This drama game is for slightly older participants!

Zombie Name Game (12+)

The group stand in a circle.  Nominate one person to become the Zombie. Encourage them to “release their inner Zombie” using sound and facial expressions. The Zombie begins walking slowly but directly towards another person in the circle, with their hands out in front of them like a zombie.  If they touch the person, the victim is “out” and must leave the circle.

The only way the intended victim can stop the Zombie is to call out the name of another person in the circle before any contact is made.  Once a name is called out, that person instantly becomes the Zombie and begins advancing on a victim.  Again, the only way the victim can save himself is by calling out a name.

Continue to play until all but two people have been eliminated.  It gets harder and harder, because as more and more people are “out” the amount of names to call out grows smaller.  You can’t say the name of a person who is out–it must be someone who is still in the circle.  This games naturally gets faster as it goes along, but don’t allow it to get too quick!

 For more drama games go to our Drama Games and Resources page.

We are always being asked by teachers how they can work more creatively with pupils so here is a fine example:

 Teacher in Role

Teacher in role is a great dramatic technique to use. It basically means the teacher adopts a suitable role and directs the drama from within. By doing this the teacher is more able advance the development of the lesson by creating interest, provoking tension, offering choices, and initiating possibilities for the group to interact in role.

  Working in role has a number of benefits:

• Information can be given in a fun and interesting way
• It allows pupils to work creatively and use their imaginations
• The drama gives any instructions or activities an added impetus.
• Pupils can be empowered, particularly if the character they meet needs help

You don’t have to be a great actor to do it. Children have great imaginations and you can make the role very simple; all you are doing is communicating the key emotions or beliefs of the character.   You can use simple props, a piece of costume such as a scarf or even just use sitting on a chair to show when you are in or out of role.

Make sure you research or have created your character thoroughly and have some idea of what you are going to say, but also be open to responding to comments and questions from the children. Hot seating is a good way of getting started and becoming more confident about using the technique. Allow the students to question you in role.  Once you feel more confident you can place the children in role as well.

There are numerous ways teacher in role can be utilised, here are some examples:

• Take on the role of a newspaper editor at some significant event in history. You want the pupils to help you choose the most memorable moment from the event so you can write an exciting article. Challenging pupils to remember the most dangerous, thrilling and scary moments for your readers. Get help to set the tone of the article and create the right level of excitement for your readers then ask the pupils to write the article or draw a picture for the front page.

• Take on the role of a refugee. You do not speak very good English and you want to contact your family in a different land. Encourage the pupils to try out different ways of communicating with you such as hand signals, drawings or acting things out. Once they can communicate with you, see if they can work out exactly where you have come from and encourage them to explore different ways that they could help your character contact their family.  You could also explore why your character has come to this country and why they had to leave their family behind.

• Take on the role of a Jeremy Kyle chat show host. Encourage a pupil to play the role of a young person suffering from peer pressure. Their friends have all started smoking/drinking/skipping school and they feel pressured to do it too, although they don’t want to. Get one of the pupils to play the friend who is encouraging them, and another to play a friend who is discouraging them. Allow the rest of the pupils to become the audience who gives advice to the characters.

 Look out for more drama games and dramatic techniques next week and as always if you would like us to come to your school to perform a play in a day, drama workshop or assembly do get in touch using the enquiry form to the right.

As promised here is our drama game of the week.

Juggle My Name

1^st round

Stand in a circle, pick someone out & ask their name, then say “Hi Helen, my name is James…here you go!” Throw the ball underhand to Helen. Helen then says “Thank you James”, she picks someone else and says “Hi X, my name is Helen…here you go!” and so on until everyone in the circle has had a go.

2nd round

Throw the ball around the circle again, making sure that everyone uses the same order, and uses each other’s names.  The group will be challenged to remember who to throw it to. Take it slow and help the group out, so that each person has a successful second round.

3rd round

Do it again, using the same order and everyone’s names, but see if you can do it faster. It will go pretty fast and the group will be left feeling pleased with themselves.

4th round

Do it again, urging the group to go faster with an enthusiastic tone, once the ball has gone around a few group members, take a second ball out of your pocket and throw it to the first participant (Freddy!) saying his name just like before. By now the group should feel comfortable with keeping the second ball going. Dependent on the age and ability of the group you can introduce a third and a fourth ball, you can go up to about six balls. For fun you can introduce a ridiculous number of balls, and strange objects such as cuddly toys, beanbags in strange shapes, anything soft!  It generally becomes a hilarious shambles, which can help the group to bond even more.

For more drama games go to our Drama Games and Resources page.

We are always being asked for suitable drama games to use with groups, so thought we would give you a new drama game or games each week to use with your class or group. Here are a couple of simple name games to use with children and adults. These can be used for a facilitator to learn the group’s names before starting a workshop, or for a group who are unfamiliar with each other.

Catch My Name
This is a fun and easy way to learn names and develop a sense of working together. Stand in a circle, throw a ball or a beanbag to someone, using their name, and they in turn toss it to someone else, using the next person’s name. Keep it going until everyone in the circle has had a turn. Once you have done this you can move on to a more complicated game.

Party Name Game

The group sits or stands in a circle. The facilitator tells the group they are having a party and that everyone has to bring something for the party that begins with the same first letter as their name. E.g. My name is Alison, and I am bringing an Antelope.” The person to the facilitators right says his name and item and we go round the circle until we have heard from everyone.

To make it more difficult go round again, but this time the first person says their own name and what they are bringing to the party and also repeats the facilitators name and item: “My name is Helen, I am going to bring Hamburgers. This is Alison, who is bringing Antelopes.” Each person in turn introduces himself, announces their item, and repeats the name and item of everyone who preceded them. This means the last person has to remember everyone in the group! The facilitator needs to encourage others to help out when participants get stuck on someone’s name or item, with verbal or pantomimed clues.

For more drama games and resources please go to our Drama Games and Resources.

Welcome back to the summer term, it’s all go go go here and we are really looking forward to this term being a great one as much as we are looking forward to the sun coming out!

We thought you might like to see some of the feedback we received last term from various workshops and projects happening up and down the country.

Bring Your Story to Life – Hansel and Gretel Literacy workshop

“The children loved it and the follow up writing (retelling of the story) was enhanced by the oral work in the workshop”

KS1 leader and assistant Headteacher, Longley Primary School, Sheffield.

Play in a Day – Romeo and Juliet

“Every child regardless of SEN and all idiosyncrasies accessed the play. AMAZING! I loved the approach that every child could make a contribution (and) was encouraged to focus for the whole group. It was one of those memorable days that the children will always remember.”

Year 5 teacher, Pipworth Community School, Sheffield.

Play in a Day – Ancient Egypt

“The children loved it. They have talked about it all day today and have taken a lot from the experience, both in terms of their topic learning but also in terms of their self-confidence. They enjoyed the opportunity to perform to their parents.”

KS2 Leader, Parkhead Community Primary, Tyne and Weir.

Play in a Day – Macbeth

“John (the drama practitioner) was fantastic. He was open to suggestions but had a firm understanding of the dramatic process. He brought all children out of their shells and produced a wonderful end performance which has been commented on by fellow teachers and parents.”

Yr 6 teacher, St Margaret’s Lee C of E School, Lewisham

Myth and Legends Drama Day

“This is a superb method for the children to learn about the topic. They are learning through doing. The facilitator was a legend. He praised (the children) throughout and was constructive in informing them of how to improve their learning/performing. From observing the children at the end of the day, it was clear that they had learned the myth. They had also used some drama techniques and had had fun in the process. I would happily book this again. Superb.”

Yr 5 teacher, Parlaunt Primary School, Slough.

We’d like to say thanks to all the pupils and teachers who make our job so enjoyable and an especially big thank you to all our talented drama practitioners who work tirelessly to deliver our drama workshops and play in a day with such care.

 This term we will be looking at lots of Olympics drama workshops and Olympics Play in a Day and travelling round with our Road Safety Workshops amongst other things. Look out for us coming to a town near you soon! Beep beep!

With this is mind, shipmates, we are now offering schools our new pirate drama workshop.   Our Pirate Captain’s last crew was eaten by a large sea monster – arrrr! So we be recruiting a new crew for our ship, mateys. Is your class bold enough to become our new crew and seek the pirate treasure? This drama workshop is suitable for sea dogs in Years 1, 2 and 3 – for more details click here.

But we haven’t left Years 4, 5 and 6 cast adrift – for these classes we have our great Treasure Island Play in a Day (Pieces of eight, pieces of eight!), a tale of pirates, adventure and treasure on the high seas.

If you would like to work with your class developing their pirate characters, here are some great pirate things for you land lubbers to enjoy.

Pirate Name Generator

Each sailor has to think of a 2 numbers between 1 – 10, so say 2 and 7. The third word of their pirate name is always there first or second name. For example 3 and 5 from a scurvy dog called Jack would result in the name Long Beard Jack. Add in your own words to make it fun!

As part of International Women’s Week, our fantastic facilitator Kate has been working with the Women Care Group, a group of refugee and asylum seeker women based at the Pakistani Community Association in Longsight. Funded by the South Manchester Law Centre the drama project was a 5 week process, with a view to building towards a performance on Monday 5^th March.

Although focused towards making a performance in a very short space of time with participants from diverse cultures that have little or no knowledge of what constitutes a drama performance in this country, the result was truly heartening.

Here’s what Kate had to say about the project:

“These women are an inspiration! Despite their harrowing back stories and the issues they now face in this country the women in this group are warm and welcoming and most importantly act as an essential support for each other.

“No matter who you are, no matter where you come from you are welcome here. Here we are all women together.” -Group Member

If only all members of our communities took this view point. The group is a stabiliser for some members who have nothing- no structure, no home, NO STATUS. These women want to contribute to British society and their communities but fight a battle to do so. I discovered the women in this group are lawyers, knitters, singers, carers, multi linguists, skilled people that want to share these skills. Although I was a stranger coming into the group the at the first meeting I was hurried to a table, offered food and found myself laughing, chatting and sharing immediately. All women really are welcome here.

The group told me that they wanted people to have some understanding of the journey that asylum seekers face and so we devised a performance around this idea. The project was relatively short, however, seeing the confidence of the group rocket makes it clear that these women simply need an opportunity and a reason to gain confidence, something that one member identified as having had before but lost. Some women shared their own personal stories, or shared stories of their friends and family; we identified the similarities and differences between us and used these conversations as a foundation to create.

The whole group contributed to the performance in different ways and the group built in strength through this communal task. Despite language or cultural barriers the women worked side by side towards the group goal of showcasing their skills to the female community for International Women’s Week. We embraced the rich cultural diversity of the group and created a diverse performance which included language, gestures, dance and music from all countries. The day was a celebration!

I will take away with me the knowledge that women who are truly together in this way are a powerful force; they are powerful through inclusion, warmth and integrity.” - Kate

The performance on Monday and the event as a whole encompassing drama, dance, singing and music and lots of laughter despite the serious message showed the journey and the  true nature of these inspirational women  and we here at Act On Info  are very proud to have in some small way given them a voice. We are look forward to continuing our drama work with refugee and asylum seeking people.

On your marks!

Happy new half term everyone! Phew, we feel all out of breath and are trying to catch ourselves up whilst working on our excellent Olympic Play in a Day for next term. We have two plays which are being booked up a treat up and down the country:

Play 1 – The Olympics – On your marks, get set, go! Travel back in time with us to Mount Olympus, find out how and why it all began,  and then sprint off the blocks to find out how this  developed into the games we have today. Meet some extraordinary characters, from Greek Gods to amazing athletes. Everyone who takes part in this play is a winner!

Play 2 – Olympic Values – The Olympic values that top class athletes believe in are friendship, respect, and excellence. In this Play in a Day we explore what these values mean to the children and what they mean to the athletes competing in the Olympics.

If you would like to explore the Olympics in more detail with your KS2 class do get in touch now!

We are also having a great time in Manchester with our fantastic facilitator Kate working on a community drama project with a women’s group of refugee and asylum seekers who are producing what is shaping up to be a fantastic performance to be shown on the 5^th March as part of International Women’s week. We can’t wait to see it!

From Play in a Day to Shakespeare, Respect to Rainforests, Fairytales to Fables we love the way this half term is going already and it’s only just started!

We always love working on Shakespeare with young people and have been delivering drama workshops and Play in a Day to get children excited about his plays across the country.

With this in mind we are really looking forward to the World Shakespeare Festival (WSF) which starts on 23^rd April and runs to November 2012. It will be a celebration of Shakespeare, produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company, in collaboration with leading UK and international arts organisations.

Artists from around the world will take part in 70 productions, as well as events and exhibitions, right across the UK. This festival forms part of London 2012 Festival, which is the culmination of the Cultural Olympiad.

 We have used the Whoosh technique in schools in our Shakespeare drama workshops; it works really well and can be utilized easily by teachers. This technique was devised by Dr Joe Winston of The University of Warwick and is used regularly by the Royal Shakespeare Company.

 Whoosh!

Get the group into a circle, either standing or sitting. Tell the group that everyone will have a chance to participate in the telling of a story, Shakespeare or otherwise, by becoming a character or an object in the tale. The rule is that when you say “Whoosh!” they must immediately return to their place in the circle. Start the story and when a key character, event or object is mentioned, indicate to a pupil to step into the circle to make a shape or strike a pose. If more than one character is introduced, indicate they can all enter the circle at the same time.

As the story progresses and more characters or objects are introduced, make sure you move around the circle so that all the pupils are given a chance to take part. If it’s appropriate the whole group can take part at once. Continue telling the story with more pupils stepping in as required – in the first instance they are just striking poses to build up a tableau or frozen picture.

Once the pupils have made a still image, and are feeling more confident, then they can start to add movement to the story. You can build this up to them interacting with one another, and adding improvised dialogue or lines from the play. If you feel the group is able, you can add props for pupils to improvise with.

At any time if the activity inside the circle becomes too unfocused or too boisterous simply say “Whoosh!” and everyone returns to their original place in the circle. The story continues to be told to the end. “Whoosh!” is a very useful tool and can be used as many times as you feel is necessary.

Do get in touch if you would like us to deliver a Shakespeare drama workshop or Play in a Day in your school.

Well, we are back in school with a vengeance, covering everything from Fairytales to Volcanoes, with Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greeks thrown in there for good measure.

The Ancient Greeks brought us a lot of things including drama for which we are very thankful, but they also brought us the Olympics, which in case you haven’t noticed is happening this summer in our capital city of London!

We know a lot of schools are studying topics on the Olympics next term and with this is mind we have some exciting Play in a Day around this theme.

The Ancient Greeks – Athena and Ares are fighting again, and Poseidon is raising a storm. Our Olympic athletes compete and Athens and Sparta fight to reign supreme. Watch out for thunderbolts!

The Olympics – where did it all begin? Travel back in time with us to Mount Olympus, find out how and why it all began,  what games were involved and how did it develop into the games we have today.

Olympic Values – The values that top class athletes believe in are friendship, respect, and excellence. In this Play in a Day we explore what these values mean to the children and what they mean to the athletes competing in the Olympics.

We are currently taking bookings for our Olympic Plays for next term, so get in touch now. For more details go to our Play in a Day page.

Don’t forget we also have a number of other Play in a Day for KS2 and for KS3 covering all aspects of the national curriculum.