Follow the hand

Key concepts

The key concepts for this starter are group work and character.

Drama in Schools (Second Edition) strands

This starter meets the following recommendations from Drama in Schools (Second Edition) (Arts Council England, 2003). For a complete list, see the Resources section.

• Level 3: Making: Choose vocabulary and movement to match the person, place and time required by their story or situation
• Level 3: Responding: Understand how meaning can be shown through the simple use of symbol, metaphor or imagery, eg using height and distance to indicate status and relationships
• Level 4: Performing: Experiment with their voices and movement, to create or present different characters in performance
• Level 4: Responding: Comment on how intended effects have been achieved, eg the use of silence
• Level 6: Making: Make plays which employ symbolic representations or effects to communicate meaning

Objectives

• To develop a character.
• To develop group work and concentration.

Starter

This exercise is useful when talking about the status of characters in a particular text. It works particularly well with characters such as a king and a servant, or in a situation where the leader has something that the follower wants (money, a kind word, etc).

Organise the class into pairs. One student in the pair should be A, and the other should be B. Explain that A is the leader and B is the follower. A should hold their hand out in front of them, which B must follow with their nose at a specified distance – it should not be touching, nor should the distance change. A may walk or stand still.

The activity could be developed using any part of the body. A should be imaginative in their hand movements.

Plenary

Ask the students to discuss how they felt about participating in the exercise. They might relate this to their work on their characters in the lesson, and consider how their understanding of the characters has improved. The activity could be repeated with the students playing their characters and using lines from their drama. Discussion topics might include:

• How does this activity change your perception of your character?
• How does this develop your understanding of the other characters in the drama and the relationships between them?
• How could the starter activity be used in a piece of drama – would it be appropriate?