8/12/2019 Image Theatre

1/3

Practical Activity: Image Theatre

Image theatre is a technique developed by a theatre practitioner namedAugusto Boal. You may find his book Games for Actors and Non-Actorsvery useful, as it provides further details on image theatre and othertechniques, plus lots of useful drama-based games.

Boals image theatre format can be adapted and used as a ay to furtherdevelop the discussion of themes in !he "ecret #arden and also toencourage students to implement thought and action into differentsituations.

Step 1$ "plit the group into smaller groups of % to & pupils, depending on thesi'e of the class and ho you feel they ould ork at their best.$ (olloing on from responses given during discussion of the storysthemes, give each group a significant moment or situation for one of thecharacters in the story.$ #iven the issue based and problem solving nature of this e)ercise,situations hich sho a struggle, conflict or some sort of difficulty for thecharacter ould produce more effective results.Example: *+ary arrives at +isselthaite +anor, a huge ne place hereshe has no one to play ith. "he feels scared and alone.

Step 2$ aving given each group a situation, ask them to sho hat ishappening in their particular situation through one fro'en image. upilsho have already come across fro'en image or tableau perhaps in dramaclasses, ill be familiar ith this concept. You may need to encouragethose ho havent to think about facial e)pressions and use of the body toportray character and story in a fro'en moment of time.$ Ask one or to groups to sho their image to the rest of the class,encouraging the audience to talk about hat they see in the image, hatmay be happening, and hat the implications may be for the characters.

Step 3$ Ask the groups to return to their situation but no form a fro'en imageshoing the situation resolved.!aking the e)ample used earlier, +arysfear and loneliness may be replaced by an image of her en/oying her timeat +isselthaite. !hese may seem rather obvious solutions for pupils torealise, but the e)ercise does not end here.

Step 4$ 0hoose one group to firstly sho their fro'en image of the original

situation, folloed by their second image of the situation resolved.$ 1ncourage comments from the audience and clarify that all understandhat is happening in this circumstance.$ !here is no a ne question to pose2 3e have the problem 4image one5,e have the solution 4image to5, but ho do e get from one to the

8/12/2019 Image Theatre

2/3

other6 3hat needs to happen in beteen to make it possible to achievethis end goal67 !his ill become the third image.$ Invite a volunteer to come into the performance space and sculpt this

ne image using the members of the group in question. 3hen they arehappy and satisfied that they have shon a ay of reaching the solution,open it out to the rest of the audience, asking if they are also happy iththis image, or can perhaps see a potential problem.$ Anyone ho ishes to change it or try out another idea is elcomed todo so, and here the forum begins. 1ncourage the class to discuss ith oneanother, respecting the opinions of their fello classmates.$ In facilitating this e)ercise you may be required to pick out potentialdifficulties in the pupils approach, leading them to really think throughactions, consequences, and the many options available.

Suggestios !or developmet!here are many ays you could adapt this e)ercise2$ 8ather than using moments from !he "ecret #arden, groups could begiven a similar situation but removed from the story 4see e)amples on thefolloing page5.$ If needed, moments from the story could be used as an introduction toproducing fro'en images, and alternative situations more applicable topupils everyday e)perience then used throughout the image theatreprocess.$ 1ncourage pupils to think of their on situations rather than providing

one for each group.$ !he different small groups could all ork from the same situation. It maybe interesting to see different representations of the same circumstance,and may further e)ploration more effectively under a time constraint.

Thought"trac#ig$ ausing after the creation and shoing of the first image, audiencemembers could be invited to speak aloud the thoughts and feelings of oneor more of the characters involved

$otseatig$ !o further e)plore this, a volunteer could then become one of thecharacters and bring this character to life by ansering questions askedby other audience members.

8/12/2019 Image Theatre

3/3

%omets !rom The Secret &arde:

+ary arrives at +isselthaite +anor, a huge ne place here she has no

one to play ith. "he feels scared and alone.

+ary ould really like to gro some floers. "he needs somehere toplant her seeds but is too frightened to ask her 9ncle Archibald about it.

+ary and :ickon spend a lot of time together playing outside in thegardens. 0olin becomes /ealous of their friendship, he feels he is alaysforgotten and left alone.

0olin has heard that his father ill be leaving +isselthaite to travel

abroad for a year. e ould really like to say goodbye, but is embarrassedto ask because his father may not ant to see him.

Situatio Examples:8ichard has /ust moved to a ne school. It is much bigger than the schoolhe has /ust come from, and he is orried that he ont make any friends.

"ally has been given a really important history pro/ect, and has no ideaho to even start it. "he is too embarrassed to say anything to anyone.

A group of friends ant to go on holiday together to an activity centre.

:arrens parents refuse to let him go, saying he is too young to go onholiday on his on.

;isa is