History of Theatre Naomi Holcombe KS3 KS3
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History of theatre Naomi Holcombe KS3 KS3 Introduction Naomi Holcombe is a drama teacher and Head of Year 8 at Queen Elizabeth’s The main aim of this scheme is for students to understand different periods in Hospital school in Bristol. She has been theatre history and to learn to perform in those styles. teaching the Edexcel course at GCSE for 10 years. As drama teachers we often cover a range of theatre styles and genres from different time periods at KS3, but it is helpful for students to be able to contextualise these styles in terms of theatre history. Learning about the origins of drama and how it has developed can help students to understand how modern drama has evolved and gives them an overview of theatre across the world, from many thousands of years ago to the present day. Organised into six one-hour lessons delivered over six weeks, this scheme can then be followed by a more in-depth study of particular periods or plays. It is suitable for Years 7, 8 or 9 and can be tailored to the ability level of your students. There are opportunities to stretch and challenge within the lessons or develop lessons further in order to take more time than is suggested here. In this scheme I have referenced and made use of some wonderful National Theatre videos that are on YouTube. These are very useful as they clearly explain and introduce students to key aspects of each style of theatre. Learning objectives Students will gain the following knowledge/skills during the 6 lessons: Resources to be sourced: f An awareness of the first forms of drama f Camera/iPad to record performances f Turning rituals into drama f Internet (YouTube clips) f Understanding the importance of Greek theatre within drama history f Original texts (extracts are provided f Consideration of how the Church used drama to convey morals and messages in the Resources at the end of this scheme, full length texts need to be f Have used example scenarios to create their own commedia dell’arte scenes sourced): Everyman; The Tempest; and characters Waiting for Godot. f Reflected on Shakespeare’s influence on modern drama f Thought about how more absurdist texts have contributed to today’s modern theatre. Resources provided with this scheme: Assessment f Script extracts f f Peer assessment National Theatre video links f Assessment criteria sheets f Video recording of each style for assessment f Scaffolded scene outlines f Assessment criteria sheet to mark performances in each style. f Character descriptions. Lesson 1: Dramatic beginnings How did drama evolve? As a group, discuss what could have been the origins of drama. Focus on the development of drama before Greek texts. How did any kind of ‘performance’ come about? Ask: What is the purpose of theatre? Does it need to have an audience to be considered as a performance? Discuss rituals. What is a ritual? How could this be an example of an early form of drama? Place students in groups of 4–5. Ask them to choose a ritual: marriage, funeral, rain dance, etc. and condense it down to its simplest form. For example, a marriage simply needs two people, perhaps someone officiating, a higher power (either the law or God) and words/singing in a specific order. Rehearse and perform a selected number of rituals. Now in the same groups, they are to come up with their own ritual. This can be an everyday ritual, such as brushing their teeth, but they have to make it dramatic. Having established that rituals need some sort of group worship, words/singing in a specific order and unity, ask them to devise their own unique performance. www.teaching-drama.co.uk Teaching Drama · Summer term 1 · 2015/16 1 Scheme of work|KS3 Hand out Resource 1 to help them with this. Rehearse and perform. Plenary Give them 30 seconds in a pair to discuss what they have learnt about the possible origins of drama, before Greek theatre was established. How can an everyday ritual be turned into a performance? Lesson 2: Greek theatre Watch the National Theatre video ‘An Introduction to Greek Theatre’. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSRLK7SogvE Once you have shown the video, discuss Greek tragedy. If you have time, you could also watch this fun cartoon TED talk, which explains the Festival of Dionysus. (The American pronunciations of Greek plays and playwrights are interesting!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjLrMxO4cys They must now create their own Greek Tragedies. They can make their stories fit with the time period, or modernise them. Some groups I have worked with have done some wonderful things on political leaders. Hand out Resource 2: the scene cards will help structure the work, so that they know what is required in each scene. Rehearse and perform. Plenary Evaluate the tragedies. What was effective? How do you think these stories would have been received in Greek theatres at the time? Students must come up with three points that they have learnt about Greek theatre in the lesson. Lesson 3: Medieval Mystery and Morality plays Moving on in time, in England the Church used drama to teach and convey messages to its congregation. Discussion: Why do you think that the Church used drama? How could dramatised stories be a way of manipulating people into leading morally upstanding lives? Watch this video, which gives an overview about medieval mystery and morality plays: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yzcxd8tsJ3Q Then hand out Resource 3, the Everyman script. Read this as a class and explain that this script is a morality play. Discuss the characters Everyman and Death. (I do not ask them to play the character of God, as some students are not able to do this for religious reasons, so I tend to stick to Everyman and Death.) In your classroom/studio ask students to walk around the space. They are a happy-go-lucky character. How would they move? Why is the character called Everyman? How does he represent you and me? Now walk around the space as Death. How might Death move? Think about facial expressions. Does Death have any props? Spotlight some students who are demonstrating good work to show others. Discuss the character of Death. He doesn’t necessarily have to be the dark hooded character with a scythe, but you need to show that he is powerful and frightening. Why does he need to be scary? Ask each student to come up with a line, either for Everyman, or for Death. Think about vocal qualities. How would these characters speak? Hear some of the lines out loud. Now ask them to use the script, from the line ‘Everyman, stand still’ and act it out, thinking about all of the work they’ve just been doing on characterisation. Rehearse and see a few in performance. Now they must create a new scene which adds onto this script. Death asks Everyman what he has done in his life that is good and what he has done that is bad. Introduce the idea of a flashback. Students must freeze, flashback and show one good deed and one bad one. At the end they can decide whether Everyman lives or dies! Think about how Death could finish off Everyman. He is very www.teaching-drama.co.uk Teaching Drama · Summer term 1 · 2015/16 2 Scheme of work|KS3 powerful, so just the click of his fingers, or a ‘Jedi’-style hand movement could have Everyman drop to the floor. Rehearse, and if there is time, see and film some of these performances. Plenary Ask them to discuss with the partner that they have been working with this lesson what they have learned about medieval drama and specifically about morality plays. Lesson 4: Commedia dell’arte Introduce the six stock characters; see Resource 4. Please note that the stock characters listed here are a simplified version. There are many more Commedia characters, as referenced in the National Theatre video, which they will watch in this lesson. Go through their character traits. Spend time exploring these practically. Remind students that this style of theatre was very exaggerated. For each character, read out their physical attributes and ask students to enact them. Work on the physical shape first, before adding any text. After this, they may devise one line which sums up the character and say this out loud. To reinforce this practical work, show the National Theatre video, which explores the characters and how to create different shapes. You could do this during their practical exploration of the characters, or before they start, depending on the strength of your students. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJEwuurzDe4 Now explore the idea of a comic lazzi. Model this in front of the class with two students. Work on the idea of the Old Miser and Pulcinella the clown. Pulcinella is mimicking the old man and stealing his money as he counts it into his hand. Explore the idea that the old man regularly turns around to see if anyone is watching and Pulcinella hides, freezes, turns into a tree or a stool, etc. to add comedy to the scene. Also mention that the clown can communicate with the audience using facial expressions, so that we are all in on the joke. Now hand out Resource 4a, Commedia scenarios. Put students into groups and ask them to pick a scenario. They can choose the one that was just modelled or pick their own. Spend time coming up with basic dialogue and really focus on the movement and lazzi of the scenes.