Volume 1 Number 24


Hi Folks,

Kim's Drama Blog  

Hi all, its been an interesting week in my neck of the woods.   For a start I've been contacted by a couple of significant organisations about some potentially interesting Drama projects.  I don't have a lot of details yet, but rest assured I'll keep you abreast of any developments.   I'm particularly excited about one contact from Canberra offering a chance to be involved in a new Drama and New Media project.

Thanks also for kudos that came to the Drama Education site this week from one of the directors of the ITSA (International Theatre Schools Association) - it seems they have been recommending the site and this list to their members.

This coming week I have my Year 11 class presenting a couple of nights of their one-act play season.  Considering they are performing on Tuesday and Wednesday they were remarkably relaxed on Friday, especially as they hadn't finished set-building, no costumes in sight and they were still designing posters and programs.  I also have a meeting with the Director of Schools for some reason...  just found an instruction in my pigeonhole to make time available on Tuesday.    I have a job interview on Friday for a Head of Arts position at a local Catholic college. 

My younger students this week have started rehearsing their group-devised dramas for the Youth on Health Festival.  An interesting range of pieces with various strengths and weaknesses.    The scripts had to be submitted 4 weeks prior to the event so we now have to make the best of their creations.  My Year 10 class have impressed me with their understanding of media, intertextuality and absurdism; in their piece there are references as diverse as the Simpsons, Citizen Kane, Star Wars, Bold and the Beautiful, Austin Powers, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Indiana Jones... and they're just the ones I can identify.  I should point out that the theme of YOHFest is "Try Hugs, Not Drugs" and the 10s have looked at the media glamourisation of drugs, tobacco and alcohol; it doesn't preach but seeks to raise awareness about the influences in young people's lives.

Discussion List Issues

Great to see several new visitors to the list and a range of discussions.   We seem to get quite a few requests from beginning teachers and teachers who suddenly find themselves teaching Drama.   The challenge of a mailing list like this one is that we are catering to a diverse global community.  Some teachers are teaching Drama as way of learning, others are essentially looking at theatre production (sounds like the old Hornbrook/Bolton "Piss on his Face" debate all over again).  It is not surprising that sometimes these requests are met with a stunned silence.  Where to begin?  What model are they using?  Simply saying "I'm teaching Beginning Theatre" really doesn't help - it could mean anything from basic theatre history, introductory acting skills, improvisation classes, TheatreSports®,  or even stagecraft and technical production.   It really helps if people give some scope to their request.  I was wondering if anyone would like to create some pages that might address these matters and then I can add a FAQ section to the site and instead of endlessly reinventing the wheel we can direct these newcomers to the relevant material.   Please contact me if you think you can assist with this.

LESSON/ACTIVITY IDEA

As Drama teachers I'm sure you are all aware of the standard "Mirroring" exercise.  If not, where have you been??!!  

The Basics

Seriously though, it is a simple exercise where two students stand facing one another.  One student leads the movement and the other responds as if a mirror image of the first.  This exercise is useful to develop concentration, team-building, observation skills, peripheral awareness, precision movement, body awareness, etc.   The best way to start is with slow and quite large movements then as students acclimatise they can become quicker and more subtle in their movements.  Students should regularly swap roles and eventually an outside observer should be seriously challenged in determining who is leading.

One Step Beyond

The first variation I make is to change the mirror-image role to a puppet.  This stage is still done in a face-to-face situation.  The student in this role is to imagine that they have strings attached to head, elbows, hands, knees, etc.  The leader then acts if they are manipulating the strings of a marionette and the puppet responds accordingly.  Once again it is worth starting slowly and developing the finesse with which the task is completed.  It is possible to have the puppeteer actually cause locomotive movements in the puppet.

Taking it to the limit

Recently, it dawned on me in a class of very perceptive young women that it is possible to combine the two preceding exercise to create anew and more challenging version of the task.   This requires 3 students per group.

The Set-up

The Activity

This is really quite simple.  The person on the chair is the puppeteer, the person standing directly in front is the puppet. Because the puppet's back is to the puppeteer they can't see what moves are being made.  So they need a mirror image, this is where the third student comes into the picture.  Person 1 moves the imaginary strings, Person 2 mirrors the action, Person 3 responds as if they are a puppet.  Try it, you'll get the idea.

RECOMMENDED WEBSITES

This site contains a wonderful resource.  The National Theatre in London has made available all its teaching packs in PDF.   While they are most useful if the students have seen the particular production they also offer a tremendous resource to us all.  The packs contain Director's notes, activities, text analysis, actor interviews and much more.   You might like to download the lot and burn a CDROM so you can use them in years to come. (This suggestion assumes the materials are freely usable for educational purposes)

WHO IS IT FOR?
The Education and Training Department bridges the gap between some of the finest theatre talent in the world and young people and their families, teachers and researchers in the local, national and international communities.  We support and reflect the work of the National Theatre's mainstages and produce curricular and socially-relevant theatre with which young people can actively engage and learn new skills.

PROFESSIONAL NEWS

IF YOU HAVE AN EVENT YOU'D LIKE INCLUDED PLEASE CONTACT ME.

13th - 17th April 2004
University of Canterbury

This innovative, international Conference sets out to provide an important forum for drama educators, researchers and practitioners to come together and consider drama practice in relation to recent brain research and thinking for learning. This Conference will be of interest to not only drama educators but to all educators with an interest in actively developing a pedagogical and aesthetic understanding of drama.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES

I've recently found the Broadway Theatre Archive.   It is a great source of video performances of many great plays.   One of the regular difficulties in a Drama class is to bridge the gap between students experiences and the scope of theatrical performance.   Its fine if you live in a major cultural centre and can afford to attend a wide range of performances - Broadway, London's West End, etc... all offer a wide range of styles.  What happens though if you don't have access to this?   Well, the BTA can help.  The link here goes directly to their catalogue and you'll soon see they have a wide choice.   Recently they have started adding DVD format to the catalogue.   I was pleasantly surprised at the affordability of the product - I've often been expected to pay over $100 for video of a theatrical performance.  Do yourself a favour and check them out.

This is a new initiative.  The site taps into the Amazon catalogue.  The search engines are tweaked to find the best of the available resources.  The real bonus of the site is that it allows you to explore without the undue clutter and distractions of the Amazon.com site.   If you like a clean and stylish shopping environment that focuses on the task at hand then dramabooks is the site for you.

 

ALSO AVAILABLE 

eBOOKS - Can be downloaded immediately - A full listing of available eBooks.

Kim Flintoff

Copyright © September, 2004