed about the characters you were or observed. How did it make you feel? How was it difficult? What were you thinking?

Perform a scene in character: In three's perform a scene as your character In a context of your choice

A Star and a wish - Feedback with a star - something you liked about the scene and a wish - something you would like to see done differently.

Create a scene from a game: In three's chose a game and plan a session where you create a scene from playing the game. i.e. apple pie

Building Narratives with shapes

Purpose of the Activity

This activity helps learners explore imagination, storytelling, teamwork, and physical improvisation by using simple shapes as the starting point for creating scenes and narratives.

Materials Needed

- A set of basic shapes (paper cut-outs, cards, or objects) such as circles, squares, triangles, rectangles, stars, and ovals.

Step-by-Step Instructions

·       1. Form a Circle: Have the group stand or sit in a circle so everyone can see the shapes clearly.

·       2. Introduce the Shapes: Place the shapes in the center and explain that each shape can represent anything in a story.

·       3. Choose a Shape: Invite one participant to pick a shape and describe what it could become.

·       4. Build the Narrative: Go around the circle, with each person adding a new detail to the story.

·       5. Add Movement (In small groups): Ask participants to act out what the shape represents using gestures or simple movements.

·       6. Introduce More Shapes: Add additional shapes to bring new characters, objects, or twists to the story.

·       7. Wrap Up the Story: Guide the group to bring the narrative to a natural conclusion and perform their story to one another.

Reflection Questions

·       How did the shapes influence your ideas?

·       What surprised you in the story?

·       How did working as a group change the narrative?

·       What did you enjoy most about the process?

Learning Outcomes

Participants will practice creative thinking, collaboration, improvisation, story structure, and communication skills.

Elasticity

Find a partner and face one another
Move around anywhere in the room but keep eye contact with each other
when leader shouts "change" you must change partner
Experiment with levels, distance, pace etc

Comment: This requires a certain amount of trust in the group to be able to maintain eye contact but is a good way of finding out the groups closeness.
This is a good spacial awareness exercise working with a partner and being aware of those around at the same time.

Knee tag

Find a partner and face one another
The idea is to try and touch your partners knee 3 times before they touch yours 3 times.
You can increase the difficulty by making each pair put an arm behind their back.
On the command "Change" You must find a new partner to do combat with.

Comments: Great to use with a new group especially as a way to get to know one another. This is also a good spacial awareness exercise as individuals are not just to watch their partners moves but be aware of those around them.

Mexican wave

In a circle one person sends a clap around the circle
Try to get the gap between claps as small as is possible.
First send it clockwise and then anticlockwise.
If you create 2 circles you can race to see which circle is faster.
Encourage people to be alert both with their eyes, ears and body.
You can make the circle tighter to increase the speed of the clap.

Comments: This is a fun one to use with a new group to introduce the idea of play and team work. It is good to use with a group who may be a little nervous about doing drama to loosen them up.

Aadu veedu (goat House)

The game starts with everybody creating a Goat House (two people stand holding arms up to create a house and someone sits down underneath to represent the goat).
If the leader shouts "Goat" all the goats have to change place.
If the leader shouts "House" all the houses change places to shelter different goats.
If the leader shouts “Goat House”, then everyone has to change and recreate Goat Houses with different people.
At the start make sure there are a few free goats, so that they have to compete with the rest when they change.

Nb: Aadu Veeda is the Tamil name version of this game. It simply means Goat House. In the UK this game is more commonly known as house, person, tempest

Variation
You can add to the analogy of house by saying "extension" Two people then have to create an extension each side.

Comment. I have used this game with a group that did not know each other well and it worked very well. I think because it is well structured and the children knew exactly whatt was expected of them. However it does encourage mingling as well

Conducting game

Divide the group into twos and instruct them to create a short sound or rhythm that they will be asked to share with the group.
Everyone shares their sound.
Explain to the group that you as the leader will be a conductor and as you point to a pair they must make their sound/rhythm until you point to them to stop.
As conductor you can bring anyone one in you want at any Time so everybody must be watching and ready.
The conductor also shows the group other signs such as increase or decrease volume using his hands. (or lengthen or shorten sound)
The challenge is for the conductor to create as rhythmical a sound as possible.
When the conductor has had enough he can pass the baton to whoever he wants and he then joins that pair.

Variation:
This can also be done with simple movement to create a dance piece
A outside pair of eyes can watch the action and look for narratives ion the movements. This can be fed back to the pairs and a scene could be devised out of this.
Shapes/movements/narratives can be paired off together to create something