Starting drama

The session includes activities for pairs and small groups as well as the whole class.
Session length

* You can manage in one hour, but to do this session justice you could take two hours. Make a note of where you finish. Start your second session in a circle and have a brief discussion about what happened in the last session.

Aims

* To introduce the following techniques:
o Freeze frame/bringing the freeze frame to life,
o Rôle-play,
o Thought tracking.
* To establish a good working model (including lots of praise), and to get the group to identify what rules are necessary for Drama to work.
* To develop confidence in using drama
* To learn techniques and self expression.
* To introduce reflection and evaluation, (Drama Diary)

Synopsis or outline for introductory sessions

The students imagine scenes from a photograph album, re-creating them as still Freeze frames and bringing them to life using thought tracking and rôle play. They interview one another in rôle as visitors to a tourist town using rôle play. They are encouraged to reflect on what they have learned during the session and to keep an ongoing diary which records their own learning through Drama.

Resources

* Paper and pens
* Drama diaries

Room layout

* The tables pushed back and the chairs in a circle.

Making a start

In pairs in the circle:

* Talk to the person on your left about your holidays for a few minutes. Are there any volunteers to tell the group briefly about what your partner did over the holidays? Don't worry if no-one feels ready to respond yet. Accept any ideas offered and then carry on.

Brainstorm

What pictures might you find in a family photograph album?

* Go round the circle. Expect each student to suggest an idea but pass on quickly if someone says that they cannot think of anything. You may need to make a few suggestions to start with, for example, holiday snaps. List their ideas on the board.

Introducing freeze-frame

Move away from your chairs and find a space.

The teacher says (adapt this as necessary):

“In a minute I want you to get into the group size which I call out and form a snapshot from our imaginary album. (Use the list you have made on the flip chart paper and adapt it e.g. in fours - a holiday snap; in sixes - a party; whole class - a football match, a community celebration. I will count from ten to one and then say, 'Hold it and freeze'. Hold the picture you have made still, until I say, 'Relax'. ”

Go through about ten freeze frames quickly making comments on any good ones you see. If there are any which particularly impress you by their clear depictions, body language, facial expressions and so on, the ask the rest of the class to relax and look at them and discuss the strengths of the freeze frames.

Freeze-frame

Tableaux: to create simple improvisations from freeze-frames.

* Begin by asking the class to form simple freeze-frames in small groups e.g. typical photo album snaps.
* Ask the whole class to produce 2 large scale freeze-frames e.g. first day at school and end of term (facial expressions are important).
* Split the class into 2 large groups - A and B.
* Ask each group to create a photo freeze-frame from the members of the other group.
* Give each group until the count of 10 to mould the opposite group into the picture and give the finished product a title.
* From the enforced picture each group must produce two minutes' worth of improvisation, either before or after the freeze.
* Perform.

You may repeat the sequence with smaller groups.

Introducing thought tracking

Go back into the last whole class Freeze frame. Introduce the activity with these words or a variation to suit your own situation:

“I am going to tap some people on the shoulder and when I do you must say what is in your head as the character that you are rôle playing (e.g. at a football match one spectator might say 'What a goal!' another might say 'I wish me dad were 'ere.')”

Some will do this really well. If so, then praise them! You are looking for concentration and imaginative belief in the situation.

Introducing rôle play

Introduce the activity with these words or a variation to suit your own situation:

“Go back to your chairs. In groups of four talk about a memorable event that happened during the holidays. If nothing interesting happened to you, invent something! Decide on a Freeze frame to start the drama. You are going to bring it to life for 30 seconds and use words this time. You have three minutes to practise it. The events can be quite commonplace (like going shopping with friends), or extraordinary (like witnessing an accident).”

After two minutes stop the class and tell them that they have one minute left to work on their best moment in the drama. During this time you must move about the class helping, questioning and encouraging the students. Your job is to motivate at this early stage. Keeping the student under the pressure of time helps to clarify and focus the rôle play, otherwise it can ramble.
Now you are ready to bring the freeze frames to life. Get the students to relax and ask for volunteers to show their freeze frame and rôle play to the class. Ask each group to hold their freeze frame, count down: “3, 2, 1, GO!”. After about 30 seconds say: “And freeze!”.

Respect for their peers is essential here. Take a bit of time with this. Try and find something good in each group, but do not tolerate showing-off. It will spoil the drama in the long run if the students do not take their work seriously. Do not tolerate chatting while others are showing their work. They are practising their audience as well as performance skills.

Extending the rôle play

Introduce the activity with these words or a variation to suit your own situation:

“Get into groups of four. One of you works for a local paper or TV company, in a seaside town that is very short of news at the moment. Your job is to go onto the beach and interview tourists. The rest of the group are tourists. All of you need to spend one or two minutes deciding what makes a newsworthy item. Practise this for five minutes. Choose the best moment. Start with a Freeze frame and be ready to bring it to life for 30 seconds. Set this up as before (with preparation time of two minutes). ”

See all the groups. Praise everything you can, but point out things that are obviously wrong and see if the group can identify what would improve it. As their confidence grows, gradually introduce more detailed and constructive criticism.

You are looking for examples of realism, controversy, humour and inventive treatment of the situation.

Reflection and evaluation

Introduce the evaluation with these words or a variation to suit your own situation:

“Go back into the circle. What have you learnt from the session? What rules do you feel are necessary for drama to work?”

List the rules on the board. Students can brainstorm their own ideas for rules in conjunction with rules you may have given them already (such as the Ground Rules above). The students can copy them into their Drama Diaries.