Rehearsal time!

We will discuss aspects of preparing children for acting as well as positioning themselves as thinkers/visualizers/directors.

In the rehearsals


The beginning

The first day of rehearsals is an exciting day. No one has any idea about what are they supposed to do then. It all depends on what the director is thinking on that day. When students gather one by one and wait for others to come, the director has to greet them and make them feel at ease and relaxed.

Nowadays we start our rehearsals with `dust particle.' We move and sing together. We have the freedom to walk as we wish. Children try different styles while walking in the crowd. This game helps in removing inhibitions they have.

Calling each other in high volumes and different styles and from a distance is another game we play. It is a more natural way to remember the names of our new participants. 


No audition

It is the best policy to accept every child that wants to take part in a play. The need to stress this point is vital because our purpose is to involve every child in theatre and let it experience the magic of theater. In this participative method, we can create the script according to the number of students we have. Hence we can create a role for every participant. Every child makes a difference, and therefore better not reject a single child.

It’s also fun to work with so many actors.

Acting, the stepping stone

Most children join the theatre group to act. The actor is the most appreciated person in the theatre. It is the face of the theatre. Theatre operates with the help of the actor.  So acting impresses everybody. It is the stepping stone to enter into the world of theatre most of the times.

The mind of the playwright and that of the director reaches to the audience through the actor.


Training

Every child may not have a knack for acting, but with the proper training, one can learn the basics of acting.

The training includes physical exercises, respiratory and voice training, training in music, dance, miming, makeup. Reading literature and getting introduced to other art forms is equally vital for an actor. S/he has to know his/her body well and should learn to use it for the required expression.


An Actor

An actor needs to attract every person from the audience. Not only to attract but to have a firm control on them and create a bond with them that will make them forget every other thought and look at the actor and hear to him only.  This magic does happen, and it is a superpower that the actor enjoys. Isn't it? The superpower is to be earned and learned through the rehearsals.

Acting is a special kind of art, and it demands many qualities in an actor. Here you are supposed to forget self and present yourself as someone else. An actor has to do both things at the same time. It sounds a funny sentence but is very real. Unless you forget yourself, you can’t become a character, and unless you remember yourself, you can’t contribute to the content in character. So it is an extraordinary act.


The time here should be used for training children (actors) to prepare them for theatre. It includes warm-up exercises, exercises to improve reflexes, voice training, working on language, expression of thoughts, debating, improvisations. It is bound to instill in them bonding, politeness, courtesy, responsibility, give and take alertness, quickness in reflexes.


The intention is to provide children with every possible training to become a good actor. A good actor works with concentration, likes to observe people, and makes notes in his/her mind about their speech, movements, and thinking, and makes sure to listen carefully and to respond appropriately.



Theatre games


We design these games with some specific purpose. Sometimes they are discovered accidentally in the process. There is a time for each game, and it depends mostly on the mood of children to decide which one to play.

Games we play help in team-building, improving reflexes, and also they create a stress-free environment. Games change with the times.

Here are some games that we play nowadays in our theatre groups. I work with three children’s theatre groups and meet with them often. There are about thirty students in each group, and it’s fun to play with them.


1. ZIP ZAP ZOOM...IT’S ME

All stand in a circle. Zip says you carry the same activity forwards. Zap blocks the carrying, and the person has to pass zip action in the opposite direction. Zoom stops the game and allows another person to start it again by saying, ‘it’s me.’

This game is an elimination game and a person who takes more time to carry the game forward has to leave the game. If more than one person says ‘it’s me’ then only the one who says it first stays in the game. We find many such games on the internet.


2. Dust Particle


Just move and sing together in a crowd. Do not have any eye contact. Even if eyes meet, do not express it with a smile. Concentrate on music and move in rhythm. Let the emotions come to a standstill and feel as if you are just a tiny particle in this universe, like those dust particles we often see in light rays. Be humble. Don’t just avoid a collision but don’t touch anybody while in motion.


3. Interviews


Here we make pairs and ask everyone to take each other’s interview, and then they are supposed to talk about the child whose interview they have received. Students learn to create specific questions and analyze a particular person. When they go on narrating about someone they get trained to face the audience.



4. Acting as a clue

We give a sentence to a student. S/he is not to utter a word but has to enact and offer hints, and the audience is supposed to guess the sentence. For example-



I ate ice cream at the marriage party yesterday.
There are lot many mangoes on the tree in the courtyard.
I lost my pen on the cricket ground.
We saw a sunset on Sunday at the seashore.


5. Add your line and make a story

Children sit in a line or a circle. Give a sentence to begin a story. The next child adds a line in connection with the previous line. Each child adds one line. The game goes on, and a story is ready and has a contribution from everybody.



6. Complete a story

Tell a story to all but do not complete it. Ask a group or an individual to complete it.
For example, the story may be like,


Beena never liked her dresses. She wanted to go for shopping and bring home all the dresses she liked. She was a poor girl and her parents could not help her here. But something strange happened that day…

Children will have ten different stories here after ten minutes! Another example:

Sachin had a dream. He met a peacock who knew to talk like a human being. The peacock was good in every subject those Sachin thought very difficulty in his studies. It was the night before his examinations at school. They both studied together. When Sachin woke up that day…

Children will give their inputs for Sachin in examinations. One more here:

The wall clock there in that house for fifty years or so. The three hands used to tell stories of three tenses. Hours’ hand talked about the past, minutes’ of present and seconds’ would always talk about the future. One day they were talking loudly and for the first time, everybody in that house heard them talking. Then it was always heard if one listened carefully. People in the house were different in their behavior from that day...
New stories will open up from each group.


7. What’s the good word?
This game we play with teams of two children each. We give One child the word, and the other is supposed to guess the word. The child who has a word with him gives three words, one at a time as a clue related to that word. If that team does not succeed the same word goes to other teams.




Last modified: Tuesday, 9 June 2020, 7:02 PM