ABSTRACT
Once you have in your sights the building blocks of dramatic experience, the results of your research and deliberations on your chosen area of study and your awareness of the character and needs of your group, you are ready to begin constructing your scheme. The trick (and the difficulty) is holding all of these elements in your mind at the same time as the structure of the scheme emerges. You will need to consider:
Your initial encounter with the group — this might include an introductory discussion, a game, an alternative method of completing classroom formalities (e.g. answer the register with a statement of when you have been most scared)
The introduction of the theme or narrative
The ‘hook’ that secures their commitment
The nodal points that deepen the response and develop involvement
The critical points of reversal where something (or everything) changes. We alter direction and what we thought we understood about the situation is shifted and we have to think again
The building points when the issues or problems become progressively more compelling
The crisis points where things come to a head
The ‘get out’: How do we leave this situation? Perhaps an element of summation, of final word, of personal response to the fictional journey
Once we are outside the drama finally, how will we ‘meta-cognate’ on the experience? Looking back over the landscape what will we wish to say? What have we noticed? Understood? Learnt?
