ABSTRACT
Once the group has accepted the idea of working together, joining in, following the rules of the game, accepting drama conventions, it’s time to re-introduce the idea of teamwork. This allows the group to move into areas which require a greater degree of mutual support. They start to perceive themselves as a group, with their own identity and responsibilities. Keith Johnstone has been known to start a workshop with a simulated tug of war. No rope, just two teams and some mime. Inevitably the two groups heave away, straining and struggling, neither side willing to give an inch. Then he stops it and asks the participants what they’re doing. ‘Trying to win’ , they might say. ‘But there’s no rope. How can you possibly win?’ It’s an adept ruse to highlight the difference between staged and actual conflict. Certainly the tug-of-war players are in conflict, but why should the actors be so? Why can’t one team of actors be prepared to lose? I f neither group of actors is prepared to lose, perhaps they misunderstand the nature of their fictional conflict.
