“Hiya, Hve just been a melted wax work now singing twinkle twinkle little start as a scene from Eastenders…”
Rainy days and Sundays
Once again I wondered why I have started to punish myself on Sundays. It used to be I spent Sundays in bed reading a trashy novel, dunking Rich Tea biscuits in to a large mug of strong sweet tea, while waiting for the EastEnders omnibus.
But not last Sunday, instead I found myself clothes in layers, gripping my umbrella against the determined wind, and navigating weekend tube works on my way to a class. Yes a class! I had actually paid not to have a day of rest, but to spend a day (10.30 to 17.30) learning How to run a Workshop.
This year I have been thinking of cost and time-effective ways to grow Diverse Traveller and Diverse Consultancy. I like the idea of a variety of workshops, but I am still playing around with content ideas. However, lack of concrete ideas was not going to stop me from learning how to make whatever workshop I decided on, one that would be engaging and full of creative energy.
Will I be able to perform?
I knew I didn’t want to take a long course, so I searched various college websites and found the one day course, How to run a Workshop, at City Lit, near Holborn, London. The course is run by director, actress, singer and lecturer Petina Hapgood (picture above) providing students with an introduction to running a theatre workshop at a professional level. We would look at structuring workshops, using games, exercises and improvisation in variety of situations.
Now I am no actress, the last time I performed in a play I was eight (Greensleeves), I was attending this class because I wanted to learn some creative techniques to help me towards my lofty workshop ambitions.
Arriving at room 103 I became concerned, this was an exercise room complete with wall length mirror. While Petina placed papers on each chair, I expressed my concerns. She told me not to worry as over the years people from all backgrounds had attended, fully participated and taken away things to apply to their own work area. Reassured I waited for the others.
Feel the fear and improvise anyway
We were 12 in total, half of us not from the world of theatre or drama. There were four actresses, a director of plays, a puppeteer from Brazil, a life coach, a car sales manager, a secondary school counsellor, a clown, a Masters student. Following introductions I leaned we were all here with the same objective, i.e. how to structure our workshops and engage attendees.
I already knew this was not going to be a typical class, the room gave that away, but I didn’t realise how much improvisation we would be doing (nearly all of the class). Our first activities, ice breakers, were a number of games to help us remember names and to help us loosen up. This was not the place for fear of ridicule, we were urged to enjoy the day by throwing as much of ourselves into the day, go with the flow and not over think what we were doing. And that is what we all did.
Read on for a brief overview of a number of games and activities we played. In some cases I've added some videos (to give you a better idea of the activity), unfortunately not mine, if I had known I would have had such fun I would have taken photos.
1. Ice Breakers - getting to know each other and bringing energy to the group
Name and throw
We all stood in a circle. Using a soft ball, Petina started by saying “My name is Petina.” then establishing eye content with someone e.g me, she threw the ball to me. I caught the ball, then said, “Thank you Petina”. I then said, “My name is Ola”, eye contact with someone else in the circle and threw the ball. This went on until everyone had introduced themselves.
First name and adjective action
Still in a circle, a person said their name and perform an adjective that begins with the first letter of their first name and describes their personality or something about themselves. E.g. “My name is Ola and I am open” (raised my arms, together, above my head then exaggerated opening them). Everyone repeats my name and action. Then the next person said their name and performed an exaggerated action that we all repeated, and so on until everyone had introduced themselves in the same way.
Full name and adjective actions
Still in a circle, a person said their first name, then demonstrated an exaggerated adjective action (as above) that begins with the first letter of their first name and the first letter of their surname, i.e “My name is Ola, I am open and flapping.” Everyone then repeats my name and actions; again this was continued until everyone had introduced themselves.
Positive Moves
Still in a circle, the first person picked someone by name and asked that person to stand beside them (i.e first person) because of something positive about the chosen person. E.g. “Yasmin come and stand next to me because I like your bracelets.” To fill the gap in the circle, a person near the gap, selected another person from the circle to stand beside them, using the person’s name and a positive attribute. Continued until everyone had moved.
Cinderella
This was suggested by Lorraine, one of the actresses, as something she using in workshops based on theatre shows, in this case Cinderella. We used a scarf shaped into a baby that was cradled in our arms. The first person who had the ‘baby’ said, “My name is Ola and I am the bad fairy, I bestow on Cinderella shallowness.” The prop was then passed to the next person who carefully received it and said their name, whether they were the good or bad fairy / wizard and the gift they bestow. Continued until everyone had a go.
For more of the games and activities, including "Twinkle Twinkle little star", check out Unleashing my creativity - two
Running a workshop is run by City Lit website: http://www.citylit.ac.uk
