Theatre Games

Games are very useful in a theatre classroom; and not just acting or warm-up games – all kinds of games can be played to increase performance or creative skills. Most theatre games, and the recreational games that are best in class have no winners or losers. The participants work individually or with others to achieve the goal of the game, and if the goal is not achieved at the first try, the participants have still learned something from the experience.

ALI BABA

Game Type: Concentration

Age Range: 7–12

Number of Participants: 8–20

Materials: None

Explanation: Ali Baba is sort of a physical version of a song in the round. One person starts with a motion, and the next person comes in one line later with the first motion, while the first person is doing the next motion. The game stops when the first motion has successfully made it around the circle to the first person.

How to Play: All participants sit in a circle. The leader begins, saying "Ali Baba and the forty thieves" while doing a repeatable motion (clapping, snapping) with her hands. As soon as the phrase, "Ali Baba and the forty thieves" is finished, the second person (person to the right of the leader) picks up the leader’s first motion, saying the "Ali Baba" phrase. The leader is now saying "Ali Baba…" for the second time, with a new hand motion, so the second person must still keep an eye on the leader – he will have to duplicate every new motion as the leader finishes. The motions travel around the circle in this fashion, with the leader coming up with a new motion every time she says "Ali Baba…", until the first motion reaches the leader. That is, the leader sees the person to her left making the first motion that she made, and so stops her action. Then the non-action follows through the circle until the last person has repeated the last motion.

Notes: It is easier at first for the participants to keep their eyes on the person to their left, so that they can see each new motion clearly. As they get better at switching the motions as necessary, the participants can try following the motions without looking directly at the person to their left.

REMEMBER THE OBJECT

Game Type: Skill Development

Age Range: 7+

Number of Participants: 2–20

Materials: A melange of 20 to 50 objects, pens/pencils and paper

Explanation: Participants try to remember things they can no longer see.

How to Play: Before playing, the leader places the group of objects on a table and covers it with a cloth or places it in a separate room, so that no one can see it ahead of time. The leader explains that the participants have one minute to look at the objects on the table, and then they will be asked to write down as many objects as they can remember. The participants are not allowed to touch any of the objects, and they cannot talk aloud during the minute of looking. The leader has the participants stand around the table, and pulls the cover off, saying "Go." After timing a minute, the leader covers the table, and asks the participants to write down as many objects as they can remember. The leader gives the participants two minutes to do this, and at the end of this time, the leader lists all of the objects on the table.

Notes: This game helps participants focus on their sense of sight – it can be repeated so that they can try different methods of remembering all of the objects.

PARK BENCH

Game Type: Improvisation

Age Range: 10+

Number of Participants: 2

Materials: A Bench

Explanation: In this game, one person decides the character for both participants. The other participant has to react to this while trying to determine their character.

How to Play: One participant sits on a bench. The setting is a park, and the person on the bench has no character until the second participant enters. The second participant has decided who she is, and who the person sitting on the park bench is. For example, the person entering could decide, "The person on the bench is a famous author, and I am a great fan of their work." In this situation, the actor would recognize the person on the bench, react to seeing their favorite author in person, ask for an autograph, and tell the author about which books she likes best. The actor on the bench has to adapt to the situation, developing their character bit by bit. The improvisation ends when one actor exits, after everyone finds out who they are.

Notes: With younger or less experienced actors, the leader may want to supply the person entering with characters.

EMOTION PARTY

Game Type: Improvisation

Age Range: 10+

Number of Participants: 5–15

Materials: None

Explanation: The host of a party and the guests acquire the emotional state of the person entering the party.

How to Play: One person begins, as the host, with a neutral emotion. The first guest knocks or rings the bell (saying "knock-knock" or "ding-dong"), and enters in highly charged emotional state. Emotions that work well with this exercise include, excitement, fear, anger, jealousy, joy, sadness, etc. As soon as the host picks up on the emotion, she "catches" it, and interacts with the guest. The next guest enters with a different emotion, and the host and guest "catch" it. Things get more chaotic as more guests enter, as each new guest brings in a different emotion. As the first guest has entered, the participants can interact with different people until they notice a change in the emotion, and then they must adapt that emotion. To make things really tricky, two guests could enter at the same time with different emotions.

Notes: If this has not been discussed before, it might be a good time to discuss with the participants how to express negative emotions such as anger without hitting any other participants – what verbal and physical things show anger (in performance) without hurting anyone in reality.

MIME IT DOWN THE ALLEY

Game Type: Skills Development

Age Range: 10+

Number of Participants: 8–10/line

Materials: None

Explanation: A pantomimed version of "Whisper down the alley". Participants try to communicate an object or idea to each other so that the last person has the same "message" as the first.

How to Play: Participants are divided into groups of eight to ten people. Each group sits in a straight line, facing backward except for the first person. Participants are not allowed to talk during the game. The first person in each line is given an object to mime (i.e., a toaster, a computer, a jack-in-the-box) – the only requirement is that it can be shown in pantomime in a seated position. The first person taps the second person in line on the shoulder so that they turn to face each other. The first person mimes the object, and when the second person thinks he knows what the object is, he nods. Then the object is mimed to the next person, traveling down the line to the last person. The pantomime of the object should be clear enough each time that it stays the same object all the way down the line. Usually, the object changes into something quite different – the interesting thing is to see how it changed along the line. Each person should tell the others what they thought the object was, and discuss what they saw the others demonstrating.

Notes: There are many variations that can be played with this game, by changing the object to a movie or book title, or some subjects from your school curriculum.

PICTURE GAME

Game Type: Improvisation

Age Range: 9+

Number of Participants: 2–20

Materials: Pictures of people, as many as participants

Explanation: Participants will use pictures for creating characters, and interact with others as their characters. They will try to determine which picture the other participants used for their inspiration after interacting with them.

How to Play: Participants spread themselves out in the room, so that each person has enough space to think without distractions. The leader passes out a picture to each participant, explaining, "DO NOT let anyone else, even me, see your picture. You have three minutes to look at the person in your picture and become that person. Decide what kind of personality he or she has, how old the person is, what kind of life they lead, etc. Use the picture to help you decide – are there details about the person's clothes, their surroundings, their face which give you ideas? Try to create a "story" for this person, as well as a voice, manners. All of your characters will attend a party at the end of the three minutes." The participants should not talk to one another before the three minutes are up. At the end of the three minutes, the participants hand in their pictures. As soon as they hand in the picture, they transform into their character. The leader should explain that they need to talk to the other characters, as if they are at a party. The participants should attempt to talk to everyone else, and try to remember things about the other characters. The party lasts five to ten minutes, depending on the number of participants. At the end of this time, the leader asks everyone to discard their characters and become themselves. The leader then shows the participants the pictures that were used, and asks the group to identify whose character matches with the picture.

Notes: The pictures can be cut out of magazines, and then pasted onto a posterboard for stability. Try to get people of all ages, races, levels of attractiveness, without any famous faces. The more interesting the setting and the appearance of the person, the more there is for the participants to imagine. (www.creativedrama.com/theatre.htm)