Contact us
:
Sitemap
:
Our benefactors
:
Help
Search
Home
Clubs, CREST Awards and Fairs (5-19 yrs)
CREST Star Investigators
Additional Resources
Young Science Ambassadors (YSA)
Activity Resources
A question of science
Delightful display
Expert explanations
Family fun
Fascinating facts
Galactic games
Picture perfect
Poster promotion
Radio-active
Science speak
Seek out science
Sing a song of science
Stimulating science
Stunning science stories
Theatreland
Trail blazing
Why waste water?
Wicked webpages
Yes, no, maybe so?
Theatreland
How about taking part in a play or drama event?
Making your drama 'interactive'
These ideas come from Gillian Pearson at The Oxford Trust.
Forum theatre
Balloon debate
Lines of agreement
Forum theatre
The audience watches an improvised drama (one that's made up as you go along) based on a question (
e.g. should people travel to Mars?
). You will also need a person in charge, who is not in the play, called a
facilitator
.
Each person in the play has their own 'answer' to the question (
e.g. yes, but the money must come from business, not the government
). He or she must:
find a way to tell the other characters his or her point-of-view during the play
try to convince the others that they are wrong and he or she is right!
You might find it help to write some short notes for each character.
At any time, anyone in audience can ask the
facilitator
to stop the play. They can either:
offer an alternative storyline for one of the characters or,
if they think that character should have said or done something different, they can change places with the actor and act that part out themselves, or
discuss the play, or
criticise the play.
<Back to top>
Balloon debate
Choose a science question to discuss. Then set up a play where four or five people are sitting in a hot air balloon. The balloon is running out of fuel, and there isn't room for everyone!
Each character must try to justify why they should not be thrown out of the balloon. Each character starts with a speech saying why they shouldn't be thrown out. The audience vote and the character with the lowest vote must leave the balloon.
Further debate takes place between the remaining passengers and the audience vote again and another is voted out (and so on). The last remaining passenger in the balloon survives because they had the most persuasive argument.
<Back to top>
Lines of agreement
You will need:
a large open space (e.g. a school hall or a playground)
a
facilitator
(someone in charge!)
a list of statements that you can agree or disagree with (e.g. in a drama about whether boys think differently to girls a statement might be
'girls are better at planning parties'
).
In front of the audience, the
facilitator
has to draw an imaginary line across the room.
One end of the line represents 'yes, I agree' with the statement.
The other end of the line represents 'no, I don't agree'.
The rest of the line is for all the other answers (e.g. 'I agree alot, but not completely' person might be nearly at the yes end)
The facilitator then reads out the statements.
Each person has to decide exactly where he or she stands along that line.
There will be times when someone else is standing exactly where they want to stand.
Before reading the next statement, the facilitator may ask some members of the audience why they are standing in a certain spot.
<Back to top>
Resources
Making a video
<Back to top>
Getting started
Making your drama interactive
Resources
Weblinks
Y Touring
- a touring theatre company, specialising in health and science ethics. The website includes a list of published Y Touring scripts for science dramas
Get in touch
We'd love to hear about your plays and dramas. Do send us some photos, a video clip or even a script!
ysa@the-ba.net