Drama Ed Weekly Newsletter

OK, this is becoming an interesting activity for me each week - I hope the newsletter is of interest to you. I thought at the outset that I'd be struggling to find content... thankfully I'm finding its just the opposite... how to limit what I write about each week.

A little explanation is also in order - I am not writing a recipe book for lessons and activities - I do not respect the behaviour of simply lifting a lesson from a book and applying it unmodified to a class. I have little time or interest in teachers who are unwilling to learn more or to explore possibilities.

What I hope to achieve is the stimulation of some original and creative thinking in Drama classrooms. If you have any thoughts about variations and modifications to the ideas I offer, I'd love to be able to share them with the rest of the readership.

If you'd like me to address a particular topic or idea, drop a line to the mailing list... I can generally work up an opinion or idea on just about anything.

This is a simple improvisation game that emerged one day in class while we were playing something else. I noticed that a student had achieved an interesting behavioural outcome in the rest of the players. Her name was "Dea" - the class and I had a bit of discussion and we worked out this purposeful improv game that we dubbed "Dea"

Each player is given a piece of paper - on one piece is written an objective - such as "get everyone to put their hands in the air", or "get everyone to look over their right shoulder"... the players should not know who in the group has the objective or what it is.

The players are given a situation - eg. you are at a Weight Watcher meeting in a fast food restaurant....

They are to improvise the scene and the person with the objective should attempt as subtly or as obviously as they see fit to try to bring about the action they were given. If they achieve it they should stop the improvisation and shout "Dea!" or any other word that takes your fancy.

Some considerations: The game requires that players adhere to the basic rules of improvisation. Offer-Accept-Advance.

Blocking does little to help the game but can add some interest as the group often has a tendency to be wary of easily allowing the objective to be realised. The person with the objective (Let's call them "Simon") has to get quite creative in order to get everyone else to demonstrate the behaviour.

There are some possible variations - Simon must get everyone to do the action at the same time... or at different times...

Everyone can be a Simon - i.e. everyone has an objective and all players are working to manipulate the scene to their end - this can get chaotic but skilful players can work it out.

Simon must work within the parameters of the improvisation - taking into account the situation and the actions to date... and they really should avoid simply telling everyone what to do... try to subtly manipulate the scene so that the action becomes a logical or natural seeming thing to do...

Why?: The possible reasons for playing "Dea" are varied - it can be used as a focus and warm up game - it can be used to explore the idea of "objective" - it can be used to explore character, situation or theme... it can be fun.

Actually as I think about this a bit more - a good name for it would be - Secret Simon Says...

This is a comprehensive site that offer an amazing resource to anyone interested in improvisation....games, handles, concentration exercises, drama techniques, character exercises, warm-ups, long form formats, improvised show formats, tips for workshops and much more.

The biggest resource is the downloadable PDF version of the encyclopaedia - I recommend this to all my students.

"ITI is the official worldwide licensor of Keith Johnstone's shows.
Theatresports™, Gorilla Theatre, Micetro Impro, and Life Game are
exclusively licensed on behalf of Keith Johnstone by the
International Theatresports™ Institute."

A visit to this site will give you an overview of the world of TheatreSports and the training available. Most places have licensed trainers somewhere nearby and many offer special TheatreSports for Teachers accreditation programs.

If you really haven't got a handle on handles then this could be for you... also probably necessary if you want to take the concepts beyond the classroom into competition and festivals.

One of Australia's well-known improv troupes and apparently affiliated with the officialdom of Theatresports™.

Extreme Wrestling Theatresports!! currently at Belvoir Street Theatre in Surrey Hills Sydney.

"Impro ought to be required reading not only for theatre people generally but also for teachers, educators, and students of all kinds and persuasions. Readers of this book are not going to agree with everything in it; but if they are not challenged by it, if they do not ultimately succumb to its wisdom and whimsicality, they are in a very sad state indeed . . . .Johnstone seeks to liberate the imagination, to cultivate in the adult the creative power of the child . . . .Deserves to be widely read and tested in the classroom and rehearsal hall . . .Full of excellent good sense, actual observations and inspired assertions... CHOICE: Books for College Libraries."

Impro for Storytellers is the follow-up to Keith Johnstone's classic Impro, one of the best-selling books ever published on improvisation. In this book, Johnstone takes a further decade of experience as a teacher and coach and explores how an individual's potential can be released in group settings.
"Be more boring!" he might yell to a student striving to be original.
"Be more obvious!" he could advise a clever performer.
These are unorthodox techniques, but ones that are part of the games that have made Johnstone's work uniquely effective in the theatre community. Beyond its strictly theatrical applications, Impro for Storytellers aims to take jealous and self-obsessed beginners and teach them to play games with good nature and to fail gracefully. If you've ever been clumsy and awkward, this book will improve your interpersonal skills and encourage a life-long study of human interaction.

About the Author
Keith Johnstone worked at the Royal Court Theatre in the 1960s where he developed his techniques for improvisational work. He now teaches at the University of Calgary.