Express Yourself!

In the 90s, I think Madonna meant a slightly different form of expressing yourself when she released this song, but at the heart of our Drama classes is the ability for our students to express themselves properly in their acting.

Recently, I injected a bit of academic rigour into a Year 8 Drama (13-14 year-olds) unit that focused on the acting style of realism. I have always been a strong believer in teaching watered down versions of prescribed aspects of senior Drama courses to junior students and in this instance, I focused on the four expressive skills stipulated in VCE Drama (Year 11/12):

• voice
• movement
• facial expressions
• gesture

These four expressive skills represent the nuts and bolts of student acting in secondary school Drama classes. Of course, there are many more elements such as conflict and symbol, but to a group of Year 8 students, isolating the four expressive skills was enough of a challenge and one that paid dividends.

Using two brief pre-written scripts with room for considerable interpretation of character and no stage directions, students explored the various ways of developing their scenes. The aim was to make their use of voice, movement, facial expressions and gesture as realistic as possible. Of course, an explanation of what makes acting realistic was first needed.

Just prior to using the scripts, students were asked to create a brief improvised scene of their choice in small groups and present it before the class. As the observing students responded to each performance, they were not allowed to offer the usual responses, such as "I thought the acting was good" and "Jennifer was really funny". This time around, students could only respond in the language of Drama we were now studying. Considering two-thirds of the class had never heard of the word gesture before and of those that had, few had used it in conversation, this was going to be a valuable task, indeed.

Students began tentatively in their responses, as if they were using a completely new language for the very first time. But as the scene presentations progressed and more feedback from the audience was offered, the students' responses slowly became more confident and academic. Before long I had 13 year-olds offering constructive criticism to classmates about their voice projection and tone or lack of movement in the scene. Finally, when one student politely commented to another that she didn't believe in her character because she over-acted the role, I knew we had struck gold!

We then moved onto our script work and I deliberately sat back and observed. Ever tried to become invisible in your own Drama classroom? Well, I teach in a classroom slightly larger than an over-sized shoebox, so you could say trying to be invisible here is near impossible. However, if your class is busy enough and the students engaged in their learning, then it doesn't matter how small the room is or amount of students within it, one can almost disappear.

So, I watched my students without giving them this impression, as they examined their first scripted scene. I listened to students debate with each other in pairs how much to offer to their role, as they explored the delicate balance between overstating and understating their character. Shy students jumped out of their comfort zone in order to attempt larger gestures and louder voices. Confident students were trying desperately to hold back a little (probably for the first time ever) and control their normally enthusiastic but wayward acting, because now they were focusing on getting their use of the four expressive skills just right.

And then of course what constitutes 'just right' is often a judgement difficult to define. We worked on the basis that the acting was just right if others found it believable in all aspects of voice, movement, facial expressions and use of gesture.

The first script was used as a lead-in and acted as more of an activity where process drama was paramount. Students then moved onto a second scripted scene in pairs. This script was to be performed for assessment. It lasted three to four minutes and required them to;

• learn all lines
• create their own blocking
• develop their own role interpretations
• define the setting (deliberately not defined in the given script)
• acquire costume and props
• ensure their four expressive skills were realistic and believable
• perform for assessment (using many of the above, as criteria)

It really was a worthwhile unit of activity, where I felt my two classes of Year 8 Drama students (all girls) were really benefiting from using the language of Drama in conversation (as criticism) and in practice (performance). It was clear they were engaged and motivated to learn (more than they knew already) about a subject many of them loved.

Having said all this .... I've sort of lied. My student-teacher at the time, under my guidance, did it all, not me. I really was an observer in the corner of the room ... only in this case, the entire time, not just for part of the time. What a joy it was to watch a competent student-teacher do all this so successfully, without a hiccup, and as a result see the beaming faces of my students, enjoying the fun of learning new skills in Drama.

Middle School Drama Curriculum Ideas

The following are common curriculum units, topics, genres and themes for middle Drama levels:

• Greek Tragedy
• Character work
• Play scripts
• Commedia dell’Arte
• Drama games
• Bertolt Brecht and Epic Theatre
• Improvisation
• Ritual in drama
• Melodrama
• Use of symbol in drama
• Play structure
• Shakespeare
• Character motivation and objectives
• Stylised movement
• Language skills
• Stanislavksi’s system of acting
• Directing / blocking the actor in the space
• Vocal skills
• Anti-realistic theatre techniques
• Movement and gesture in drama
• Elizabethan Theatre
• Group-devised performance making / playbuilding
• Theatresports™ Games
• Analysis / evaluation / reflection of performance work
• Professional theatre reviews
• Mood
• Make-up
• Prop building
• Use of space
• Tension and conflict in drama
• Non-Western forms of theatre (eg. Kabuki, Bunraku, Noh etc.)
• Set design
• Comedy: satire / slapstick /farce / black comedy

Junior Drama Curriculum Ideas

f you're new to teaching junior Drama and aren't quite sure what to include in your course, here's a few ideas. Of course, it all depends on how strict or forgiving your curriculum guidelines are, but I've found the following activities very worthwhile over the years at the junior Drama level:

Basic Expressive Skills
You may find at the start of secondary/high school, your Drama students have had varied experiences of what constitutes 'Drama' in primary/elementary school. Therefore, your junior Drama class may well be very mixed in their abilities. The important thing to remember at these levels is that everything is basic. Simple expressive skills such as mime, voice, movement and gesture can all be taught as separate curriculum units with their own set of activities. Throw focus in here for good measure as well, because without the skill of focusing on stage, your Drama students will be fighting an uphill battle.

Simple Theatre Genres
'Genre', from the French meaning 'kind' (type or category) is useful at junior Drama. If students have a basic understanding of different types of dramatic works, they will be well founded for more senior years. The easiest genres to explore in junior Drama are ones like comedy, fairytales, soap operas, tragedy and horror. It's all a bit sexist, but it still rings true that boys love horror in Drama while the girls love fairytales and soap operas. These can be explored using a combination of students' own scriptwriting (with teacher guidelines), working from published scripts or improvisation.

Scripts
Scripts of course, are generally more formal in nature than improvisation, mainly due to the conventions present. Scripts have their own set of simple rules that need explaining to the students such as stage directions, character descriptions, basic plot structure (beginning, middle and an end), layout on the page etc. Readers Theatre is a form of drama involving the reading of scripts aloud among the group, instead of physically performing them. This can prove very worthwhile in getting students to grapple the expressive skill of voice. This is achieved via a certain sense of confidence and then varying the pace, rythym, tone and projection of the lines, learning to emphasise particular words over others to enhance meaning.

But students naturally want to perform their scripts, so turn the classroom into a performance space and watch some drama! Students at this level need to know being an audience member also involves the skills of being attentive, concentrating and being silent. I have a golden rule every day in my Drama classrooms - absolutely no talking while watching others perform. This rule is never to be broken, because it is about respect for others before we even get to considering the need for silence from a theatrical perspective.

When performing scripts at the junior level, understanding focus is crucial. If students giggle in the middle of their lines, then the belief in character by the actor has been broken. As a teacher, if you don't get your students to achieve good focus in junior Drama, then you will be fighting a difficult battle in senior Drama a few years later.

Basic stage skills such as the need for movement and facing the audience whenever possible are also important at this level. These skills will not be learnt overnight and will require frequent reinforcement.

Students in junior Drama just love writing their own scripts, too. It's a good idea to make them familiar with published scripts first, as they then have something to use as an example or guide. This will require structure from the teacher. Perhaps some tuition on how to write a script, the necessary ingredients of a successful script, the need for stage directions, a beginning, middle and end and interesting characters etc will prove worthwhile. You can of course tackle several topics at once, such as students scriptwriting in the genre of soap opera and including the conventions of a soap in their performance.

Improvisation
Improvisation involves acting without the use of scripts. In some parts of the world it is affectionately known as simply 'improv'. Improvisation skills are vital in the junior Drama classroom. Students should acquire the skill of being able to think on the spot with little or no preparation. It makes a more flexible actor in the long run and really helps students' confidence, because improv skills are challenging for many. Down the track in senior Drama, you want your students to be equally adept at both tackling a masterpiece of modern drama in a scripted performance and improvisation. A student with poor improv skills will falter when lines are lost on stage. The opposite will occur with a student with great improv skills. You'll be amazed at how important improv skills really are when you see the results of them popping up in the most unusual places.

A more formal and very useful form of improv is Theatresports™ games. Students love Theatresports™ at the junior Drama levels and you could view this as a more sophisticated form of improv, once basic skills have been acquired.

The following are common curriculum units, topics, genres and themes for junior Drama levels:

• Movement
• Masks
• Improvisation
  
• Mime
• Fairytales / Myths / Legends
• Drama games of all kinds
• Steretypes
• Using costumes in Drama
  
• Mood and atmosphere
• Object transformation
• Theatre publicity (poster / programme / ticket designs)
• Basic characterisation
• Manipulating dialogue in the drama
• Vocal work
• Comedy
• Movement
• Scripts and scene work
• Use of space
• Mystery
• Group-devised performance-making / playbuilding
• Spies
• Puppet Theatre
• Horror
• Tragedy
• Body language
• Soap Operas
• Focus
• Witches
• Magic
• Tension
• Toys

Middle School Drama Teacher Resource Texts

Not an exhaustive list, by any means, but a start, nevertheless..

Creating Drama
Burton, B.
Pearson Longman. ISBN: 0 1236 0264 5
Useful text with theory and practical activities on improvisation, process drama, group-devised playbuilding, characterisation, expressive movement, voice, focus, tension, dramatic environments, ritual, symbol, the history of comedy and tragedy to the present day, stagecraft, Brecht’s Epic Theatre and Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed. Unfortunately the revised edition does not have a friendly design., though still a very handy resource for Drama teachers.

Performance: A Practical Approach to Drama
McNamara, M & Tourelle, L.
Heinemann. ISBN: 0 86462 07909
Very good drama text with information and activities on assessing performances, stagecraft, movement, voice, improvisation, playbuilding and performance, Stanislavski’s system, acting techniques and theatre reviews. Includes tables, charts, diagrams and illustrations.

Centre Stage: Creating, Making and Interpreting Drama
Mathew Clausen
Heinemann. ISBN: 0 86462 478 6
Staple Drama text with oodles of activities on the performer’s body, voice, improvisation, playbuilding, script interpretation, performance reviews, melodrama, comedy, masks, non-realistic theatre, playback theatre and documentary theatre. Excellent layout, photographs and illustrations. Includes handy theatre artist and practitioner profiles on contemporary playwrights, theatre personnel, comedians etc.

Drama Class: Lesson Plans for Years 7-10
Goran Banyai
Macmillan. ISBN: 0 7239 9997 9
Perfect book for the new or returning Drama teacher, or just the frantically busy Drama teacher! This text is expensive, but your returns will far exceed the money spent. Includes complete lesson plans for a four-term school year for Years 9 and 10 Drama students (i.e. an entire course syllabus). Year 9 lesson plan activities cover images, symbols, identity, ancient Greek theatre, Commedia dell’Arte, Shakespeare and modern play texts. Year 10 lesson plans cover actor training, theatre techniques, actor and audience, solo and group playbuilding, stage technology, Australian texts and plays, and bringing a play from the page to the stage. Text is a 400-page ring binder folder resource. All pages can be taken out of the folder. Inlcudes photocopiable templates etc. Nice clear layout design.

More recommended texts coming soon......

Theatresports™ Games

As most drama educators know, Theatresports™ games are a hell of a lot of fun in the classroom. Perhaps the best thing about them is that they can literally be used with any age group. Theatresports™ games appeal to primary/elementary students who love simple examples of them so much they are clinging off you as you instruct how to play them(!). High school students find them fun, challenging and rewarding and they can be great to use with adults as well.

There are hundreds of Theatresports™ games for use in your Drama or Theatre class. They are most valuable to acquire these essential skills for any student actor:

• quick thinking
• using the imagination
• role play
  
• improvisation
• voice use
  
• physicality with characters
• movement

But be warned! We are all human and nearly all of us have played Theatresports™ on occasions to fill left over time in a Drama class or for fun at the end of school term. But Theatresports™ are best played with purpose. The games fall into many categories and are best used in conjunction with a relevant activity that extends upon the game. For example, a movement-based Theatreposrts™ game may be played to introduce a new topic on movement in Drama. The same could be done for voice. Theatresports™ games that are carefully chosen by the teacher (or student) with reason, have the most effect on the students' learning in Drama.

The good news is, several wonderful Theatresports™ sites exist on the web. Here are a few to get you started:

• Improv Encyclopedia is an awesome site. You will find (at last count) 466 Theatreports™ games here! They are all neatly categorised into sections, some formal games, others warm-ups and exercises. All of them well explained. If that's not all, there's also a glossary of improv terms and a resource list of improv books and other websites. Just in case you wanted the steak knives as well....the whole thing is downloadable to your desktop (and more importantly your printer....and then your Drama classroom) in a 150 page pdf file. These guys deserve a medal!
• The Living Playbook comes from Unexpected Productions in Seatlle and has nearly 350 Theatresports™ games and related exercises, including an improv glossary as well.
• Idiotica has over 100 Theatresports™ games and about 60 exercises. Everything appears in a couple of pop-up windows (so turn that pop-up blocker off, now!) and the games can be printed for classroom use.

For more Theatreports-related material on the web, check out my links page.

What's your favourite Theatreports™ game (as teacher or student)? Have you had any memorable moments playing Theatreports™? It would be great to hear a few comments about people's Theatresports™ stories. I'm sure there's a few hilarious experiences out there!

Fawlty Towers

Some comedy television series are almost timeless, aren't they?

It always seems to amaze me how each year Rowan Atkinson and his character Mr Bean appeal again and again to a new group of students. In the past, I've watched Mr Bean with students for fun on days when I had to babysit, with younger students for a carefree example of comedy, with middle school students for a more sophisticated analysis of the comic genius portrayed and even with seniors when studying the actor's use of body and gesture. Mr Bean seems to appeal to all ages and in a Drama class, all levels of skill. It's the closest thing to favourite movies young children seem to watch over and over again, as if each viewing was brand new and fresh.

Today in Drama we were studying Farce at Year 9 level (14 year-old girls). Now after twenty minutes of giving notes on this form of comedy, even I was getting a little bored with my own information and started dictating the last few paragraphs in ridiculous German, Chinese and Indian accents. Well, it certainly livened up the room a bit! Then it was time to watch Fawlty Towers, starring the very talented British actor John Cleese. I seriously thought no matter how much I wrapped this show up in the lead-in, this baby would bomb and my students would neither enjoy the humour or 'get' the farce being presented.

How wrong I was! They loved every minute of it. About a third of the class had never seen an episode of Fawlty Towers before, but after watching only one episode (The Hotel Inspector), everyone realised Cleese certainly makes comedy (and farce, in particular) a very physical form of entertainment. What better example is there of absurd activity and ridiculous plot lines than Fawlty Towers (or Monty Python films/Monty Python's Flying Circus)? So if you intend to study Farce with your students, watch Fawlty Towers for a prime example of the genre (or is it a style? ...... nope ..... the debate of genre vs style wil be left for another post altogether!).

Ball Up

Ever played 'Ball Up' with a Drama class?

It is the simplest of warm up activities and yet so much fun.

So today we played Ball Up for a while in Year 12 Drama.

Now the rules of this activity are extremely complex, so I'll go through them slowly.

1. Pass a (largish) ball randomly around the room without letting it bounce (a rubbber ball from any toy shop is fine)
2. The whole group counts simultaneously as the game progresses
3. You are not allowed to hit the ball twice in a row
4. See how high a number the group can reach before the ball falls to the ground
5. Start again at zero and try to beat your previous highest score

That's it! Dead easy!

Sounds like you could happily play this for five or ten minutes, right? Nope! Classes that really go sick on it can't get enough of it and want to play it for 30 minutes or more sometimes (then I get a guilty conscience, start questioning the educational validity of the activity dragging on so long and begin wondering whether my class is really 'using' me and prefer playing this game instead of more serious work!).

The activity's benefits are many. The end result is effective teamwork. Some groups are great at it, whilst others start poorly and improve with regular playing. One could argue it is a far better activity for ensembles, play or musical casts at school, than using it in a standard Drama or Theatre class because of the teamwork aspect. Along the way, the group also learns movement and concentration skills. Of course, all these are transferrable to the stage at another time in a more formal performance setting.

You are guaranteed a hell of a lot of fun. Assuming you play the game with a harmless rubber ball filled with air, then you will see students accidentally smacking the ball into their best friend's head, others occasionally falling over forgetting it's not beach volleyball (clear the room of obstacles first!) and all will withness general funny stuff while participants enthusiastically find themselves doing unconventional 'moves' trying to 'save' the ball from hitting the ground! By the way, the teacher should always join in on the fun with this activity.

I seem to remember getting over 100 in the dark ages when playing it in my first year Drama class at uni, but my record with students is (in my opinion a humble) 65. Play it, beat it and post your score on this blog, I say!

One day last year in a junior class, the room had ceiling fans running on a very hot day. Our rubber ball popped mid-game on one of the fans and died instantly. Dramatic as ever, we stopped the game, laughed for a few seconds, immediately impro'd a cemetery scene and lay the 'dead' ball against the bottom of a pillar in the corner of our classroom. We had everything but the bugle playing softly in the background. You see, we had given our ball a name a few weeks before, so this death was personal. After a minute's silence with the class bowing their heads respectfully standing around the dead ball (no, I'm not joking), I ran to my office, grabbed the spare back-up ball, gave this one a name and off we went and continued the game!

The game does have a limited attraction to certain age groups, though ..... loved by everyone from 10 to 100! If you've never played Ball Up before, why not give it a go!

The Bold and the Beautiful

Every now and then a skit happens in a Drama class that is just so unbelievably funny, other students are literally falling off their chairs in laughter.

Today a group of Year 9 students performed a simple exercise demonstrating an early understanding of satire as a legitimate form of comedy. Their task was to create a five-minute skit that 'sends up' something. So what did we get? Five minutes of Bold and the Beautiful in an outrageous soapie style!

We had characters with very, very thick American accents, soapie actors (or was it their characters?) who were behaving like 'blondes' without brain cells, deliberately repeated dialogue in the space of only a few minutes, the customary intro theme with frozen stances and caricatured faces, over-exaggerated physicalisation including uncontrolled head and body swaying, not to mention the ridiculous plot line! A more in-depth study of daytime TV soaps may have been just as accurate in performance, but in this case, the soap was a choice made by the students in order to understand satire properly. And boy, did they get the satire spot on, the very first time they had been formally taught the genre/style.

You could of course argue that sending up soaps isn't that difficult. Granted. But successfully demonstrating an understanding of satire in a Drama class the first time, is a fair effort for a group of 14 year olds. If they can produce work like this at the start of Year 9 in a skit that was only meant to be a demonstration exercise, then what sort of quality material will these girls produce in a few years time when they hit senior Drama? I can hardly wait...

My lesson for today....nurture the younger Drama students and care for them every bit as much as you care for the well being and skills of your Year 12 students. Get them loving Drama early. The younger students are your stars of tomorrow. As most of us well know, senior Drama students don't just acquire their skills and passion overnight. These are carefully nurtured during the junior and middle years.

On that note, I recall the biggest casting risk I have ever taken in a school play. One year I cast a very talented (but also very young) Year 7 boy in a principal role in (of all things) Bertolt Brecht's 'The Good Woman of Setzuan'! Tough assignment for a 12 year-old. But as far as play casting goes, it was the best thing I've done in all my years of school plays. The following year, gone was the usual thought of 'oh my God, all my talented students have now left school, so who am I going to cast this year?' to be replaced by 'now I've seen what a Year 7 student can do in a lead role, it's one down and five more years to go'!