Arts and culture
Grade 4
Expression and communication
Module 8
Drama: creative fantasy
Creative fantasy
Activity
To explore the use of expressive mime [lo 4.3]
Prepare yourself for an exciting drama class where we will be experiencing acting without words. Yes. No talking. This is called mime.
Mime is the theatrical technique of expressing an idea or mood or portraying a character entirely by gesture and bodily movement
without the use of words .
Exercise 1:
- Perform three or four movements that must be done in succession without considering them beforehand.
- raise your right hand;
- put it to your forehead;
- put your left hand in your pocket.
- Try to find
justification for each movement separately and at the same time link all of them up in one general justification, e.g.
- you hush the audience – raise your hand to attract attention;
- you try to remember what you are going to say – put hand to forehead;
- you search for something in your pocket – put hand in pocket.
- In this manner a purpose has been found for each of the movements separately and general justification has been provided.
Exercise 2:
- Raise both hands above your head.
- Imagine under what circumstances you might make such a movement in real life.
- to hang washing on a line
- to keep a book from falling off a shelf
- Develop this justification further.
- What kind of book is it?
- How heavy is the book?
- Whose book is it?
- Why was it on the shelf?
- Why did it fall?
- What happened before?
- What happened after?
- Let your imagination create a story round the theme of this exercise.
- It is necessary to direct fantasy toward a definite goal, to have purposive fantasy.
- Everything on stage must be justified – every action, movement, thought, every glance must have a reason and a goal.
Exercise 3:
- Practise a short scene in a location: in the garden, on a boat on the river, at home, etc.
- Reproduce a physical action with imaginary objects in the setting.
- Keep the following aspects in mind:
- size of the object
- the shape of the object
- weight
- texture
- Select a simple ordinary action or movement.
- Let the rest of the class correct you, in order to achieve the most exact, realistic and expression ‘recollection of physical actions’.
Exercise 4:
- Explore specific emotions without the use of sounds or words. e.g. fear, anger, happiness, sadness, exuberant joy, etc.
- Focus on facial expressions as well as bodily expression.
Exercise 5:
- Take elements from the previous exercises and put them together to create a short mime.
- If the class is too large you can divide into groups.
- Perform your scene before the rest of the class.
- Choose the mime you like the most.
- Perform the ‘winning mime’ in your own style.
- Be creative and build on the ‘winning mime’ to make it unique.
Assessment
LEARNING OUTCOME 4:
EXPRESSION AND COMMUNICATION
The learner will be able to analyse and use multiple forms of communication and expression in Arts and Culture.
Assessment standard
We know this when the learner:
4.3 explores the use of expressive mime to convey ideas and feelings.
