Devising Drama 12 steps

Subject->Crime


1. Opening games: Pairs. Old Passenger asks another disabled one to give up their seat. Teacher and pupil. Forgotten homework. All using vowels only.
2. In fours: Police question two suspects about a crime. Status. Brief: Police do not believe the peoples’ evidence.
3. Show Spear: Who was there and when in fours ( set up already) WASP Writer, Artist, Storyteller, Poet)?
4. Introducing a drama for first time : Intro the silent child drama : Dr Ryan intro their role and teacher in role. What, where, who, when.
5. Groups of four asked to respond with question which is charted on board. Form these questions roles and respondents shoudl emerge.
6. Who would have a question to ask here? Of whom would it be asked?
Purpose -> to find : The ABC: A BIG problem we all CARE about.
7. Students draw a body on chart : make decision about state of person.Unconscious, dead, sleeping, missing? ( Could it be faory tale?)
8. Then decide the who, where, what and when.
9. Then add a found object which complicates the crime . Letter, spear, money, bag etc.
10. Then students practise going into role as teacher in role , bringing pupils into role, setting the who where what and when . Then the questions that children might have to ask of these people. Then set up role plays.
11. Later deal with the effects of the crime on the people we know already. If a missing or unconscious or disabled one, how is life for the people affected now. In one year’s time.
12. Show photo of Christmas one year later for each protagonist

From KDS to drama

Task 1
PVC
Physical: Group walking backwards
Verbal: Group in circle: All those who…
Concentration: Prisoner and the guards/ Counting circle
Task 2
Introduce Story. Contrast with last week’s picture. Need for focussed questioning and quick embodiment of ideas. Break group into six fours. Give each an Enquiry role. One is recorder, two is speller, three is feeder back, and four is finder. Hand out sheets. Group sits in its own circle.
Task 3
Teacher reads story. Listening task for participants. Group have to spot on their script the places where decisions were made. In twos reflect. Feed back in two’s what the major decisions were. (Changes might be good word too). Teacher list the major decisions, looking for events of departure and arrival.
Task 4
KDS
Participants introduced to what we KNOW and what we DON'T KNOW and what we SUSPECT about the story in questions.
Each group works for four mins on KNOW and then we share walk and returning to our own chart make whatever additions we feel might be helpful. Now each group will have a word or phrase. Ask them to make a 30 Video clip of that phrase as it relates to the story. (Lack of appreciation may mean littering the countryside). Groups move to performance space where they explore this question by creating a short presentation in role as characters form the story. This is view in carousel.
We go back to the sheets again in our small groups. We tackle the second section (DON’T KNOW) and repeat the sequence. What should happen here is s sharper focus on the theme and how this is expressed in the lives of the characters. Finally we work on the SUSPECT part. Here we look for things hidden and secret that needs to be revealed for the story to be solved. Again children show their learning ideas.
Task 5
Homework in the form of written, drawn, sung or poetic may accompany this work, indeed it adds to it.
Task 6
Missing person
Who is the missing person (Detective ?) and how does s/he affect the action. At this stage it might be good to put participants in role as detectives of some sort and teacher in role as chief detective with problem to be solved (the hidden secret of the village, see above)
Colm Hefferon
October 2010

PVC- Physical, Verbal, Concentration!

Click on the title above to bring you to a Games list which is a start. Especially in the Upper part of the school Remember the PVC
Physical
Verbal
Concentration
phases of the came.
The function of the game is to help your pupils concentrate on your chosen theme.

HINTS:

Adapt and use these to suit your theme and subject in your drama. You might change the character, the time or the place to those in your story.

Practise it first with others( put short instructions on a card if you think that would help) to give you confidence to set it up in a class.Try to imagine the game happening in the space in which you will work.

Have another up your sleeve should the first game prove complex for the age group you are working with.

PVC- Preparing a group for Drama class

Click HERE to bring you to a Games list which is a start. Especially in the Upper part of the school Remember the PVC
Physical
Verbal
Concentration
phases of the game.
The function of the game is to help your pupils concentrate on your chosen theme.

HINTS:

Adapt and use these to suit your theme and subject in your drama. You might change the character, the time or the place to those in your story.

Practise it first with others( put short instructions on a card if you think that would help) to give you confidence to set it up in a class.Try to imagine the game happening in the space in which you will work.

Have another up your sleeve should the first game prove complex for the age group you are working with.

Books for Planning drama 7-12

Recommended texts for classroom drama aged 7-12 include the following books, although objects photos and poetry can work just as well.

Picture Books
The Silver Sword by Ian Serrailler 5th/6th
The Ghost of Thomas Kempe by Penelope Lively 5th /6th
The Sea Monster by Chris Wormell
The Arrival by Shaun Tan 5th/6th
The Island by A. Gruder 5th/6th
The Gift of the Magi by O.Henry. Illust. by PJ Lynch 3/4/5/6
The Long March by Marie Louise Fitzpatrick 4/5/6
When Jessie came across the Sea by Amy Hest
The Green Children by Kevin Crossley Holland 3/4/5/6th
The Dolphin Boy 3/4/5
The Littel Match Girl ( story)
Young people's novels

Holes by Louis Sachar 5th/6th (boys in particular)
A series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket 4/5/6th
The Ruby Ring by Yvonne MacGrory4/5/6th
The Blue Horse by Marita Conlon McKenna 4/5/6th
Rose Meets Mr Wintergarten by Bob Graham
Private and Confidential by Marion Ripley 4/5/6th
The Watertower by Gary Crew 4/5/6th
Blodin the Beast by Michael Morpurgo
Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo 5/6th
The Wreck of the Zanzibar by Michael Morpurgo 4/5/6th
Blue John by Berlie Doherty
The Garden by Gary Blythe
Mr Bear and the Bear by Ruth Brown
The Birdman by Melvin Burgess
The Voyage on the Great Titanic: The diary of Margaret Ann Brady by Ellen Emerson White 4/5/6th
Matilda by Roald Dahl 3/4/5/6th
The Sniper by Liam O'Flaherty ( 1916) 6th
No Peace for Amelia by Siobhan Parkinson ( a girl's experience in 1916) 5/6th
StarDancer by Morgan Llywelyn ( love of horses) 4/5/6th

More Games- click on this link

Pretexts for developing Primary Drama

Pretexts to develop a drama for Primary School

Developing a Drama from a pretext
Colm Hefferon Nov ’09

Possibility A :A drama where the end is known.
Pupils in role as officers in a court-martial in World War one.Possibility B: We do not know what decision he will make. The end is not known.Ireland 1917It is 1917. Ireland has been promised Independence if she agrees to fight for England in the Great war against the German Empire.Gerry Ryan is 13 in sixth class and lives near an army barracks He is mad about army life. He feeds the horses there after school each day and dreams of being a bandsman in the Munster Fusiliers, his dad’s regiment. Gerry’s Dad Sgt. Michael Ryan died in the battle of the Somme in 1916. Gerry has just won a scholarship to a military school, he starts soon in Aldershot.His Mum tries to keep things going taking in sewing of uniforms ,but its never enough. She is always cheerful but worries about her son Charlie and his future. His sister works in Arnott’s half time and is going out with Tim from the Accounts department. His brother Shane and sister Eileen are very important to Gerry . Eileen has a beautiful singing voice, she won the Feis Cheoil in 1916 ,just before her Dad died and has not sung since. She has money saved to pay for lessons with the singer Count John Mc Cormack.He adores his elder brother, Shane, who is working on the Independent Newspaper. He also adores his younger brother Charlie who has a learning disability.Shane is going out with a girl called Máire whose father also lost his life along with the one million who died in the Somme. She does not believe the English that they will give Ireland freedom. She is learning Irish and works backstage in the Abbey theatre. Gerry sees them every evening as he walks home from Wellington Barracks. Shane and Máire walk along the Quays to her mam’s flat in Eden Place.Newspapers are full of the losses in France. More young men are needed and Shane feels he should join up. But Máire is not so sure.One morning on his 18th birthday, a letter arrives for Shane in the flat. In it is a white feather.What should he do?
Ways to structure your ideas:Charts
(1) KDS What you KNOWWhat you DON'T KNOWWhat you SUSPECT
Group Roles:Mentioned and unmentioned. Private and Public
(2) QUESTIONS
WOW Chart-WHO would have quesions to ask?OF WHOM would they be asked?
Worst case scenario in each case( WCS)Friends WCS/Fathers friends/Family WCS/Neighbours WCS-Suggested areas for exploration
1. Time: Before and after
2. Unexpected friends arrive- the twist
Bibliography
Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo ( 11-14 yrs)
Its a long Way by Sebastian Barry.( Adult)
How Many miles to Babylon? Jennifer Johnston.