ABSTRACT
A simple, physical activity that starts in game mode and moves us directly to the heart of the initiating moment of the story – The Tempest.
Walk around the room. Fill the room like a gas – spreading out until the room is full and you are as far from others as you can be, so there is a space around you that you try to keep. Walk so that you are walking no faster and no slower than anyone else.
Now you’re on your own, in your own space. Isolated. But in a moment we’re going to play a game that involves asking you to work as one large group… one unit… and it’s going to need you to solve some simple … and then more difficult … problems by working as a team: acting as if you were one . Keep walking. Freeze. Walk. Freeze. Here we go.
I’m going to call out a shape and you will have just 10 seconds to make that shape. You can only use your body. You might be standing or lying. Decide what’s best for each one. Starting with an easy shape… Make a square! 10, 9, 8 … Freeze! [Check, referring perhaps to the properties of squares]. Make a parallelogram! 10, 9, 8 … Freeze! [Check, referring to the properties of parallelograms!] Make a five-pointed star! The points as sharp as possible. 10, 9, 8 … Freeze! [Check.] Now. I have a picture in my head. It’s a ship. An old ship. A sailing ship. With a mast. A ‘pointyend’ (what’s that called? The bow). [Indicate where this might be in the space.] and a ‘flat’ end (What’s that called? The stern). [Indicate where that might be in the space.] Make a ship-shape! (it must have a thick, strong mast) 10, 9, 8 … Freeze! See the ship.
