The aims are to:

• introduce the genre of slapstick
• use the body to explore physical characterisation
• devise complex physical drama
• use stimuli as the basis for devising drama.

By the end of this project, students are expected to:

• have an understanding of the genre
• have devised slapstick sequences
• be able to use film as a stimulus
• have performed a piece of slapstick theatre
• have understood that physical theatre has a purpose.

The skills covered in this project include (but are not limited to) physical comedy, still image and structuring.

The techniques which are covered in lessons in this project include:

• mime
• physical characterisation
• physical comedy
• proxemics
• self-evaluation
• stage fighting
• still image.

The key words which are used in this project include:

• body language
• mime
• physical comedy
• rehearsal
• self-evaluation
• sequencing
• slapstick
• stereotype.

The resources which students encounter during this project include film clips of slapstick (or images of slapstick) and music (eg ragtime).

This series of lessons has cross-curricular links with English and Media Studies.

Students should be assessed in this project on the extent to which they:

• create drama appropriate to the genre
• use the body as a means of expression
• are able to perform a piece of slapstick.

Web sites which could be used for further information on this topic include:

	Harold Lloyd

	Laurel and Hardy: The Official Website

	Laurel & Hardy Museum

	Laurel and Hardy Central – Hard Boiled Eggs & Nuts

	Melodrama Films

	screenonline: Melodrama

The following sites provide sounds/music which might be used in this project:

	MP3.com

	“Perfessor” Bill Edwards’ Ragtime Center

	Sounddogs.com

This project meets the following recommendations from Drama in Schools (Second Edition) (Arts Council England, 2003). For a complete mapping, see Managing: Drama in Schools.

Level 4: Making

• Plan and structure plays that make use of a range of techniques and forms to express their ideas, eg narration in story theatre, mask work, and mime in physical theatre

Level 4: Responding

• Demonstrate an awareness of some theatre traditions from different times and places, eg Kathakali dance drama, Greek or Tudor theatre

Level 5: Responding

• Relate, compare and contrast their work with drama from other times and cultures