Practical Activity: Image Theatre

Image theatre is a technique developed by a theatre practitioner named Augusto Boal. You may find his book Games for Actors and Non-Actors very useful, as it provides further details on image theatre and other techniques, plus lots of useful drama-based games. Boals image theatre format can be adapted and used as a ay to further develop the discussion of themes in !he "ecret #arden and also to encourage students to implement thought and action into different situations. Step 1 $ "plit the group into smaller groups of % to & pupils, depending on the si'e of the class and ho you feel they ould ork at their best. $ (ollo ing on from responses given during discussion of the storys themes, give each group a significant moment or situation for one of the characters in the story. $ #iven the issue based and problem solving nature of this e)ercise, situations hich sho a struggle, conflict or some sort of difficulty for the character ould produce more effective results. Example: *+ary arrives at +isselth aite +anor, a huge ne place here she has no one to play ith. "he feels scared and alone., Step 2 $ -aving given each group a situation, ask them to sho hat is happening in their particular situation through one fro'en image. .upils ho have already come across fro'en image or tableau perhaps in drama classes, ill be familiar ith this concept. You may need to encourage those ho havent to think about facial e)pressions and use of the body to portray character and story in a fro'en moment of time. $ Ask one or t o groups to sho their image to the rest of the class, encouraging the audience to talk about hat they see in the image, hat may be happening, and hat the implications may be for the characters. Step 3 $ Ask the groups to return to their situation but no form a fro'en image sho ing the situation resolved. !aking the e)ample used earlier, +arys fear and loneliness may be replaced by an image of her en/oying her time at +isselth aite. !hese may seem rather obvious solutions for pupils to realise, but the e)ercise does not end here. Step 4 $ 0hoose one group to firstly sho their fro'en image of the original situation, follo ed by their second image of the situation resolved. $ 1ncourage comments from the audience and clarify that all understand hat is happening in this circumstance. $ !here is no a ne question to pose2 3e have the problem 4image one5, e have the solution 4image t o5, but ho do e get from one to the

other6 3hat needs to happen in bet een to make it possible to achieve this end goal67 !his ill become the third image. $ Invite a volunteer to come into the performance space and sculpt this ne image using the members of the group in question. 3hen they are happy and satisfied that they have sho n a ay of reaching the solution, open it out to the rest of the audience, asking if they are also happy ith this image, or can perhaps see a potential problem. $ Anyone ho ishes to change it or try out another idea is elcomed to do so, and here the forum begins. 1ncourage the class to discuss ith one another, respecting the opinions of their fello classmates. $ In facilitating this e)ercise you may be required to pick out potential difficulties in the pupils approach, leading them to really think through actions, consequences, and the many options available. Suggestio s !or developme t !here are many ays you could adapt this e)ercise2 $ 8ather than using moments from !he "ecret #arden, groups could be given a similar situation but removed from the story 4see e)amples on the follo ing page5. $ If needed, moments from the story could be used as an introduction to producing fro'en images, and alternative situations more applicable to pupils everyday e)perience then used throughout the image theatre process. $ 1ncourage pupils to think of their o n situations rather than providing one for each group. $ !he different small groups could all ork from the same situation. It may be interesting to see different representations of the same circumstance, and may further e)ploration more effectively under a time constraint. Thought"trac#i g $ .ausing after the creation and sho ing of the first image, audience members could be invited to speak aloud the thoughts and feelings of one or more of the characters involved $otseati g $ !o further e)plore this, a volunteer could then become one of the characters and bring this character to life by ans ering questions asked by other audience members.

%ome ts !rom The Secret &arde : +ary arrives at +isselth aite +anor, a huge ne one to play ith. "he feels scared and alone. place here she has no

+ary ould really like to gro some flo ers. "he needs some here to plant her seeds but is too frightened to ask her 9ncle Archibald about it. +ary and :ickon spend a lot of time together playing outside in the gardens. 0olin becomes /ealous of their friendship, he feels he is al ays forgotten and left alone. 0olin has heard that his father ill be leaving +isselth aite to travel abroad for a year. -e ould really like to say goodbye, but is embarrassed to ask because his father may not ant to see him. Situatio Examples: 8ichard has /ust moved to a ne school. It is much bigger than the school he has /ust come from, and he is orried that he ont make any friends. "ally has been given a really important history pro/ect, and has no idea ho to even start it. "he is too embarrassed to say anything to anyone. A group of friends ant to go on holiday together to an activity centre. :arrens parents refuse to let him go, saying he is too young to go on holiday on his o n. ;isa is <= years old and her mum often leaves her on her o n in the house. ;isa doesnt really feel comfortable ith this but ;isas mum keeps telling her shes old enough no . +ichael and "am have been close friends for a long time, but recently +ichael has noticed that "am doesnt really ant to spend any time ith him. Instead, "am has been spending lots of time ith another boy at school. +ichael is upset because he doesnt kno hy things have changed and doesnt kno hat to do about it.