New Grade 8 Unit – Physical Theatre

Grade 8 students are tackling a new form of theatre this week: physical theatre. Today we discussed status and how we show status relationships on stage through body language, gesture, mime, levels and voice. Students took part in a drama activity that uses numbers on cards to indicate a character’s status. All students were given a card, but instructed not to look at the number. Students then interacted using only body language/ mime (and later, voice), treating people according to their status. As students gained an understanding of their own statuses through other students’ physical interactions with them, they took on the traits of a character with his or her assumed status. Students were then asked to arrange themselves in order from lowest to highest status. This was an excellent exercise to demonstrate how our physicality and vocal choices play a key role in portraying a status relationship on stage.