This guide is the result of a two year process, ‘Opening Doors’, in which three organizsations came together to create creative opportunities for actors with learning disabilities in the three respective countries: Belgium, Malta, and the United Kingdom. This was done through creating a programme of workshops that would then lead to participation in theatre festivals in each country, which for Malta and Belgium were created specifically for the context of the project.
This is not a guide to be followed strictly to the letter. It sets out to offer the full context. This is why it is important to understand the sessions as they are carried out - the particular dynamics of the context of working within these group situations.
We aim to offer materials that you can pick out and which can be re-puzzled depending on the needs and responses of the participants during the working process.
Here we present the journey we all made – reflecting on the process and our learning together.
We are hoping you will use this as an inspirational tool. We are not suggesting that you copy the experience but aim to offer some practical workshops, exercises and tools which you can use and adapt to the needs of your group. There are also other pointers to the process in the form of notes. These include examples of when particular effects were noted or when steps or choices were influenced or made by participants. There are also notes about the journey made:
- progress of participants as actors and within theatre skills
- of participants’ social functioning within group
- of participants’ personal and wider social development
We approach the work with a focus on developing creative processes with actors who have learning disabilities. Within this focus we have been surprised by, and have welcomed comments and feedback from people around the participants’ lives that reflect on the impact of the work on the participants’ behaviour in their social behaviour.
For this manual we have chosen not to present everything in the same format to show how you can unify and learn from difference. We have organised a structure which guides the reader through contributions which are as different as the work has been. This spirit is about recognising that everyone makes contribution in different ways– it is this acknowledgment of diversity which has informed all our practice.
Approach the guide with the same openness of attitude as we approached our groups. We invite you to reflect this back in your work. It has been an exciting collaboration, with many levels of learning for all people involved. We invite you to join us for the continuing journey. Do contact us for comment, further info or discussion or indeed if you are interested in partnership working.
Thursday, 11 June 2009
BELGIUM
APPROACH
Cultural centre LEOPOLDSBURG, (Belgium)
Starting point
CC Leopoldsburg started at point zero. They looked for an experienced drama teacher with an interest in working with learning disabled adults and a new group had to be formed. The centre contacted two institutionsworking with learning disabled people, Het Berkenhof and ‘t Brugske, and invited participants to start a drama class on the level of this target group. The result was a group of 19 participants.
Approach
This project was set up by bringing together three partners all with different qualities,
- the Cultural Centre with the logistical facilities and organisational experience
- a drama teacher from WiSPER, an organisation with experience of arts in adult education
- the professional experience off ortho agogic speculators from the institutions
Context setting
We set up the drama training on a weekly basis, bringing the group together every Thursday morning from 9.30 till 11.45. Work was done on the stage at the cultural centre to install a working attitude focused on theatre. The groups from the two institutions worked at the centre to take them out of their usual context and to provide a challenging creative and artistic experience.
Dissemination in Flanders
We felt it important to inform and involve relatives during the process. We also invited
professionals who work with this specific group to come over and discuss the process.
At the beginning of the process open sessions were planned to allow the parents and relatives of participants to come and see the work as well as open sessions for theatre professionals and ortho agogic speculators. Following these workshops we organised a meeting to explain and discuss the way of working, the progress made and the effects off this ongoing project on our participants.
Stimulating participation
In order to involve the other residents from the institutions in the project we asked them to help in the preparation of the festival in Leopoldsburg. They created a nice atmosphere by dressing the meeting room in the cultural centre whilst some of them helped to serve the guests at the reception after the presentations.
We also took the project participants to a public theatre performance in the cultural centre. Afterwards some of them came to see a show individually.
Overview of the drama content - Leopoldsburg
Period one starting from March 13, 2008
basic theatre exercises
main goals per session
1 having faith, confidence, durven stem gebruiken, durven bewegen voor elkaar
2 getting to know each other
3 daring to make strange sounds, imitate sounds
4 to imagine oneself as another person
5 expression of the body, enlargement
6 daring and being able to use emotions on stage
7 chorus work, working together
8 tempo feeling, dynamic
9 exercise in repeating
10 recognising / exercises on body language
11 physical play together
12 using voice, enlargement
13 play a story, fairy tale
Period two from July 03, 2008
Developing a performance for the Malta festival
Theatre presentation with choir theme
14 association exercise with 4 objects
Windmill / drawing pilot / rattle / CD
15 from association to story for self-made scene
18 physical play, different theatre forms for travel to island
19 making a scène and play about breaking window
20 making dance movements
21 playing with an object, movements
22 using the blog, writing poems, writing about the workshops, photos
23 use of voice, KA-BAS: making a song with abstract sounds
24 physical teamwork, choir
25 group Malta/England, continuing to work on scenes for the first time
Festival Malta, half of the group
Workshop together with Maltese and English participants, performance in a new theatre hall for a new audience.
25 bis evaluation and sharing Maltese experience with colleagues
Period three from October 23, 2008
Development and presentation at UK Festival
Theatre presentation built upon role play with support of couples
26 combination of use of language and body language
27 association task with 4 new props: Velcro / rattle / egg / washcloth
28 from object associations to making up scenes
29 deepening out scenes, for the first time in England and Malta group
30 bring together scenes and deepen them: farm and beauty parlour scene
31 search on making a song with object (Velcro), pass through presentation
FESTIVAL IN UK, other half of the Group
31 bis evaluation with colleagues
Period four from January 15, 2009
Examine and practise sense of space
32 examine player in his space, VIEW POINTS
33 further examining VIEW POINTS (pulse, synchro start)
34 improvise from character, by three
Period five from January 15, 2009
Develop theatre presentation for Leopoldsburg festival.
Theatre presentation with attention for situation in space and audience
35 associate independently 4 objects: ribbon / knot / key / mask
36 rhythm, hand-foot coordination
37 making up dance movements, bringing together into one dance
38 use of voice, examine for power and breath support: ‘The Cry’
39 video taping ‘The Cry’
40 VIEW POINTS: application on scene
41 rhythm, 2 gangs with leader in confrontation
42 deepen scenes, play together from individual role
43 lining up all elements for presentation
44 pass through performance
FESTIVAL IN Leopoldsburg, all 19 participants
45 bis evaluation and exchange with colleagues
Period six from January 15, 2009
Examine word play, also fixed language
47 speech body, articulation body, play with sounds, words, sentences
48 associations: words, sentences, making up stories
49 communicate with language, fixed text
50 examine emotional memory, own room
51 emotional memory, guide in chosen space
WORKSHOP SAMPLES
Good practice guide
Workshop Sample 1 – Belgium
refer to session 7 in overview: main goal: chorus work, working together
Warming Up
All the participants are gathered and they decide where to sit in a circle on the floor. Sitting on cushions will give the participants a sense of personal space and security in a strange environment. The drama teacher starts a short conversation about last weeks session just to see what the group remember.
We start with a clear recognizable ritual to install a working atmosphere. We want everybody to be at ease in the ‘here and now’ before really starting. Talking about last week’s theatre work trains their memory and is a way of getting more focus on theatre thinking.
Then it’s time for the physical warm up: stand up and stretch arms, yawning in dramatic way, running and hopping on the spot. These movements are the start of every workshop and the participants already know them so it gives them confidence and of course, it’s also fun.
Warming up voice and body in a way to install a playing mood
Then the group is divided into couples who stand face to face. They take each other by the hands and jump together, first on a given signal and then from their own initiative. Then they form groups of four and do the same thing. After this all together as one group.
Training them in taking the lead, not waiting for a clear sign of the trainer and working together
The Clap
Everyone stands in a circle in front of his or her own cushion on the floor. One of the participants start to clap hands and ‘passes’ the clap to the person on the right until it is passed along the whole group. Then someone can make a movement and the others take turns to imitate this movement. This exercise is also a weekly ‘routine’ so after some time it becomes a smooth action.
theatre is a group art discipline, training in getting focus and doing your thing when it’s up to you, to receive a sign and pass it through
Conductor
The drama teacher is conductor. All the participants use their voice and make sounds by only using vowels. If the conductor raises his hand the noise goes up, when he pulls his hand down, the volume of the noise goes down. Then the group is divided into two smaller groups that stand face to face. The conductor takes a place in the middle: the right hand is for the right group, the left hand for the left group. When this goes smoothly, all the participants can take turns to be the conductor. The participants really like this.
playing with abstract sounds, listening is more important then making sound when you want reach for chorus work, following visual instructions, being encouraged to take the lead
The First Step
Everybody stands up in a circle. At the third count of the drama teacher someone chooses to step forward and the others have to follow this example. It’s difficult because the participants have to choose themselves whether they want to be the first one to step forward. It’s a new exercise so it’s difficult for most of the participants to move at the same time.
taking the lead with physical language for the whole group, daring to take the space as first of the group
Welcoming the Parents
We welcome the parents of the learning disabled actors. They come into the theatre space and the participants greet the public. The group show them their exercises: They start by passing the clap and then they repeat ‘the conductor’.
inviting the parents to an open lesson has two goals;
- parents become involved in the project and get informed the method and content by looking at it live
- the actors get used to playing to a public step by step
Evaluation
Everybody is seated again in a circle on the cushions on the floor. All the participants take turns to say what they liked in this session and what they thought was difficult.
a clear step to put down the theatre work moment (same form as starting ritual to complete the circle), trying to let them reconstruct an overview of the session helps to get more insight in the different theatre skills
Workshop Sample 2 – Belgium
refer session 47 in overview: main goal: speech body, articulation body, play with sounds, words, sentences
Warming Up
The drama teacher welcomes all the participants. They all take sit down in a circle on a cushion on the floor. Everybody can have a little chat and then the teacher outlines what will happen this session.
The clear recognisable starting ritual is still there after a year of working and three presentations. We inform about the content of the session in advance (we’ll end with overview) so participants get insight in the working process, participants can suggest alternatives…
Then the physical warming up starts. First everybody has to bend his knees to go and sit on an imaginary chair. Then standing on the toes without falling. Play football with an imaginary ball. Walk on the spot. Shake your body.
the physical warming up is more and more building on imagination of movements to stimulate the fantasy
Your Body Like Three Boxes
The teacher explains that you can look at your body as if it consists of three boxes: the head, the body and the legs. The first box is the head. The participants act as chickens by only moving their heads from left to right and to the front and the back. The teacher had to hold to some of the participants to enable them to only move their heads and not the rest of their body.
Box 2: now they can only move their body the way a chicken would move it, without using their heads or legs. Box 3: the legs and hips.
getting control over the body by looking (exploring it physically) at it in a abstract way, some of the participants have more possibility’s in body expression, so they are challenged in these more difficult exercises without dropping the others
Sound massage
Everybody stands up really close to one another in a circle. First we breathe in and out very intensively without making any noise. Breathing in through the nose and breathing out through the mouth. Then we breathe out by making a silent buzzing – mmm - sound without forcing their voices. Then three participants are asked to stand in the middle of the circle. Afterwards they have to explain how they experienced it to be surrounded by this soft buzzing sound. This is what they experienced and imagined: it’s like a head massage, I heard a bear or a bird, it sounded like a lullaby, it felt like meditating…
it’s an exercise to train the diaphragm ( a technical training technique) but it has been packaged in an accessible form, the sound massage exercise encouragse the controlling of a gentle voice in low volume, and we enjoy it
Saying Words
Everybody in the circle has to say the word ‘ping pong ball’ in turns. First very silently then louder. Then the teacher walks away from the circle so that everybody has to articulate and speak louder. The second word is ‘tip top’, and the third is ‘tip tap top’. It’s not easy for everyone. Some of the participants cannot articulate very well and others are too shy to speak out these words in a loud voice. The teacher is very patient and gives everybody the chance to do it well.
we challenge them to be aware and take care of a good articulation
Saying Sentences
The sentence is “hello, how are you?”. Everybody in the circle says one word and the person on the right says the next. After four participants the fifth starts again. After the exercise is finished we do the same thing but in the other direction. Now we say the same sentence again but in different intonations. This is also a very difficult exercise because everybody has to really listen carefully to the other. Also timing is very important here.
looking at language in an abstract form helps to listen and focus on the pronunciation of the sounds and having fun with it
Creating a story building up sentence by sentence
The group is divided into three smaller groups. Each group can make up a sentence. Then each group says its sentence and the two other groups repeat it out loud. Then each group thinks of another sentence. In the end we bring the sentences together to create a little story.
speech and language work as a creative tool, creating a story together, being complementary in the creative process, accepting ideas from one another,
This story will be played by all the actors.
This is what they came up with:
-Snackbar.
-What are we going to do?
-We drink whisky.
-We are going to the pub.
-We like horseback riding.
-Nice weather today!
Story: What are we going to do? Nice weather today! We like horseback riding. We are going to the pub. Snackbar
performing an idea of somebody else, making it repeatable
We end up with discussing what we saw in the little acts.
giving comment on each others theatre exercises helps the participants in coping with direction, it gives the spectators a motivation to look profoundly at the other work.
EFFECTS
Travelling to Malta and England: a great adventure
September 28 – Wednesday October 1, 2008
December 8-11, 2008
After saying goodbye to all the parents and after some interviews and photos for the local press, we took the train to the airport. It was already quite an adventure because some of the participants had never been on a train before. In the airport taking the escalators was the next challenge. The body search of some of the people of our group by the customs authorities, entering the plane through a walking tunnel and of course the taking off and landing was a bit scary but everyone was really excited and there was a lot of laughter.
After arriving a bus picked us up at the airport. Very strange - people in Malta and England drive on the left hand side! At the first workshop the next morning our participants really surprised us: they weren’t shy at all and even the language barriers were no obstacle as they met up and chatted with their Maltese and English ‘colleagues’ in a very enthusiastic way. Friendships were born. When everybody met again the next day it was like seeing old friends again: everybody hugged and kissed and one of our actors found himself a girl friend.
During the final performance our actors moved the audience with their spontaneity. Ivo sang the ‘Kabas’ song and everybody sang along. The English and Maltese actors were cheering and applauding for our group like a bunch of football supporters.
Saying goodbye the day after was very emotional. Mariano’s girl friend wrote a letter to her boyfriend and also some other new friends stayed in touch. The parents of our participants witnessed later that this first trip abroad was a great adventure that they couldn’t stop talking about.
Evolution and effects on the participants: some examples
1. M: 27 year old learning disabled adult with an intellectual level of a 12 year old. He chose himself to participate in the project.
M normally talks in a high pitch voice. During these sessions he learned to use a normal voice. The teacher gave him a verbal signal: “M, feet in the ground”. In his free time Mariano imitates and repeats sketches that were played during the sessions. Before the workshops he used to live in his own world but now he asks for more feedback and is also more aware of the people around him. On stage he is now aware of the public.
M bloomed during the sessions: he evolved from a person with a lot of depressive periods to a cheerful young man. A positive side effect is the broadening of his horizon and interests because of his travels abroad and the international contacts.
2. D: 26 year old male with Downs syndrome. D functions on an intellectual level of about a 6 year old. He chose to participate himself.
The most important evolution for D is on a verbal level. He now dares to express in a more verbal way. Before he was very introvert. In a group D was always a background person but during the sessions he turned into a leading figure where others can depend on. He was one of the stars in the final performances during the closing festival in Belgium.
3. I: 50 year old man with Downs syndrome. He functions on an intellectual level of a 4 year old. I did not choose to participate himself, his carers decided it would be ‘fun’ for him to take part in the drama workshops.
I used to be completely lost in a talking crowd but now he can step forward as someone who wants to be heard. I sees himself now as a part of a group and is clearly conscious of himself on stage. I’s brothers and the professionals in the day care centre where he stays had never heard his voice and they were emotionally moved when they heard I singing a song during a performance on stage and later even on regional television. I still needs a lot of time but that is given to him by the drama teacher.
4. Y: 46 year old woman with Downs syndrome. Intellectual level of a 5 year old. Her carers decided that she would participate in the Opening Doors project.
Y evolved from a quiet person without any initiative to someone with a lot of dramatic skills and talents. The project really made a huge impression on her and she now dares to step forward and is open to new experiences. The project really opened her views on the world. She no longer forces herself onto other people but has learned to take the moment as it comes.
Effects
Comments from parents of the learning disabled participants and colleagues from the participating institutions
The workshops made the participants more mature and independent.
People who are learning disabled can do so much more than one would expect. That’s something these workshops proved.
My son has become so much more self confident and shows more emotions. He talks more to us than he ever did.
My daughter is so enthusiast about this project!
Keep up the good work!
The working method is very respectful towards the participants. This way of working can also be used in their daily practice.
All the participants ‘shine’ in their own way.
Most of the participating actors have become more expressive.
Everything is done with so much heart and soul!
We have seen so many surprising results in the performances.
Maybe it’s better to work in a more non verbal way. In the performances a lot of text parts were lost or hard to understand.
Exchanging with other European countries and meeting new people was very exciting and also stimulating for all the participants. Saying goodbye to their new friends in Malta and England was very emotional.
Maybe a little explanation before the performances would have been better.
We enjoyed seeing how the participants were blooming and opening up on stage.
They all wanted to try and speak English even after the visits to England and Malta.
Our daughter will take a singing workshop (with non disabled people) in the cultural centre where the drama sessions took place!
Some of the participants went to see some concerts and stand up comedy in the cultural centre.
We never expected the performances to be so excellent and entertaining!
The sessions really developed their fantasy and all the actors really surprised us.
Cultural centre LEOPOLDSBURG, (Belgium)
Starting point
CC Leopoldsburg started at point zero. They looked for an experienced drama teacher with an interest in working with learning disabled adults and a new group had to be formed. The centre contacted two institutionsworking with learning disabled people, Het Berkenhof and ‘t Brugske, and invited participants to start a drama class on the level of this target group. The result was a group of 19 participants.
Approach
This project was set up by bringing together three partners all with different qualities,
- the Cultural Centre with the logistical facilities and organisational experience
- a drama teacher from WiSPER, an organisation with experience of arts in adult education
- the professional experience off ortho agogic speculators from the institutions
Context setting
We set up the drama training on a weekly basis, bringing the group together every Thursday morning from 9.30 till 11.45. Work was done on the stage at the cultural centre to install a working attitude focused on theatre. The groups from the two institutions worked at the centre to take them out of their usual context and to provide a challenging creative and artistic experience.
Dissemination in Flanders
We felt it important to inform and involve relatives during the process. We also invited
professionals who work with this specific group to come over and discuss the process.
At the beginning of the process open sessions were planned to allow the parents and relatives of participants to come and see the work as well as open sessions for theatre professionals and ortho agogic speculators. Following these workshops we organised a meeting to explain and discuss the way of working, the progress made and the effects off this ongoing project on our participants.
Stimulating participation
In order to involve the other residents from the institutions in the project we asked them to help in the preparation of the festival in Leopoldsburg. They created a nice atmosphere by dressing the meeting room in the cultural centre whilst some of them helped to serve the guests at the reception after the presentations.
We also took the project participants to a public theatre performance in the cultural centre. Afterwards some of them came to see a show individually.
Overview of the drama content - Leopoldsburg
Period one starting from March 13, 2008
basic theatre exercises
main goals per session
1 having faith, confidence, durven stem gebruiken, durven bewegen voor elkaar
2 getting to know each other
3 daring to make strange sounds, imitate sounds
4 to imagine oneself as another person
5 expression of the body, enlargement
6 daring and being able to use emotions on stage
7 chorus work, working together
8 tempo feeling, dynamic
9 exercise in repeating
10 recognising / exercises on body language
11 physical play together
12 using voice, enlargement
13 play a story, fairy tale
Period two from July 03, 2008
Developing a performance for the Malta festival
Theatre presentation with choir theme
14 association exercise with 4 objects
Windmill / drawing pilot / rattle / CD
15 from association to story for self-made scene
18 physical play, different theatre forms for travel to island
19 making a scène and play about breaking window
20 making dance movements
21 playing with an object, movements
22 using the blog, writing poems, writing about the workshops, photos
23 use of voice, KA-BAS: making a song with abstract sounds
24 physical teamwork, choir
25 group Malta/England, continuing to work on scenes for the first time
Festival Malta, half of the group
Workshop together with Maltese and English participants, performance in a new theatre hall for a new audience.
25 bis evaluation and sharing Maltese experience with colleagues
Period three from October 23, 2008
Development and presentation at UK Festival
Theatre presentation built upon role play with support of couples
26 combination of use of language and body language
27 association task with 4 new props: Velcro / rattle / egg / washcloth
28 from object associations to making up scenes
29 deepening out scenes, for the first time in England and Malta group
30 bring together scenes and deepen them: farm and beauty parlour scene
31 search on making a song with object (Velcro), pass through presentation
FESTIVAL IN UK, other half of the Group
31 bis evaluation with colleagues
Period four from January 15, 2009
Examine and practise sense of space
32 examine player in his space, VIEW POINTS
33 further examining VIEW POINTS (pulse, synchro start)
34 improvise from character, by three
Period five from January 15, 2009
Develop theatre presentation for Leopoldsburg festival.
Theatre presentation with attention for situation in space and audience
35 associate independently 4 objects: ribbon / knot / key / mask
36 rhythm, hand-foot coordination
37 making up dance movements, bringing together into one dance
38 use of voice, examine for power and breath support: ‘The Cry’
39 video taping ‘The Cry’
40 VIEW POINTS: application on scene
41 rhythm, 2 gangs with leader in confrontation
42 deepen scenes, play together from individual role
43 lining up all elements for presentation
44 pass through performance
FESTIVAL IN Leopoldsburg, all 19 participants
45 bis evaluation and exchange with colleagues
Period six from January 15, 2009
Examine word play, also fixed language
47 speech body, articulation body, play with sounds, words, sentences
48 associations: words, sentences, making up stories
49 communicate with language, fixed text
50 examine emotional memory, own room
51 emotional memory, guide in chosen space
WORKSHOP SAMPLES
Good practice guide
Workshop Sample 1 – Belgium
refer to session 7 in overview: main goal: chorus work, working together
Warming Up
All the participants are gathered and they decide where to sit in a circle on the floor. Sitting on cushions will give the participants a sense of personal space and security in a strange environment. The drama teacher starts a short conversation about last weeks session just to see what the group remember.
We start with a clear recognizable ritual to install a working atmosphere. We want everybody to be at ease in the ‘here and now’ before really starting. Talking about last week’s theatre work trains their memory and is a way of getting more focus on theatre thinking.
Then it’s time for the physical warm up: stand up and stretch arms, yawning in dramatic way, running and hopping on the spot. These movements are the start of every workshop and the participants already know them so it gives them confidence and of course, it’s also fun.
Warming up voice and body in a way to install a playing mood
Then the group is divided into couples who stand face to face. They take each other by the hands and jump together, first on a given signal and then from their own initiative. Then they form groups of four and do the same thing. After this all together as one group.
Training them in taking the lead, not waiting for a clear sign of the trainer and working together
The Clap
Everyone stands in a circle in front of his or her own cushion on the floor. One of the participants start to clap hands and ‘passes’ the clap to the person on the right until it is passed along the whole group. Then someone can make a movement and the others take turns to imitate this movement. This exercise is also a weekly ‘routine’ so after some time it becomes a smooth action.
theatre is a group art discipline, training in getting focus and doing your thing when it’s up to you, to receive a sign and pass it through
Conductor
The drama teacher is conductor. All the participants use their voice and make sounds by only using vowels. If the conductor raises his hand the noise goes up, when he pulls his hand down, the volume of the noise goes down. Then the group is divided into two smaller groups that stand face to face. The conductor takes a place in the middle: the right hand is for the right group, the left hand for the left group. When this goes smoothly, all the participants can take turns to be the conductor. The participants really like this.
playing with abstract sounds, listening is more important then making sound when you want reach for chorus work, following visual instructions, being encouraged to take the lead
The First Step
Everybody stands up in a circle. At the third count of the drama teacher someone chooses to step forward and the others have to follow this example. It’s difficult because the participants have to choose themselves whether they want to be the first one to step forward. It’s a new exercise so it’s difficult for most of the participants to move at the same time.
taking the lead with physical language for the whole group, daring to take the space as first of the group
Welcoming the Parents
We welcome the parents of the learning disabled actors. They come into the theatre space and the participants greet the public. The group show them their exercises: They start by passing the clap and then they repeat ‘the conductor’.
inviting the parents to an open lesson has two goals;
- parents become involved in the project and get informed the method and content by looking at it live
- the actors get used to playing to a public step by step
Evaluation
Everybody is seated again in a circle on the cushions on the floor. All the participants take turns to say what they liked in this session and what they thought was difficult.
a clear step to put down the theatre work moment (same form as starting ritual to complete the circle), trying to let them reconstruct an overview of the session helps to get more insight in the different theatre skills
Workshop Sample 2 – Belgium
refer session 47 in overview: main goal: speech body, articulation body, play with sounds, words, sentences
Warming Up
The drama teacher welcomes all the participants. They all take sit down in a circle on a cushion on the floor. Everybody can have a little chat and then the teacher outlines what will happen this session.
The clear recognisable starting ritual is still there after a year of working and three presentations. We inform about the content of the session in advance (we’ll end with overview) so participants get insight in the working process, participants can suggest alternatives…
Then the physical warming up starts. First everybody has to bend his knees to go and sit on an imaginary chair. Then standing on the toes without falling. Play football with an imaginary ball. Walk on the spot. Shake your body.
the physical warming up is more and more building on imagination of movements to stimulate the fantasy
Your Body Like Three Boxes
The teacher explains that you can look at your body as if it consists of three boxes: the head, the body and the legs. The first box is the head. The participants act as chickens by only moving their heads from left to right and to the front and the back. The teacher had to hold to some of the participants to enable them to only move their heads and not the rest of their body.
Box 2: now they can only move their body the way a chicken would move it, without using their heads or legs. Box 3: the legs and hips.
getting control over the body by looking (exploring it physically) at it in a abstract way, some of the participants have more possibility’s in body expression, so they are challenged in these more difficult exercises without dropping the others
Sound massage
Everybody stands up really close to one another in a circle. First we breathe in and out very intensively without making any noise. Breathing in through the nose and breathing out through the mouth. Then we breathe out by making a silent buzzing – mmm - sound without forcing their voices. Then three participants are asked to stand in the middle of the circle. Afterwards they have to explain how they experienced it to be surrounded by this soft buzzing sound. This is what they experienced and imagined: it’s like a head massage, I heard a bear or a bird, it sounded like a lullaby, it felt like meditating…
it’s an exercise to train the diaphragm ( a technical training technique) but it has been packaged in an accessible form, the sound massage exercise encouragse the controlling of a gentle voice in low volume, and we enjoy it
Saying Words
Everybody in the circle has to say the word ‘ping pong ball’ in turns. First very silently then louder. Then the teacher walks away from the circle so that everybody has to articulate and speak louder. The second word is ‘tip top’, and the third is ‘tip tap top’. It’s not easy for everyone. Some of the participants cannot articulate very well and others are too shy to speak out these words in a loud voice. The teacher is very patient and gives everybody the chance to do it well.
we challenge them to be aware and take care of a good articulation
Saying Sentences
The sentence is “hello, how are you?”. Everybody in the circle says one word and the person on the right says the next. After four participants the fifth starts again. After the exercise is finished we do the same thing but in the other direction. Now we say the same sentence again but in different intonations. This is also a very difficult exercise because everybody has to really listen carefully to the other. Also timing is very important here.
looking at language in an abstract form helps to listen and focus on the pronunciation of the sounds and having fun with it
Creating a story building up sentence by sentence
The group is divided into three smaller groups. Each group can make up a sentence. Then each group says its sentence and the two other groups repeat it out loud. Then each group thinks of another sentence. In the end we bring the sentences together to create a little story.
speech and language work as a creative tool, creating a story together, being complementary in the creative process, accepting ideas from one another,
This story will be played by all the actors.
This is what they came up with:
-Snackbar.
-What are we going to do?
-We drink whisky.
-We are going to the pub.
-We like horseback riding.
-Nice weather today!
Story: What are we going to do? Nice weather today! We like horseback riding. We are going to the pub. Snackbar
performing an idea of somebody else, making it repeatable
We end up with discussing what we saw in the little acts.
giving comment on each others theatre exercises helps the participants in coping with direction, it gives the spectators a motivation to look profoundly at the other work.
EFFECTS
Travelling to Malta and England: a great adventure
September 28 – Wednesday October 1, 2008
December 8-11, 2008
After saying goodbye to all the parents and after some interviews and photos for the local press, we took the train to the airport. It was already quite an adventure because some of the participants had never been on a train before. In the airport taking the escalators was the next challenge. The body search of some of the people of our group by the customs authorities, entering the plane through a walking tunnel and of course the taking off and landing was a bit scary but everyone was really excited and there was a lot of laughter.
After arriving a bus picked us up at the airport. Very strange - people in Malta and England drive on the left hand side! At the first workshop the next morning our participants really surprised us: they weren’t shy at all and even the language barriers were no obstacle as they met up and chatted with their Maltese and English ‘colleagues’ in a very enthusiastic way. Friendships were born. When everybody met again the next day it was like seeing old friends again: everybody hugged and kissed and one of our actors found himself a girl friend.
During the final performance our actors moved the audience with their spontaneity. Ivo sang the ‘Kabas’ song and everybody sang along. The English and Maltese actors were cheering and applauding for our group like a bunch of football supporters.
Saying goodbye the day after was very emotional. Mariano’s girl friend wrote a letter to her boyfriend and also some other new friends stayed in touch. The parents of our participants witnessed later that this first trip abroad was a great adventure that they couldn’t stop talking about.
Evolution and effects on the participants: some examples
1. M: 27 year old learning disabled adult with an intellectual level of a 12 year old. He chose himself to participate in the project.
M normally talks in a high pitch voice. During these sessions he learned to use a normal voice. The teacher gave him a verbal signal: “M, feet in the ground”. In his free time Mariano imitates and repeats sketches that were played during the sessions. Before the workshops he used to live in his own world but now he asks for more feedback and is also more aware of the people around him. On stage he is now aware of the public.
M bloomed during the sessions: he evolved from a person with a lot of depressive periods to a cheerful young man. A positive side effect is the broadening of his horizon and interests because of his travels abroad and the international contacts.
2. D: 26 year old male with Downs syndrome. D functions on an intellectual level of about a 6 year old. He chose to participate himself.
The most important evolution for D is on a verbal level. He now dares to express in a more verbal way. Before he was very introvert. In a group D was always a background person but during the sessions he turned into a leading figure where others can depend on. He was one of the stars in the final performances during the closing festival in Belgium.
3. I: 50 year old man with Downs syndrome. He functions on an intellectual level of a 4 year old. I did not choose to participate himself, his carers decided it would be ‘fun’ for him to take part in the drama workshops.
I used to be completely lost in a talking crowd but now he can step forward as someone who wants to be heard. I sees himself now as a part of a group and is clearly conscious of himself on stage. I’s brothers and the professionals in the day care centre where he stays had never heard his voice and they were emotionally moved when they heard I singing a song during a performance on stage and later even on regional television. I still needs a lot of time but that is given to him by the drama teacher.
4. Y: 46 year old woman with Downs syndrome. Intellectual level of a 5 year old. Her carers decided that she would participate in the Opening Doors project.
Y evolved from a quiet person without any initiative to someone with a lot of dramatic skills and talents. The project really made a huge impression on her and she now dares to step forward and is open to new experiences. The project really opened her views on the world. She no longer forces herself onto other people but has learned to take the moment as it comes.
Effects
Comments from parents of the learning disabled participants and colleagues from the participating institutions
The workshops made the participants more mature and independent.
People who are learning disabled can do so much more than one would expect. That’s something these workshops proved.
My son has become so much more self confident and shows more emotions. He talks more to us than he ever did.
My daughter is so enthusiast about this project!
Keep up the good work!
The working method is very respectful towards the participants. This way of working can also be used in their daily practice.
All the participants ‘shine’ in their own way.
Most of the participating actors have become more expressive.
Everything is done with so much heart and soul!
We have seen so many surprising results in the performances.
Maybe it’s better to work in a more non verbal way. In the performances a lot of text parts were lost or hard to understand.
Exchanging with other European countries and meeting new people was very exciting and also stimulating for all the participants. Saying goodbye to their new friends in Malta and England was very emotional.
Maybe a little explanation before the performances would have been better.
We enjoyed seeing how the participants were blooming and opening up on stage.
They all wanted to try and speak English even after the visits to England and Malta.
Our daughter will take a singing workshop (with non disabled people) in the cultural centre where the drama sessions took place!
Some of the participants went to see some concerts and stand up comedy in the cultural centre.
We never expected the performances to be so excellent and entertaining!
The sessions really developed their fantasy and all the actors really surprised us.
UK
APPROACH
Workshop at the Beginning of the Journey
The Headway Way
This is an example of exercises that can be used in a workshop when working with a group for the first time (typically of about 2 hours duration) and the reasons for each activity, including expected learning outcomes.
It is important that you are aware of the timing of the workshop yet not to rush any of the exercises. This workshop is about you and the participants. It is necessary to allow the workshop to go in other directions than you had planned and for you to feel confident with this. The nature of the group you are working with will not necessarily allow your workshop to follow the original plan.
THIS IS ME participants say their name and something they like such as a favourite activity and add a movement to demonstrate the activity
Example - “My name is Steve, and I like painting” demonstrating movement as if using a paintbrush.
FRUIT SALAD - participants sit on chairs in a circle, the leader walks around the circle labelling everyone either apple, orange or pear. The leader then calls out the name of one fruit. Those participants with that name must swap chairs and the leader will also try to take a chair leaving a new caller. The caller may also say “Fruit Salad” in which case all must swap chairs.
PRISONER - Half participants are seated (the prisoners), half stand behind (the guards). The leader has an empty chair. The leader calls the name of someone seated (a prisoner) who must move to the leader’s chair, the guard behind must stop them by gently tapping them on the shoulder. If the prisoner escapes then the guard becomes the new caller. After sometime swap prisoners to guards and vice versa.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Ÿ An effective way for individuals to get to know each other.
Ÿ Helps workers to learn names and fast track communication, address individuals very quickly and familiarly building up a connection.
Ÿ Helps you to assess communication skills - hearing, understanding, how comfortable they feel.
Ÿ Strengths and weaknesses
Ÿ Helps look at focus and concentration levels of individuals in the group and how easy they can react
Ÿ Basic listening and reaction skills
THE PHYSICAL WARM UP
Head, Body, Arms, Legs and face - Using gentle movement to stimulate the body, preparing it for any movement or actions that take place in the workshop.
These exercises can be used from and around a chair, depending on ability
Ÿ Looking at physical abilities of individuals in the group allows you to see what level of physical activity to use in future sessions.
Ÿ Listening and understanding
VOCAL WARM UP and SINGING
Ask the group to find any vocal note in their range and hold that note for a short time
To find a vocal note and slowly build in volume
To find a vocal note and slowly lower in volume
Ÿ Looking at vocal and oral abilities of individuals in the group and the group as a whole.
Ÿ Listening and understanding
GROUP DEVELOPMENT - TRUST EXERCISES
GUIDED PAIRS - Participants get into pairs, labelling each other A or B. A then becomes the leader who will guide B around the room. B will be asked to close there eyes for this exercise, after a while swap over
THE TRAIN - Participants will form a line with someone at the front becoming “the train” They will guide everyone else around the room, all except “the train” will be asked to close their eyes.
Ÿ This allows participants to bond and develop their relationships in others in the group, looking at who in our lives we can trust is very important, also looks at focus and discipline.
BEGINNING CREATIVITY
USING STIMULUS
Take an object and pass it around the group, ask individuals to examine the object using all the appropriate senses. Then ask individuals what it makes them think about what they see, hear, feel, smell, taste.
Write down or draw key words taken from the objects
(This exercise can also be done with music and any other sensual stimuli)
Ÿ Helps look at response and imagination within the group.
DEVELOPING IDEAS
Take the ideas and observations about the object and begin to create story and characters
Use the words /drawings to help develop ideas.
Try a circle story in which we go around the individuals and get them to add the next piece of the story. Allow the group to run free no matter how much or little the story makes sense, its about being creative. You can run this exercise until everyone is happy with the results.
Example Kris: Once upon a time there were two brothers and a sister.
Gavin: They went on a bus.
Sarah: Then a witch turned them into frogs and flew away.
Jean: So they went home and had a cup of tea…………..
Ÿ Allow the story to go wherever it goes and do not set any boundaries or barriers. Allow the group the freedom bearing in mind that they may not have a great understanding of the narrative.
Take story and motivate group into smaller groups to interpret part of the story into a live still image.
Ÿ Asking the group to follow instructions and motivation to work under self control. Also looks at expression through movement
Ÿ This is the first time that we are working in small groups and allows us to see how efficient the group are at following instructions and working with more freedom. Also looks at expression through movement
Add one line of dialogue or statement to each still image
Bring group back together and show back to group
Ÿ First level of performance, Looks at confidence focus and control.
Work as one big group putting the images together
Add movement to move pieces from one to another.
Record with a storyboard using pictures and statements on paper
Ÿ Recording the work, using memory and response
Wind down and feedback and group evaluation - A brief chat with participants about what they liked / didn’t like / struggled with etc
Ÿ You may or not get to this stage, depending on time or ability, don’t panic just be aware of the time and try to get a little feedback at the end no matter where you get to. This is important for an analysis of the group and of your relationship with them, understanding their needs for planning the next workshop. It also involves the group in the workshop , enabling participation rather than a workshop that is ‘delivered’ to them.
Ÿ Make sure you keep a record of your sessions and their outcomes , this will help you plan your following sessions and also see how you can develop individuals and the group in certain areas.
WORKSHOP SAMPLES
UK Festival Workshop – Alison Walton-Robson
Outline
This workshop is designed to be run with a large group who have some experience of drama workshops but are still new to the form, are a multilingual group and with an assumption that participants may and may not have worked together before. Some familiarity but still a need to get to know each other better. The term ‘learning’ refers to the assumption that everyone in the group is learning from working together in that particular context.
Aims
To:
build skills toward performance
continue to build communication between participants
encourage small group working between internationals
push the comfort zone whilst still staying safe
build on identified strengths and knowledge
build the idea of giving and receiving info
build on paying attention to each other
listening and responding offering
practice useful skills in performance
increase cooperation with others or unfamiliar people
encourage openness and reception of the ideas of others
increase sociability within the group
find a common physicality of language
develop our own ways of communicating within the group
build confidence to initiate conversation/communication
offer or discover ‘visual tools’ or ‘physical tools’ for this to surpass language barriers
Warm Up
In a circle - the group stands in a circle; they are asked to all have a good look around and to really notice each other, to turn their heads and meet each others eye and to look at everyone in the circle. The facilitator encourages this and checks it has been understood by everyone using their own movements in an exaggerated way to ensure everyone understands the instructions. The smallest contribution is valuable - everyone will contribute in their own particular way.
Good mornings – facilitator invites a range of greetings offered by volunteers, to be heard, accepted and to be repeated by all the group together. For example;
- in all the different languages
- in gesture
- in as many other physical ways as can be invented by the group
Learning – allows the facilitator, who should take careful attention to detail, to begin to assess the group - who may need extra support to contribute, notice support needed, body language, e;g; if someone has speech problems or physical difficulty or shyness. It also allows adjustment of the session plan for later if necessary.
These Icebreaker exercises may seem very simple but can offer complex introductory interaction within the group and important of a contribution which is within our comfort zone. A hello is familiar to all of us and yet in this context becomes very different in different languages; this exercise gives us something common yet different. It is easy to do and for someone who may struggle with communication it offers a way to succeed in offering an idea. Warm up also begins thought processes, like a light bulb beginning to glow and offers gentle challenge.
Exercise 1
Follow the leader – Ask for a volunteer – this person becomes the leader. The person to their right becomes ‘the last’; the person to their left becomes the end of the line. Everyone follows the leader. As they begin to move around the room, using all of the space, this passes on down the line as the group all take their movements by copying the leader. The leader decides how we all move. The leader is changed by the facilitator when it feels right and they become ‘the last’ at the end of the line. The next person in line then becomes the leader and so on in turn until everyone has experienced having been in control.
Learning :
- Taking turns
- Observing others
- Retaining focus, paying attention and retention of info.
- Copying watching, listening and copying skills
- Offering and accepting ideas
- Teamwork
- Exploring the space
Exercise 2
Mirroring – Set up the group into 2 lines each person with a partner opposite. Notice each other, make eye contact, look into each other eyes. One partner acts out a version of their morning routine. E.g. brushing hair, cleaning teeth, getting dressed etc., This is very familiar information to participants and is easily accessed from working memory. The other partner opposite becomes the mirror and shows the reflection.
Learning :
- Taking turns
- Observing others
- Retaining focus, paying attention and retention of info.
- Copying watching, listening and copying skills
- Offering and accepting ideas
- Teamwork
- Social skills
Commentary
The above workshop is based on a session devised f or groups from Malta, Belgium and the UK some whom had met and worked together before and some not. The common language was English - though not everyone spoke it and it certainly was not the first language of participants. Participants spoke Flemmish, English, Dutch, Maltese and various different dialects within their own countries.
EFFECTS
Opening Doors - UK - The Journey
HEADWAY - SEVEN STARS - Kris, Jean, Tim, Paula, Andy and Mark
We can look at the success of the project through the thoughts of those who took part.
How did you feel when you first heard about the project?
Kris - I didn’t really want to do it, but my mum came in and put my name forward, she said it would be good for me.
Paula - excited but a bit scared, but alright as my mum was coming.
Tim - I really wanted to do it, but I was worried it would not be possible for me to go, because of practical reasons
Andy - I really looked forward to it.
Jean - I was excited but nervous at the same time. Ally said she would look after me
What did you think about the bag?
Paula - I thought the bag was colourful.
Tim - I felt it was an interesting collection of objects
Jean - I liked the rattle, because it was bright and made a nice sound
Andy - I like creating stories from the objects in the bag
Kris - I liked using the objects and putting them together and turning them into a story
What new skills did I learn in rehearsals.
Tim - We knew we were performing to people who did not speak English, so we took the language out.
Andy - Working on a show with so much movement. I was tired at first but got better
Kris - working on a show with no talking, never done that before
Tim - How to work on stage using masks
Jean - I enjoyed dancing in my coloured dress, and the beautiful music
Paula - I enjoyed playing lots of characters, rather than just one.
How did you feel about travelling to Malta?
Jean - it was scary at first, mainly the flying.
Kris - I had never flown before so I wasn’t sure but I knew I had to go for it. Once we were up there I wondered what all the fuss was about
Paula - I was really excited
Tim - I was ok, I thought well if I don’t do this, even though I had flown before it would be a wasted opportunity.
Andy - I was looking forward to flying to another country
What did you enjoy about Malta?
Andy - meeting new people and the food and drink
Jean - I loved the shopping, I like being on the wonderful stage.
Tim - I was a little worried I might have fallen off the small stage, but loved doing the show
Tim - I enjoyed the seafood pizza with the whole sea in it and the arcade we went to on the night out
Andy - I liked meeting people and the warm weather
Paula - I enjoyed making a speech to the whole group before we came home
Kris - I enjoyed eating squid, the nice weather and seeing how people live in other countries
Tim - I realised how Malta was a lot cleaner than England , no litter or graffiti.
Kris- Malta is not very wheelchair friendly.
What did you think about the groups from Malta and Belgium?
Kris - I thought they were very nice people, they were good at communicating with us and very helpful.
Andy - I think they were very friendly and made us feel very welcome. And Wim was funny.
Tim - I thought they were very friendly
Paula - I liked the people as they were very friendly and funny.
What did you enjoy about Belgium?
Andy - I was sad I was not going on this, but happy for all the others and said to say “hello”
Kris - I was excited to see my friends from Belgium and Malta again
Tim - I was excited because I had not been to Belgium before
Paula - I was excited because I had heard Belgium made really good chocolate
Mark - I liked going away with the doctor (Tim)
Paula - I liked the party after the show but was sad at the end when we had to go home.
What are you thoughts about the project ending?
Kris - I am sad because I have made so many friends and great experiences.
Andy - I will miss working with the other groups
Tim - very sad, I have enjoyed working and performing to two different cultures
Why should the partnerships continue?
Kris - to allow more countries to get involved making the project bigger.
Paula - So we can create more theatre with the groups
Tim - To build more bridges with other groups like ours, and continue seven stars domination of the world
How have you personally benefited from the project?
Kris - I am a lot more world wise and feel more confident travelling and meeting new people.
Tim - Travelling with seven stars has really helped me with my independence.
Paula - I feel more confident being away from my mum and dad
Jean - I thought it was wonderful and have never felt like it in my life
Workshop at the Beginning of the Journey
The Headway Way
This is an example of exercises that can be used in a workshop when working with a group for the first time (typically of about 2 hours duration) and the reasons for each activity, including expected learning outcomes.
It is important that you are aware of the timing of the workshop yet not to rush any of the exercises. This workshop is about you and the participants. It is necessary to allow the workshop to go in other directions than you had planned and for you to feel confident with this. The nature of the group you are working with will not necessarily allow your workshop to follow the original plan.
THIS IS ME participants say their name and something they like such as a favourite activity and add a movement to demonstrate the activity
Example - “My name is Steve, and I like painting” demonstrating movement as if using a paintbrush.
FRUIT SALAD - participants sit on chairs in a circle, the leader walks around the circle labelling everyone either apple, orange or pear. The leader then calls out the name of one fruit. Those participants with that name must swap chairs and the leader will also try to take a chair leaving a new caller. The caller may also say “Fruit Salad” in which case all must swap chairs.
PRISONER - Half participants are seated (the prisoners), half stand behind (the guards). The leader has an empty chair. The leader calls the name of someone seated (a prisoner) who must move to the leader’s chair, the guard behind must stop them by gently tapping them on the shoulder. If the prisoner escapes then the guard becomes the new caller. After sometime swap prisoners to guards and vice versa.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Ÿ An effective way for individuals to get to know each other.
Ÿ Helps workers to learn names and fast track communication, address individuals very quickly and familiarly building up a connection.
Ÿ Helps you to assess communication skills - hearing, understanding, how comfortable they feel.
Ÿ Strengths and weaknesses
Ÿ Helps look at focus and concentration levels of individuals in the group and how easy they can react
Ÿ Basic listening and reaction skills
THE PHYSICAL WARM UP
Head, Body, Arms, Legs and face - Using gentle movement to stimulate the body, preparing it for any movement or actions that take place in the workshop.
These exercises can be used from and around a chair, depending on ability
Ÿ Looking at physical abilities of individuals in the group allows you to see what level of physical activity to use in future sessions.
Ÿ Listening and understanding
VOCAL WARM UP and SINGING
Ask the group to find any vocal note in their range and hold that note for a short time
To find a vocal note and slowly build in volume
To find a vocal note and slowly lower in volume
Ÿ Looking at vocal and oral abilities of individuals in the group and the group as a whole.
Ÿ Listening and understanding
GROUP DEVELOPMENT - TRUST EXERCISES
GUIDED PAIRS - Participants get into pairs, labelling each other A or B. A then becomes the leader who will guide B around the room. B will be asked to close there eyes for this exercise, after a while swap over
THE TRAIN - Participants will form a line with someone at the front becoming “the train” They will guide everyone else around the room, all except “the train” will be asked to close their eyes.
Ÿ This allows participants to bond and develop their relationships in others in the group, looking at who in our lives we can trust is very important, also looks at focus and discipline.
BEGINNING CREATIVITY
USING STIMULUS
Take an object and pass it around the group, ask individuals to examine the object using all the appropriate senses. Then ask individuals what it makes them think about what they see, hear, feel, smell, taste.
Write down or draw key words taken from the objects
(This exercise can also be done with music and any other sensual stimuli)
Ÿ Helps look at response and imagination within the group.
DEVELOPING IDEAS
Take the ideas and observations about the object and begin to create story and characters
Use the words /drawings to help develop ideas.
Try a circle story in which we go around the individuals and get them to add the next piece of the story. Allow the group to run free no matter how much or little the story makes sense, its about being creative. You can run this exercise until everyone is happy with the results.
Example Kris: Once upon a time there were two brothers and a sister.
Gavin: They went on a bus.
Sarah: Then a witch turned them into frogs and flew away.
Jean: So they went home and had a cup of tea…………..
Ÿ Allow the story to go wherever it goes and do not set any boundaries or barriers. Allow the group the freedom bearing in mind that they may not have a great understanding of the narrative.
Take story and motivate group into smaller groups to interpret part of the story into a live still image.
Ÿ Asking the group to follow instructions and motivation to work under self control. Also looks at expression through movement
Ÿ This is the first time that we are working in small groups and allows us to see how efficient the group are at following instructions and working with more freedom. Also looks at expression through movement
Add one line of dialogue or statement to each still image
Bring group back together and show back to group
Ÿ First level of performance, Looks at confidence focus and control.
Work as one big group putting the images together
Add movement to move pieces from one to another.
Record with a storyboard using pictures and statements on paper
Ÿ Recording the work, using memory and response
Wind down and feedback and group evaluation - A brief chat with participants about what they liked / didn’t like / struggled with etc
Ÿ You may or not get to this stage, depending on time or ability, don’t panic just be aware of the time and try to get a little feedback at the end no matter where you get to. This is important for an analysis of the group and of your relationship with them, understanding their needs for planning the next workshop. It also involves the group in the workshop , enabling participation rather than a workshop that is ‘delivered’ to them.
Ÿ Make sure you keep a record of your sessions and their outcomes , this will help you plan your following sessions and also see how you can develop individuals and the group in certain areas.
WORKSHOP SAMPLES
UK Festival Workshop – Alison Walton-Robson
Outline
This workshop is designed to be run with a large group who have some experience of drama workshops but are still new to the form, are a multilingual group and with an assumption that participants may and may not have worked together before. Some familiarity but still a need to get to know each other better. The term ‘learning’ refers to the assumption that everyone in the group is learning from working together in that particular context.
Aims
To:
build skills toward performance
continue to build communication between participants
encourage small group working between internationals
push the comfort zone whilst still staying safe
build on identified strengths and knowledge
build the idea of giving and receiving info
build on paying attention to each other
listening and responding offering
practice useful skills in performance
increase cooperation with others or unfamiliar people
encourage openness and reception of the ideas of others
increase sociability within the group
find a common physicality of language
develop our own ways of communicating within the group
build confidence to initiate conversation/communication
offer or discover ‘visual tools’ or ‘physical tools’ for this to surpass language barriers
Warm Up
In a circle - the group stands in a circle; they are asked to all have a good look around and to really notice each other, to turn their heads and meet each others eye and to look at everyone in the circle. The facilitator encourages this and checks it has been understood by everyone using their own movements in an exaggerated way to ensure everyone understands the instructions. The smallest contribution is valuable - everyone will contribute in their own particular way.
Good mornings – facilitator invites a range of greetings offered by volunteers, to be heard, accepted and to be repeated by all the group together. For example;
- in all the different languages
- in gesture
- in as many other physical ways as can be invented by the group
Learning – allows the facilitator, who should take careful attention to detail, to begin to assess the group - who may need extra support to contribute, notice support needed, body language, e;g; if someone has speech problems or physical difficulty or shyness. It also allows adjustment of the session plan for later if necessary.
These Icebreaker exercises may seem very simple but can offer complex introductory interaction within the group and important of a contribution which is within our comfort zone. A hello is familiar to all of us and yet in this context becomes very different in different languages; this exercise gives us something common yet different. It is easy to do and for someone who may struggle with communication it offers a way to succeed in offering an idea. Warm up also begins thought processes, like a light bulb beginning to glow and offers gentle challenge.
Exercise 1
Follow the leader – Ask for a volunteer – this person becomes the leader. The person to their right becomes ‘the last’; the person to their left becomes the end of the line. Everyone follows the leader. As they begin to move around the room, using all of the space, this passes on down the line as the group all take their movements by copying the leader. The leader decides how we all move. The leader is changed by the facilitator when it feels right and they become ‘the last’ at the end of the line. The next person in line then becomes the leader and so on in turn until everyone has experienced having been in control.
Learning :
- Taking turns
- Observing others
- Retaining focus, paying attention and retention of info.
- Copying watching, listening and copying skills
- Offering and accepting ideas
- Teamwork
- Exploring the space
Exercise 2
Mirroring – Set up the group into 2 lines each person with a partner opposite. Notice each other, make eye contact, look into each other eyes. One partner acts out a version of their morning routine. E.g. brushing hair, cleaning teeth, getting dressed etc., This is very familiar information to participants and is easily accessed from working memory. The other partner opposite becomes the mirror and shows the reflection.
Learning :
- Taking turns
- Observing others
- Retaining focus, paying attention and retention of info.
- Copying watching, listening and copying skills
- Offering and accepting ideas
- Teamwork
- Social skills
Commentary
The above workshop is based on a session devised f or groups from Malta, Belgium and the UK some whom had met and worked together before and some not. The common language was English - though not everyone spoke it and it certainly was not the first language of participants. Participants spoke Flemmish, English, Dutch, Maltese and various different dialects within their own countries.
EFFECTS
Opening Doors - UK - The Journey
HEADWAY - SEVEN STARS - Kris, Jean, Tim, Paula, Andy and Mark
We can look at the success of the project through the thoughts of those who took part.
How did you feel when you first heard about the project?
Kris - I didn’t really want to do it, but my mum came in and put my name forward, she said it would be good for me.
Paula - excited but a bit scared, but alright as my mum was coming.
Tim - I really wanted to do it, but I was worried it would not be possible for me to go, because of practical reasons
Andy - I really looked forward to it.
Jean - I was excited but nervous at the same time. Ally said she would look after me
What did you think about the bag?
Paula - I thought the bag was colourful.
Tim - I felt it was an interesting collection of objects
Jean - I liked the rattle, because it was bright and made a nice sound
Andy - I like creating stories from the objects in the bag
Kris - I liked using the objects and putting them together and turning them into a story
What new skills did I learn in rehearsals.
Tim - We knew we were performing to people who did not speak English, so we took the language out.
Andy - Working on a show with so much movement. I was tired at first but got better
Kris - working on a show with no talking, never done that before
Tim - How to work on stage using masks
Jean - I enjoyed dancing in my coloured dress, and the beautiful music
Paula - I enjoyed playing lots of characters, rather than just one.
How did you feel about travelling to Malta?
Jean - it was scary at first, mainly the flying.
Kris - I had never flown before so I wasn’t sure but I knew I had to go for it. Once we were up there I wondered what all the fuss was about
Paula - I was really excited
Tim - I was ok, I thought well if I don’t do this, even though I had flown before it would be a wasted opportunity.
Andy - I was looking forward to flying to another country
What did you enjoy about Malta?
Andy - meeting new people and the food and drink
Jean - I loved the shopping, I like being on the wonderful stage.
Tim - I was a little worried I might have fallen off the small stage, but loved doing the show
Tim - I enjoyed the seafood pizza with the whole sea in it and the arcade we went to on the night out
Andy - I liked meeting people and the warm weather
Paula - I enjoyed making a speech to the whole group before we came home
Kris - I enjoyed eating squid, the nice weather and seeing how people live in other countries
Tim - I realised how Malta was a lot cleaner than England , no litter or graffiti.
Kris- Malta is not very wheelchair friendly.
What did you think about the groups from Malta and Belgium?
Kris - I thought they were very nice people, they were good at communicating with us and very helpful.
Andy - I think they were very friendly and made us feel very welcome. And Wim was funny.
Tim - I thought they were very friendly
Paula - I liked the people as they were very friendly and funny.
What did you enjoy about Belgium?
Andy - I was sad I was not going on this, but happy for all the others and said to say “hello”
Kris - I was excited to see my friends from Belgium and Malta again
Tim - I was excited because I had not been to Belgium before
Paula - I was excited because I had heard Belgium made really good chocolate
Mark - I liked going away with the doctor (Tim)
Paula - I liked the party after the show but was sad at the end when we had to go home.
What are you thoughts about the project ending?
Kris - I am sad because I have made so many friends and great experiences.
Andy - I will miss working with the other groups
Tim - very sad, I have enjoyed working and performing to two different cultures
Why should the partnerships continue?
Kris - to allow more countries to get involved making the project bigger.
Paula - So we can create more theatre with the groups
Tim - To build more bridges with other groups like ours, and continue seven stars domination of the world
How have you personally benefited from the project?
Kris - I am a lot more world wise and feel more confident travelling and meeting new people.
Tim - Travelling with seven stars has really helped me with my independence.
Paula - I feel more confident being away from my mum and dad
Jean - I thought it was wonderful and have never felt like it in my life
Malta
Lou Ghirlando
St. James Cavalier, Centre for Creaitivity
Beginnings
In order for Malta to participate in the Opening Doors Festivals, St. James Cavalier needed to start the process of setting up the foundations for a theatre group for actors with learning disabilities. This was a new concept for the team, developed specifically for this project. For St. James Cavalier, it was an important decision to open up the process to as many people as possible across the country without limiting to specific geographical areas or institutions. Thus the group was set up following a nation-wide invitation, and a six-sessions taster period which allowed potential participants to savour the work before committing to the length of the project.
Context
The Maltese participants who joined the group came from a range of backgrounds. Some had some previous artistic experiences, others had none. In all cases it was an important part of the process to allow all participants to find themselves involved in the project on equal footing with the possibility of asserting themselves as individuals with their own strengths. For this, coming together to an art centre that was equally new to them, allowed for the participants to develop a new context that was theirs and shared by all.
Method
The working process has grown from two initial aims: firstly, to facilitate the growth of a group of individuals with different life experiences coming together to create a common artistic process; and secondly, to initiate the development of theatre skills through exploratory and sensory work that needed to be stimulating to all the participants whose needs, disabilities and interests are diverse. For this, some basic principles have been developed that allow for this process:
Open-endedness: this means offering a task instruction that serves as a stimulus, a point of access, without imposing a reaction. For example, asking participants to create a sound in reaction to a word: the word is the common starting point to all, the participants each react to that word differently.
Laddering: a task is created with an objective for a skill that needs to be developed. The task is broken down into accessible steps so that the leap into the imagination, for example, or the emotional level, is not out of reach. For example, in a process leading towards the devising of a performance piece, once small groups have created their own narratives in response to common objects, the group could be invited to identify together as a whole group the common elements in the different narratives, then to discuss the common themes, and then to identify the common emotions.
Flexibility: this involves creating alternative access points in order to reach the objective skill. Thus for example, if the objective is to work on the different walks of characters, it might be necessary to explore different warm-ups first, such as exploring different ‘sizes’ of walks, or the different sounds that can be made through walking differently. Character walks can then be identified after having explored different ways of walking.
Session sample 1
commentary
Duration: 1.5 hours
When:2 months into the process
Welcoming: Sitting in a circle, participants start by saying ‘merhba’, which means ‘welcome’, in a soft whisper, and repeating it in increasing volume.
A circle formation is always used at the beginning of sessions to bring participants together, allowing them to focus in on the session and each other after their days of work or school outside.
Warm-up: Moving into the body
1. Participants are invited to throw an imaginary ball to each other whilst playing with its shapes and sizes.
Performing this task regularly allowed for the participants to increase their skills of playing and imagining as they began to devise little improvisations around what happened to the ball and where it might have rolled to. One participant went out of the studio and improvised a dialogue with the centre’s receptionist asking if they’d seen a large ball roll by, and where it had gone to as it was not possible for them to have missed such a large green ball.
2. The participants are paired and asked to stand back to back with a large exercise ball balanced between their backs. They then need to walk without dropping the ball.
Having worked on this for a few sessions previously, some participants have learnt how to sense each others’ back more and the necessary pressure needed to apply to the ball to prevent it from falling. For some, the process is longer and the first skill of walking backwards is achieved through following the direction of the ball as their partner guides them on.
Body: Exploring different senses.
Whilst blindfold, participants are invited to explore a number of objects provided to them in a bag. They are asked to show that they have identified the objects through performing an action that shows the object.
This was used as an exercise to facilitate the growth of an exploratory attitude that involved different senses. It also served as a way into articulation through movement and mime.
Cool down:
The participants are guided through a stretch to gentle music in the background where they are guided through an imaginative experience of growing out to a tree from a seed. They are asked to take a seed like position on the ground and through slow instruction guided through feeling the imaginary rain and wanting to reach out to it, and growing with it; then absorbing the warmth of the sun, moving to a gentle breeze, then feeling it get stronger and stronger till it calms down again.
This involved participants in an imaginative trip whilst engaging with the body. Some participants engaged solely on the physical level, whilst others indulged in the imagination. This exercise was re-explored several times and can also be used with different images to engage with different movements.
Closure: In a circle, participants shake their bodies and wave, then tighten the circle, shake their bodies again and move in tighter again to once more shake their bodies and wave. This continues until participants are tightly squeezed in a tight hub.
This exercise is always used at the end of sessions in order to bring participants together at the end of the group, allowing them to explode their energy and greet each other before leaving.
Session sample 2
Duration: 2 hours
When: 13 months into the process
Welcoming: Participants are invited to decide how they wish to creatively greet each other. With the participants standing in a circle, each takes their turn at stepping into the centre and creating their own gesture to welcome the group to the day’s session.
One participant offered a suggestion selected from a variety of such exercises developed throughout the previous months.
The movement here is towards empowerment by encouraging participants to offer and lead their own suggestions, which they often choose from exercises already performed together which they sometimes modify.
Warm-up:
Retaining the circle formation, participants are asked to sit whilst one person remains standing up. As soon as the person standing up sits, another person has to stand up. There always has to be one person standing up, but never more than one, so that if two do stand up at the same time they are both ‘out’. The winner is he who is left in the circle last.
This part of the session moves the work into the body and allows participants to increase their concentration into the session.
Participants are really encouraged to concentrate on each other’s body language in order to watch out for who is about to sit or stand and it also encourages them to work on their bodies in order to try to deceive others as to when they are planning to sit or stand. It might be useful to put a time limit for how long participants can remain standing as otherwise some in our group enjoy playing by hogging the standing space!
Participants are asked, in-turn, to run across the space and end their run with a jump, and then to run and end their run with a movement on the floor.
This work continues in bringing participants to explore their physical movement in new and unfamiliar ways as well as getting used to different spatial levels. This has also proven to be a very useful and strong energiser, if energy levels need lifting.
Body: Currently the group are working on devising a piece based on Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Selfish Giant.’ The work developed in phases by listening to the story whilst improvising the sound score with percussion instruments provided, as well as drawing the story board, as well as hot-seating participants in-character. This session involves the participants in listening to the story again and after every few lines, in small groups, each creating a tableaux of the scene narrated.
This is recent work that the group has taken up. We are working on translating the story into dramatic form, whilst allowing our own creative take on it. The development of two important dramatic skills is at the centre of this work: plot and character. This session’s work on tableaux was a chance to embody the story and to allow participants to start visualising the detail of the story as they became the elements, the flowers and animals in the garden, the protagonists (the boy and the giant) and all the other characters that are not given much importance in the story such as the other children and adults who enjoyed the giant’s garden.
Working in small groups has also been a recent development of the group. This has allowed more space to the participants to explore their own images and creative impulses.
Cool-down: In a circle, with music running in the background, participants take their turn at leading the movement of the rest of the group who copy them.
This exercise builds on two skills we have been working on recently. These are free movement in response to music, as well as copying the movement of others. Each participant has their moment to explore their movement, whilst the group move in and out of exploring their own and looking at and copying that of the others.
Closure: In a circle, participants shake their bodies and wave, then tighten the circle, shake their bodies again and move in tighter again to once more shake their bodies and wave. This continues until participants are tightly squeezed in a tight hub.
This has continued as the routine closure signalling the end of the session.
Group Process
At the beginning of the project, the ethic became defined as one where participants would not be selected for the project, but would select themselves. This was done in view of the desire to open up the project to people who perhaps might not yet have experienced drama. Thus a taster period, lasting for three months, was set up whereby participants could come freely to the sessions without committing to their duration. Thirty-two participants applied and therefore two parallel groups of 16 people were formed, each meeting once fortnightly. During this period, the group worked on a process of exposure to stimuli and stimulus-response exercises.
At the end of this period, the participants were then invited to a meeting in which it was explained to them that the taster period had come to an end, and that what would follow would be the building of the theatre group which would meet once weekly. Further to this, half the group would meet separately for another session during the week in preparation for the UK trip, after which the other half of the group would meet separately in preparation for the Belgian trip. The participants had to decide for themselves whether they wanted to continue being a part of this project now that they had a sense of what drama was about. Each was invited to sign a commitment to continue in the project until June 2009 and to travel with the group. Seventeen participants accepted to be a part of the continuation of the project.
In August of 2008, the group as it was to be established met for the first time as a whole, as during the taster period the participants had been meeting as two separate groups. Thus when the group started working in August, some members had not yet met each other. The process unfolded in a series of group building exercises through which dramatic skills began to be nurtured: rhythm, improvisation, coordination, movement and sound were the key skills explored during this stage. The work was focussed around building a theatrical representation for the September Opening Doors festival to be held in Malta, in which all Maltese participants would be involved. Three themes emerged clearly from work-shopping ‘the bag’ i.e. the bag with objects which was shared amongst the three partner countries to serve as a common starting point for artistic work: opening doors, party and garden. The performance structure was kept as a non-verbal representation to respect the international context in which it was to be presented, but also in view of the fact that the group had not yet explored vocal textures. The work concentrated on dramatic presence and entrance, with the participants choreographing a sequence of entry onto the stage, miming opening a door and expressing surprise and joy at finding a party there. The choreography unfolded into a mimed garden party, sharing of gifts and dancing. This was only the beginning of the process on dramatic line, where the narrative sequence was developed to end with a mime of an accident that happens at the party, where one guest slips and is ignored by most other guests except one who helps him up. The performance itself was a learning experience. It was not easy to predict how the participants would react to being on stage in front of an audience. It was incredible to experience the concentration of energy that their understanding of the immediacy of performance brought with it. On the day of the performance, in a technical rehearsal where the time pressures were enormous as we only had a one-hour slot to set up lights, sound, and do a run through, the participants showed their understanding and excitement through maximising the level of their energy and commitment, and supporting and encouraging each other.
Following the September festival, two parallel working processes were set up, mostly in lieu of the fact that the group needed to retain its centrally growing identity, whilst still having individual participants preparing for two different festivals: one to be held in December in Blyth, UK, and the other to be held in Leopoldsburg in April. Thus the group continued to meet as a whole on a weekly basis. It was during this time that core dramatic skills were explored with the aim of laying strong foundations for the growth of the participants as actors. The process took on a deeper level of looking at character development and plot. This journey began with experiments in hot seating and puppet work as a way in for participants to understand the concept of a character as someone who is other than self even when to be represented by self, in a fictional space and time that needs detailed visualising.
Whist this was happening, half the group started to meet for an extra weekly session in preparation for the December festival. There was only a month for this, and therefore the sessions were spent revisiting the September performance, ‘Surprise Funky Friends Disco’, to edit it as a performance for the eight people travelling to the UK. The participants expressed the wish to weave a Christmas theme into this.
January 2009 brought with it an explosion of energy and a burst of creative growth. The first reason for this was the energy with which the UK travellers came back to the sessions after their adventure in Blyth which they keenly shared with the rest of the group. Another reason was the increase in the volunteering support team that allowed for an increase of exercises that could be organised in smaller groups during sessions allowing each participant for more time and guidance in the exploration of creative work. The depth of work accessed during each session grew exponentially at this time as we began to explore the detail and interpretation of Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Selfish Giant’, which was chosen because of its resonance with many of the interests and energies of the group’s participants.
The growth of this period had a marked effect on those eight participants who were to travel to Belgium and who started meeting for their extra weekly sessions in February. They worked on association exercises with the objects of ‘the bag’ from which they then developed their own story and explored possibilities of mime to this story. In 2 months, these eight actors created a performance: this was the first decisively clear example of a performance created by the group. It brought out the actors’ potentials of narrative development, embodiment of character roles, spatial organisation, shifting energy dynamics, and the learning of their own sequence of movements that could be repeated. The excitement of this achievement could be felt by all.
The challenge now is to bring the group together to develop a coherent performance by all. The challenge of this rests in the fact that half have experienced the possibility of this, whilst the other half haven’t yet. The work on Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Selfish Giant’ will be an exploration of this.
Participants’ growth
The last month has been taken up in engaging with the participants to understand how they feel the project has impacted them and how they would like it to continue now that the project has officially ended under its guise as a Grundtvig project, and therefore needs redefining.
Whilst the group has enjoyed the travelling experience enormously, and no session begins without one participant or another first commenting that they would like to go abroad again, the participants have expressed clearly that they are aware of their growth in creative and theatrical skills. Performing remains a clear goal for many of them. One expressed that if he got to perform in Malta, then going abroad again would not be important anymore. Another said that she wants to perform for a Maltese audience now and another said that she wishes one day to be involved in a TV show. Another participant expressed that the most important skill she learnt was how to focus whilst on stage. Many have expressed their love for dancing, something which they learnt how to do for the first time during the Opening Doors sessions. Another participant expressed how significant it was for her to learn how to clap in our rhythm exercises due to the physical control needed. The creative growth is evident even in the way they involve themselves. One participant in particular has grown enormously since the beginning when he would take very long to settle into the session and would often not wish to take part in activities. Now he enters with a smile and has expressed the importance to him of his involvement in this activity. He enjoyed the painting workshop in Belgium in particular because ‘we were creative.’ Another participant said that she always knew that she had talent but could never express it; she has said that this project has given her the possibility to discover this. She often prepares dances at home and brings them to the session to be incorporated into the performances. Another participant was not sure whether to continue as a committed member of the group after the taster period. After being encouraged to give it some more time before taking a definitive decision, this participant grew in his involvement in the sessions and continues coming regularly to the sessions. His parents now say that he insists to always come and comes very much of his own will.
Thus several of the participants are very aware of their own creative growth within the project, and are asserting this within the group and in their home contexts. What is also interesting is that around the dramatic skills, and dynamics of the group, the participants are also conscious of a broader social impact the project has had for them. This is a dynamic that is very particular to theatre work, and is very much a consequence of the work on interaction that is so much a part of theatrical process. This group has felt this acutely, and perhaps is a reminder to theatre practitioners of the rich social and personal dynamic that theatre creates that can come to be taken for granted.
For many the experience of the project has been very much about coming together with friends. It represents a space for them away from their home context in which they can express themselves. This both in the context of the sessions, as well as travelling together in which social activities were a part of the programme. These are some comments the participants passed about the social experience of the trip abroad: ‘I enjoyed going out with you my friends.’’ ‘I enjoyed it in Belgium, going out with you and eating.’ ‘I enjoyed dancing at the disco in Belgium. I don’t go to the disco here.’ ‘One night I stayed up till 4am chatting with my roommate. It was the first time that I spoke with someone so close.’ And with regards to the sessions they said, ‘I remember Charles and the children who come here, both girls and boys involve me.’ Another said that before she came here she didn’t have friends: ‘At school I didn’t have friends. But here people don’t make fun of me.’ Another said that the important thing for him is that ‘we love each other and perform together.’
With regards to going abroad, some participants have expressed that this has had an impact on their desire to live independently. Whist many often complain about the difficulty of getting to sessions, one participant specifically stated that she would like to learn to come to the sessions alone. Another participant spoke extensively about how important it was for her to meet an English woman who lived independently in a flat of her own. This is what she learnt most from the trip to England: ‘It felt a little like I lived there when we were in England. I felt more independent there than here.’ Another commented that the most important thing for her was learning to pack and carry her own luggage.
The theme of food has been a constant in the sessions of the group: all the group loves to eat! We have often worked on developing improvisation skills through food themes. So it is no surprise that this also comes up as a memory of the trips abroad: ‘I enjoyed the noodles, they were spicy and different.’ Interestingly, however, is that learning experiences emerged also in regard to food: ‘I learnt to be more careful about what I eat’. ‘Mostly I enjoyed eating there. Because I ate more than I usually do, normally I don’t eat much. The food was different, and I had never tasted food like it.’
Those participants who have been present for the evaluation have all expressed their wish to commit further to the project and continue in their creative growth.
St. James Cavalier, Centre for Creaitivity
Beginnings
In order for Malta to participate in the Opening Doors Festivals, St. James Cavalier needed to start the process of setting up the foundations for a theatre group for actors with learning disabilities. This was a new concept for the team, developed specifically for this project. For St. James Cavalier, it was an important decision to open up the process to as many people as possible across the country without limiting to specific geographical areas or institutions. Thus the group was set up following a nation-wide invitation, and a six-sessions taster period which allowed potential participants to savour the work before committing to the length of the project.
Context
The Maltese participants who joined the group came from a range of backgrounds. Some had some previous artistic experiences, others had none. In all cases it was an important part of the process to allow all participants to find themselves involved in the project on equal footing with the possibility of asserting themselves as individuals with their own strengths. For this, coming together to an art centre that was equally new to them, allowed for the participants to develop a new context that was theirs and shared by all.
Method
The working process has grown from two initial aims: firstly, to facilitate the growth of a group of individuals with different life experiences coming together to create a common artistic process; and secondly, to initiate the development of theatre skills through exploratory and sensory work that needed to be stimulating to all the participants whose needs, disabilities and interests are diverse. For this, some basic principles have been developed that allow for this process:
Open-endedness: this means offering a task instruction that serves as a stimulus, a point of access, without imposing a reaction. For example, asking participants to create a sound in reaction to a word: the word is the common starting point to all, the participants each react to that word differently.
Laddering: a task is created with an objective for a skill that needs to be developed. The task is broken down into accessible steps so that the leap into the imagination, for example, or the emotional level, is not out of reach. For example, in a process leading towards the devising of a performance piece, once small groups have created their own narratives in response to common objects, the group could be invited to identify together as a whole group the common elements in the different narratives, then to discuss the common themes, and then to identify the common emotions.
Flexibility: this involves creating alternative access points in order to reach the objective skill. Thus for example, if the objective is to work on the different walks of characters, it might be necessary to explore different warm-ups first, such as exploring different ‘sizes’ of walks, or the different sounds that can be made through walking differently. Character walks can then be identified after having explored different ways of walking.
Session sample 1
commentary
Duration: 1.5 hours
When:2 months into the process
Welcoming: Sitting in a circle, participants start by saying ‘merhba’, which means ‘welcome’, in a soft whisper, and repeating it in increasing volume.
A circle formation is always used at the beginning of sessions to bring participants together, allowing them to focus in on the session and each other after their days of work or school outside.
Warm-up: Moving into the body
1. Participants are invited to throw an imaginary ball to each other whilst playing with its shapes and sizes.
Performing this task regularly allowed for the participants to increase their skills of playing and imagining as they began to devise little improvisations around what happened to the ball and where it might have rolled to. One participant went out of the studio and improvised a dialogue with the centre’s receptionist asking if they’d seen a large ball roll by, and where it had gone to as it was not possible for them to have missed such a large green ball.
2. The participants are paired and asked to stand back to back with a large exercise ball balanced between their backs. They then need to walk without dropping the ball.
Having worked on this for a few sessions previously, some participants have learnt how to sense each others’ back more and the necessary pressure needed to apply to the ball to prevent it from falling. For some, the process is longer and the first skill of walking backwards is achieved through following the direction of the ball as their partner guides them on.
Body: Exploring different senses.
Whilst blindfold, participants are invited to explore a number of objects provided to them in a bag. They are asked to show that they have identified the objects through performing an action that shows the object.
This was used as an exercise to facilitate the growth of an exploratory attitude that involved different senses. It also served as a way into articulation through movement and mime.
Cool down:
The participants are guided through a stretch to gentle music in the background where they are guided through an imaginative experience of growing out to a tree from a seed. They are asked to take a seed like position on the ground and through slow instruction guided through feeling the imaginary rain and wanting to reach out to it, and growing with it; then absorbing the warmth of the sun, moving to a gentle breeze, then feeling it get stronger and stronger till it calms down again.
This involved participants in an imaginative trip whilst engaging with the body. Some participants engaged solely on the physical level, whilst others indulged in the imagination. This exercise was re-explored several times and can also be used with different images to engage with different movements.
Closure: In a circle, participants shake their bodies and wave, then tighten the circle, shake their bodies again and move in tighter again to once more shake their bodies and wave. This continues until participants are tightly squeezed in a tight hub.
This exercise is always used at the end of sessions in order to bring participants together at the end of the group, allowing them to explode their energy and greet each other before leaving.
Session sample 2
Duration: 2 hours
When: 13 months into the process
Welcoming: Participants are invited to decide how they wish to creatively greet each other. With the participants standing in a circle, each takes their turn at stepping into the centre and creating their own gesture to welcome the group to the day’s session.
One participant offered a suggestion selected from a variety of such exercises developed throughout the previous months.
The movement here is towards empowerment by encouraging participants to offer and lead their own suggestions, which they often choose from exercises already performed together which they sometimes modify.
Warm-up:
Retaining the circle formation, participants are asked to sit whilst one person remains standing up. As soon as the person standing up sits, another person has to stand up. There always has to be one person standing up, but never more than one, so that if two do stand up at the same time they are both ‘out’. The winner is he who is left in the circle last.
This part of the session moves the work into the body and allows participants to increase their concentration into the session.
Participants are really encouraged to concentrate on each other’s body language in order to watch out for who is about to sit or stand and it also encourages them to work on their bodies in order to try to deceive others as to when they are planning to sit or stand. It might be useful to put a time limit for how long participants can remain standing as otherwise some in our group enjoy playing by hogging the standing space!
Participants are asked, in-turn, to run across the space and end their run with a jump, and then to run and end their run with a movement on the floor.
This work continues in bringing participants to explore their physical movement in new and unfamiliar ways as well as getting used to different spatial levels. This has also proven to be a very useful and strong energiser, if energy levels need lifting.
Body: Currently the group are working on devising a piece based on Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Selfish Giant.’ The work developed in phases by listening to the story whilst improvising the sound score with percussion instruments provided, as well as drawing the story board, as well as hot-seating participants in-character. This session involves the participants in listening to the story again and after every few lines, in small groups, each creating a tableaux of the scene narrated.
This is recent work that the group has taken up. We are working on translating the story into dramatic form, whilst allowing our own creative take on it. The development of two important dramatic skills is at the centre of this work: plot and character. This session’s work on tableaux was a chance to embody the story and to allow participants to start visualising the detail of the story as they became the elements, the flowers and animals in the garden, the protagonists (the boy and the giant) and all the other characters that are not given much importance in the story such as the other children and adults who enjoyed the giant’s garden.
Working in small groups has also been a recent development of the group. This has allowed more space to the participants to explore their own images and creative impulses.
Cool-down: In a circle, with music running in the background, participants take their turn at leading the movement of the rest of the group who copy them.
This exercise builds on two skills we have been working on recently. These are free movement in response to music, as well as copying the movement of others. Each participant has their moment to explore their movement, whilst the group move in and out of exploring their own and looking at and copying that of the others.
Closure: In a circle, participants shake their bodies and wave, then tighten the circle, shake their bodies again and move in tighter again to once more shake their bodies and wave. This continues until participants are tightly squeezed in a tight hub.
This has continued as the routine closure signalling the end of the session.
Group Process
At the beginning of the project, the ethic became defined as one where participants would not be selected for the project, but would select themselves. This was done in view of the desire to open up the project to people who perhaps might not yet have experienced drama. Thus a taster period, lasting for three months, was set up whereby participants could come freely to the sessions without committing to their duration. Thirty-two participants applied and therefore two parallel groups of 16 people were formed, each meeting once fortnightly. During this period, the group worked on a process of exposure to stimuli and stimulus-response exercises.
At the end of this period, the participants were then invited to a meeting in which it was explained to them that the taster period had come to an end, and that what would follow would be the building of the theatre group which would meet once weekly. Further to this, half the group would meet separately for another session during the week in preparation for the UK trip, after which the other half of the group would meet separately in preparation for the Belgian trip. The participants had to decide for themselves whether they wanted to continue being a part of this project now that they had a sense of what drama was about. Each was invited to sign a commitment to continue in the project until June 2009 and to travel with the group. Seventeen participants accepted to be a part of the continuation of the project.
In August of 2008, the group as it was to be established met for the first time as a whole, as during the taster period the participants had been meeting as two separate groups. Thus when the group started working in August, some members had not yet met each other. The process unfolded in a series of group building exercises through which dramatic skills began to be nurtured: rhythm, improvisation, coordination, movement and sound were the key skills explored during this stage. The work was focussed around building a theatrical representation for the September Opening Doors festival to be held in Malta, in which all Maltese participants would be involved. Three themes emerged clearly from work-shopping ‘the bag’ i.e. the bag with objects which was shared amongst the three partner countries to serve as a common starting point for artistic work: opening doors, party and garden. The performance structure was kept as a non-verbal representation to respect the international context in which it was to be presented, but also in view of the fact that the group had not yet explored vocal textures. The work concentrated on dramatic presence and entrance, with the participants choreographing a sequence of entry onto the stage, miming opening a door and expressing surprise and joy at finding a party there. The choreography unfolded into a mimed garden party, sharing of gifts and dancing. This was only the beginning of the process on dramatic line, where the narrative sequence was developed to end with a mime of an accident that happens at the party, where one guest slips and is ignored by most other guests except one who helps him up. The performance itself was a learning experience. It was not easy to predict how the participants would react to being on stage in front of an audience. It was incredible to experience the concentration of energy that their understanding of the immediacy of performance brought with it. On the day of the performance, in a technical rehearsal where the time pressures were enormous as we only had a one-hour slot to set up lights, sound, and do a run through, the participants showed their understanding and excitement through maximising the level of their energy and commitment, and supporting and encouraging each other.
Following the September festival, two parallel working processes were set up, mostly in lieu of the fact that the group needed to retain its centrally growing identity, whilst still having individual participants preparing for two different festivals: one to be held in December in Blyth, UK, and the other to be held in Leopoldsburg in April. Thus the group continued to meet as a whole on a weekly basis. It was during this time that core dramatic skills were explored with the aim of laying strong foundations for the growth of the participants as actors. The process took on a deeper level of looking at character development and plot. This journey began with experiments in hot seating and puppet work as a way in for participants to understand the concept of a character as someone who is other than self even when to be represented by self, in a fictional space and time that needs detailed visualising.
Whist this was happening, half the group started to meet for an extra weekly session in preparation for the December festival. There was only a month for this, and therefore the sessions were spent revisiting the September performance, ‘Surprise Funky Friends Disco’, to edit it as a performance for the eight people travelling to the UK. The participants expressed the wish to weave a Christmas theme into this.
January 2009 brought with it an explosion of energy and a burst of creative growth. The first reason for this was the energy with which the UK travellers came back to the sessions after their adventure in Blyth which they keenly shared with the rest of the group. Another reason was the increase in the volunteering support team that allowed for an increase of exercises that could be organised in smaller groups during sessions allowing each participant for more time and guidance in the exploration of creative work. The depth of work accessed during each session grew exponentially at this time as we began to explore the detail and interpretation of Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Selfish Giant’, which was chosen because of its resonance with many of the interests and energies of the group’s participants.
The growth of this period had a marked effect on those eight participants who were to travel to Belgium and who started meeting for their extra weekly sessions in February. They worked on association exercises with the objects of ‘the bag’ from which they then developed their own story and explored possibilities of mime to this story. In 2 months, these eight actors created a performance: this was the first decisively clear example of a performance created by the group. It brought out the actors’ potentials of narrative development, embodiment of character roles, spatial organisation, shifting energy dynamics, and the learning of their own sequence of movements that could be repeated. The excitement of this achievement could be felt by all.
The challenge now is to bring the group together to develop a coherent performance by all. The challenge of this rests in the fact that half have experienced the possibility of this, whilst the other half haven’t yet. The work on Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Selfish Giant’ will be an exploration of this.
Participants’ growth
The last month has been taken up in engaging with the participants to understand how they feel the project has impacted them and how they would like it to continue now that the project has officially ended under its guise as a Grundtvig project, and therefore needs redefining.
Whilst the group has enjoyed the travelling experience enormously, and no session begins without one participant or another first commenting that they would like to go abroad again, the participants have expressed clearly that they are aware of their growth in creative and theatrical skills. Performing remains a clear goal for many of them. One expressed that if he got to perform in Malta, then going abroad again would not be important anymore. Another said that she wants to perform for a Maltese audience now and another said that she wishes one day to be involved in a TV show. Another participant expressed that the most important skill she learnt was how to focus whilst on stage. Many have expressed their love for dancing, something which they learnt how to do for the first time during the Opening Doors sessions. Another participant expressed how significant it was for her to learn how to clap in our rhythm exercises due to the physical control needed. The creative growth is evident even in the way they involve themselves. One participant in particular has grown enormously since the beginning when he would take very long to settle into the session and would often not wish to take part in activities. Now he enters with a smile and has expressed the importance to him of his involvement in this activity. He enjoyed the painting workshop in Belgium in particular because ‘we were creative.’ Another participant said that she always knew that she had talent but could never express it; she has said that this project has given her the possibility to discover this. She often prepares dances at home and brings them to the session to be incorporated into the performances. Another participant was not sure whether to continue as a committed member of the group after the taster period. After being encouraged to give it some more time before taking a definitive decision, this participant grew in his involvement in the sessions and continues coming regularly to the sessions. His parents now say that he insists to always come and comes very much of his own will.
Thus several of the participants are very aware of their own creative growth within the project, and are asserting this within the group and in their home contexts. What is also interesting is that around the dramatic skills, and dynamics of the group, the participants are also conscious of a broader social impact the project has had for them. This is a dynamic that is very particular to theatre work, and is very much a consequence of the work on interaction that is so much a part of theatrical process. This group has felt this acutely, and perhaps is a reminder to theatre practitioners of the rich social and personal dynamic that theatre creates that can come to be taken for granted.
For many the experience of the project has been very much about coming together with friends. It represents a space for them away from their home context in which they can express themselves. This both in the context of the sessions, as well as travelling together in which social activities were a part of the programme. These are some comments the participants passed about the social experience of the trip abroad: ‘I enjoyed going out with you my friends.’’ ‘I enjoyed it in Belgium, going out with you and eating.’ ‘I enjoyed dancing at the disco in Belgium. I don’t go to the disco here.’ ‘One night I stayed up till 4am chatting with my roommate. It was the first time that I spoke with someone so close.’ And with regards to the sessions they said, ‘I remember Charles and the children who come here, both girls and boys involve me.’ Another said that before she came here she didn’t have friends: ‘At school I didn’t have friends. But here people don’t make fun of me.’ Another said that the important thing for him is that ‘we love each other and perform together.’
With regards to going abroad, some participants have expressed that this has had an impact on their desire to live independently. Whist many often complain about the difficulty of getting to sessions, one participant specifically stated that she would like to learn to come to the sessions alone. Another participant spoke extensively about how important it was for her to meet an English woman who lived independently in a flat of her own. This is what she learnt most from the trip to England: ‘It felt a little like I lived there when we were in England. I felt more independent there than here.’ Another commented that the most important thing for her was learning to pack and carry her own luggage.
The theme of food has been a constant in the sessions of the group: all the group loves to eat! We have often worked on developing improvisation skills through food themes. So it is no surprise that this also comes up as a memory of the trips abroad: ‘I enjoyed the noodles, they were spicy and different.’ Interestingly, however, is that learning experiences emerged also in regard to food: ‘I learnt to be more careful about what I eat’. ‘Mostly I enjoyed eating there. Because I ate more than I usually do, normally I don’t eat much. The food was different, and I had never tasted food like it.’
Those participants who have been present for the evaluation have all expressed their wish to commit further to the project and continue in their creative growth.
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