Day 5
Workshop
Drama (guided)
The focus of this workshop is on the concept of ‘making a mess’ and how Jesus restored the mess of the world. The children will explore this through warm-up games and a main focus activity.
Warm up
It is important in any drama workshop that there is a warm-up time. This is for a number of reasons: to warm up the body, to prepare the theme and to begin to break down some inhibitions that children might have on coming to the session. Encourage the children to wear loose clothing and soft footwear for this session as well. Play some of these games to warm the children up.
Creating chaos: Ask everyone to walk in a clockwise direction around the room, to music or a drum beat. Give one player at a time a signal (such as a wink). They should then walk in the opposite direction, so that other players have to dodge out of their way. Keep on doing this until there is chaos in the room! (Remember to stop just before it goes out of control!)
Opposites: Spread the group out across your space. Give instructions for them to follow such as jump up, reach up and turn around to the left. On the shout of ‘Change’ they must then do the opposite to the instruction (therefore jump down, reach down, turn around to the right). Each time you shout ‘change’ they should go back to following the actual instructions or doing the opposite. After this game, talk with the children about how difficult it was to do the opposite.
Rhythm exercises: Using instruments or body percussion, lead the group in a rhythm which can build up and change, but keep going constantly. ‘Plant’ a leader in the group to get it wrong. This person will do something different, but the rest of the group has to try not to be influenced by this and keep going in the right rhythm. After this game, talk about rhythms in life (such as clocks, heartbeats) and how God has a rhythm in the world (in day and night, seasons etc). Talk about how our wrongdoing also broke God’s rhythm in his plan for the world.
Group work
Choose activities from those listed below that are appropriate to your children’s age and abilities. Divide your children into groups and allocate appropriate tasks to each group.
Jesus brings order
For this piece, choose one adult male to play the role of Jesus. You will also need paper, pens, step ladder and a cross (made from wood, chicken wire, cardboard etc)
Preparation
Divide the children into groups of four or five with a piece of paper and pens. It will be helpful for a leader to work with each group if possible.
Invite each group to brainstorm ideas of situations that bring chaos in the world. Some examples are bullying, war, stealing, gossip, fighting and isolation. Each group then chooses one to devise as a tableau. Once they have done this, they then talk about what might be the opposite eg the ‘ordered’ version and devise a tableau for this.
Once the two tableaux have been made, ask the groups to bring them to life. Ensure that this is controlled, but experiment with making the actions big and small, deliberate and discrete etc. Finally, encourage each group to transform the first tableau into the second, using gradual movements and changes.
Now bring all the groups together and allocate each a space in the working area. All groups face the back at the beginning. One at a time each group turns around to perform the ‘action’ scene of chaos. Once the group has completed their action, they continue to perform, but using smaller movements so that one group is ‘highlighted’ at a time.
Once all groups have performed, the character of Jesus then comes onto the stage. As he walks around each group, they should hold their first tableau once more. As he walks past them, they should gradually transform the first tableau into the second one (the positive action). Once Jesus has walked around all the groups and all second tableaux are held, Jesus walks up the steps to the cross. As he waits there, the groups perform the action of the second tableau. Do the same as before – each group performing one at a time, then decreasing the size of the movements in turn. To finish the piece, Jesus leaves the cross and the stage and each still is held once more.
This piece can be performed in silence or choose an appropriate piece of music with which to accompany the action.
Rehearse a number of times until all movements are smooth and the timings accurate.
Crucifixion
Using the text of the story from the Bible (Luke 23) or the Must Know Story, re-enact the crucifixion scene. Parts can be read or mimed, but allocate parts to children based on their age, confidence and reading ability if appropriate. Also choose a number of children to be narrators.
Break down the text into manageable chunks so that each narrator has a manageable amount and also that there are a variety of voices. Children without parts form the crowd and can be involved in shouting ‘Crucify him’ and ‘We want Barabbas!’ etc. Gather as many props as you can and ensure that all children are involved.
Music
Choose an appropriate piece of music to which you will devise actions. Good examples for this subject are ‘Fix you’ by Coldplay (from the album X and Y) or ‘You’ve got a friend’ by Carole King (from the album Tapestry).