Director

Rehearsal Diary

Set design

Costume design

. Use of space/levels.
. Use of mime, movement, gesture

Use of voice.
Use of spoken language.

Cross-Cutting.
Making the Moment.

. Forms.
. Conventions.

Written by Sean Pender, Education Liaison Officer at Sheffield Theatres & Head of Drama at Tapton School, Sheffield.

This teachers' resource is made up of a variety of drama activities, some practical and others involving thinking/discussion, and is divided into different sections for easy reference.

The following activities cover areas of the criteria for the following GCSE and AS Level drama units, following the Edexcel specification: GCSE Drama Paper 1 Unit 1 and AS Level Drama & Theatre Studies, Unit 1 (Elements 6-10). Needless to say, the activities work in conjunction with any of the drama specifications. Tasks are designed to be adapted accordingly for either GCSE or AS Level depending on ability and/or experience of the students.

Get a printed copy…click on the print button in the top right hand corner of the page.

Click on the pink text to go directly to that area of the site:

The Play in Pictures
The Fairy Kingdom
Physicalising characters
Character profiling/Role on the wall
Themes from the dream
Direction & Design

The Play in Pictures
Work in groups of various sizes. Each group is to imagine they are presenting a series of paintings for an exhibition on ‘Images from A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. Each painting is accompanied by a caption in the form of a line from the play. The image created in the painting should be an inventive and informed interpretation of the caption.

Points to address:
.Who is in the picture?
.What is happening? What is the location?
.What is the mood at this moment?

Points to consider:
.Use of space/levels.
.Facial expression. Posture and gesture.
.Proxemics (positioning of actors in relation to one another)

Remember, the images created do not have to be simply a series of ‘frozen moments’ from the play but can be your interpretation or instinctive image of what the caption conveys.
.Each group presents at least two ‘stage pictures’ for exhibition to the rest of the class. Discuss and evaluate the interpretation and aesthetic quality of the stage picture. Members of the audience could offer ideas on re-painting the picture in a way that alters the interpretation, mood, character relationships etc.

Possible captions:

“Be advised fair maid: To you your father should be as a god”

“Ill met by moonlight”

“Bless thee, Bottom! Thou art translated”

“The course of true love never did run smooth…”

“…you have but slumber’d here while these visions did appear”

The captions can, of course, be of more generic and/or thematic in nature.

The Fairy Kingdom
.Work as a whole group. Discuss your visions of the forest/fairy kingdom. Imagine the sights and sounds of the forest at night. Focus solely on the sounds. What kind of atmosphere would you wish to create for an audience through use of voice alone? For example, noises such as breeze through the trees, fairy laughter, delivering specific ‘fairy’ lines from the text - whispered, choral, echo etc:
“Ill met by moonlight”
“Fairies away”
"I am that merry wanderer of the night”.
.Individuals find a space on floor and lie on their backs. If possible, dim lights. Teacher talks class through their established impressions of the forest and its inhabitants. Whole group task is to create a “soundscape” experimenting with use of voice. Individuals focus on a series of sounds and/or lines from text. If stage lighting is available, start from blackout and very gradually bring light up to ‘moonlight’. The skill is in timing it so that noises emerge very gradually and fade in and out. If facility is available, record the soundscape so that whole class can listen back to the ‘atmosphere’ they have created. Remember, experiment with creating a variety of soundscapes and don’t worry if it doesn’t work first time around.
.Discuss: How does your vision of the fairy kingdom compare/differ to what you've seen in the Sheffield Theatres' production?

Physicalising Characters
.Focus on the following characters: Oberon, Puck and Titania.
.Through group discussion, build up a bank of adjectives for each character based on your impressions from the text.
.Students are allocated one of the 3 characters and are to choose 3 adjectives for their character. For each adjective create a still image that effectively illustrates the description. Consider posture, gesture and facial expression.
.Next, move around the space in a manner that best represents the descriptions until you feel confident you have established the ‘movement’ of your character. Experiment with a series of gestures in order to further develop the physicalisation of your character.
.Students choose (or are given) a line or lines from the text for their character. Go back to your original list of adjectives and work on a vocal delivery that best suits the character description you have established.
.Blend the physical and vocal characteristics so that the series of mannerisms built up feel natural. Work individually, in pairs or 3’s on the following extracts (Oxford edition):

Solo:            Titania: Act 2, Scene 1 Lines 82 - 117
                     Oberon: Act 2, Scene 1 Lines 177 - 187
                     Puck: Act 2, Scene 1 Lines 43 - 60

Pairs:          Oberon & Puck: Act 3, Scene 2 Lines 345 - 359

Titania &
Oberon:      Act 2, Scene 1 Lines 71 - 102

Threes:      Titania, Oberon & Puck: Act 4, Scene 1 Lines 71 - 102

Character Profiling/Role on the wall
.Focus on chosen character(s) from the play. (Could be linked to above activity). Display 6 large sheets of paper around the room with character outline drawn on. At the top of each sheet write the following headings:

•Factual evidence from text
•Physical description
•Chief characteristics
•Strengths (things we admire)
•Weaknesses (things we dislike)
•General interpretation of character

(Alternatively create 6 columns per sheet and allocate one character from the play per group).
.Students make their way around the room contributing information until the class has produced a detailed and in depth character profile.
.Teacher-In-Role or willing volunteer to take on role of allocated character(s) for hot-seating exercise. Focus on aspects of the character and their function within the play that warrant further exploration.
.Discuss and/or write up a detailed character profile based on the evidence accumulated.

Themes from the Dream
This is an open task and both adaptable and open to interpretation. It is designed to test both the students’ knowledge and interpretation of the text as well as their appreciation of complex dramatic form and is aimed at high achieving Y11 groups and/or Y12 students.
.Working in small groups, students are to focus on one of the following themes from the play:

•Discord & Harmony
•Dream & Reality
•Love
.The aim of this task is to encourage students to experiment with both the text and their use of dramatic form. Focusing on one of the above thematic titles each group should aim to produce a short presentation that is symbolic, representational and/or stylized in form rather than naturalistic.
.It may help to offer up two alternative approaches, one narrative, the other non-narrative:

     a) Choose a specific extract or extracts from the play that      students feel focuses on the theme and experiment with      symbolic use of movement, language, props, costume,      lighting & sound, set etc.(depending on the facilities you      have available) in order to highlight this theme.

     b) Work on deconstructing and/or juxtaposing parts of the text      that focus in on the chosen theme. Move away from the      narrative of the play and aim to produce a representational      and/or abstract piece that has the chosen theme and not the      story as its stimulus. Emphasis on experimenting with voice,      movement and any mediums of drama required      (sound/music, props, captions, lighting etc).

Discuss: Are there any moments from the Sheffield Theatres' production that lend themselves to non-naturalistic approaches?

Direction & Design: Act 3, Scene 1
.Distribute photo-copied extract of Act 3, Scene 1 (Mechanicals rehearsal) to each student. This is a cumulative task and so students are expected to utilise and build upon the knowledge gained from the other tasks and activities. Clearly, this task would work with any scene and it may be beneficial to distribute a variety of scenes from the play.
.Working individually or in pairs, annotate your script with a set of director’s/designer’s notes. Notes should give direction to actors on how to ‘play’ the scene – character portrayal, physical and vocal considerations, use of space/levels, as well as notes on set, costume, props, sound & lighting.
.To accompany the annotated section of script, students should write up a justification of ideas in essay form, clearly stating their aims and intentions.
.Possible extension task: Using their annotated notes, individuals/pairs can direct peers through the scene working towards a performance. (Tip for quick opening exercise: ask the actors playing the Mechanicals to form a ‘cast photo’ for the Athens Gazette. Positioning, facial expressions and body language should give audience a clear idea of character and status within the group).

Looking for more ideas? Adapt the teachers resources from The Tempest.

^ top of page