NEVER TRY THIS AT HOME
A Told by an Idiot, Birmingham Repertory Theatre
In association with Soho Theatre
EDUCATION PACK
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CONTENTS
CONTENTS
Page 2
DIRECT MAIL LETTER
Page 3
CREDITS
Page 4
SYNOPSIS
Page 5
SHOW INSPIRATION
Page 6
CHARACTER BREAKDOWNS
Page 8
KEY THEMES
Page 10
COMPANY HISTORY
Page 12
PRODUCTION BIOGRAPHIES
Page 13
TOUR
Page 16
INTERVIEWS WITH THE CREATIVE TEAM
Page 18
WARM UP EXERCISES AND GAMES
Page 28
TESTIMONIALS
Page 38
PAST PRODUCTION PHOTOS
Page 39
CONTACT
Page 41
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DIRECT MAIL LETTER TO DRAMA TEACHERS
Dear Head of Drama
NEVER TRY THIS AT HOME a disturbing homage to Saturday morning TV.
Following their widely acclaimed production of MY PERFECT MIND with the Young Vic
and Drum Theatre Plymouth, Told by an Idiot now bring Never Try This At Home, their
hilarious and comic take on the darker side of Saturday morning TV Birmingham
Repertory Theatre/Sheffield/the Traverse/Soho Theatre, from 17th February to 2nd
April 2014.
Hailed by the Times as “Joyously, riotously inventive” and by The Independent as
“Vigorously imaginative” Told by an Idiot has built up a reputation for its startlingly
original productions, revelling in a style of performance that is bigger than life.
NEVER TRY THIS AT HOME encapsulates what drives the company. It is epic, comical
and bigger than life.
Never Try This At Home looks at the fictional programme ‘Shushi’, a show so anarchic in
its time that adults and children alike watched in their millions. Until one fatal
transmission where the female presenter was pushed over the edge, an obsessive fan
resorted to desperate measures, and Phil Collins was locked in his dressing room.
Inspired by legendary Saturday morning shows such as TISWAS and GOING
LIVE, Never Try This At Home re-unites the remaining survivors of an
infamous TV show, Shushi, and throws the spotlight on those presenters who are soon
to realise the insidious side to fame.
With a local house band and actual Shushi footage, Never Try This At Home is a hilarious,
violent and disturbing exposé of the world of TV and fame.
NEVER TRY THIS AT HOME is suitable for GCSE, A/S and A2 level students.
Recommended age 15+.
SPECIAL RATES FOR SCHOOL GROUPS
Groups of xx + best available seats just £xx
Ring the Box Office now on xxxx xxxx xxxx
For further information on NEVER TRY THIS AT HOME head to www.toldbyanidiot.org
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CREDITS
NEVER TRY THIS AT HOME
Told by an Idiot and Birmingham Repertory Theatre present:
NEVER TRY THIS AT HOME
by Carl Grose and Told By An Idiot
Directed by
Designed by
Lighting design by
Sound design by
Cast includes
HARPER
PAUL HUNTER
MICHAEL VALE
DUDLEY REES, PETRA MASSEY, GED SIMMONS, STEVE
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SYNOPSIS
The driving idea of MY PERFECT MIND is to examine the fragility of life both through a
direct personal experience and through Shakespeare’s extraordinary play, KING LEAR,
illustrating how the two are intrinsically linked and inform one another.
Acclaimed classical actor, Edward Petherbridge was once due to play King Lear in New
Zealand. He had learnt the part at his kitchen table in West Hampstead and left for the
other side of the world. On the first day of rehearsal he suffered a massive stroke. He
was asked by a doctor “Can you do that?” meaning could he touch his thumb with his
forefinger. He couldn’t. In the space of 24 hours, he had gone from knowing one of the
greatest parts in Western drama, to not even being able to move his two fingers.
MY PERFECT MIND examines this extraordinary experience through the prism of
Shakespeare, with Edward Petherbridge playing himself and King Lear and Paul Hunter
playing a range of roles both from Shakespeare and from real life - including Cordelia,
Edward’s own daughter, the Duke of Kent and the New Zealand doctor, with a particular
focus, of course, on the unique relationship between Lear and the Fool.
In groups, pick a television show, make a list of the main themes within this show
and devise a scene of your own version of this show which combines these
elements.
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SHOW INSPIRATION
Celebrity culture comes under a lot of scrutiny. In groups discuss why you think
this is looking at recent examples in the media then work out how you would
address these issues in a piece of theatre.
CHARACTER BREAKDOWNS
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KEY THEMES
Try to perform your own version of one of the scenes from Never Try This At
Home – what main themes would you focus on to help you do this?
COMPANY HISTORY
Told by an Idiot was founded by Hayley Carmichael, Paul Hunter and John Wright in
1993 and is well known for producing work that is moving, comic and utterly theatrical.
The company sets out to discover the epic in the most personal of stories, whilst
treading a fine line between comedy and tragedy. Through devising and play, the
company aims to tell stories using a wealth of imagery and a rich theatrical language,
which is accessible to all.
Since Told by an Idiot’s first production, On the Verge of Exploding, at the Edinburgh
Fringe Festival, the company has built up an enviable reputation. It has collaborated
with celebrated artists and organisations of national and international standing,
including Carol Ann Duffy, West Yorkshire Playhouse and the Lyric Hammersmith
(Casanova); Zoe Rahmen; Philip Pullman (The Firework-Maker’s Daughter); Richard
Wilson and the Royal Court (Playing The Victim), The Market Theatre Johannesburg and
a highly-praised production of The Comedy of Errors in association with the RSC in
Stratford-upon-Avon which transferred to New York in 2011. The company
collaborated with National Theatre Wales on The Dark Philosophers as part of their
inaugural season, transferring to the Traverse, Edinburgh for the festival last year and
in 2012 the company also worked with Manchester Royal Exchange for their hugely
successful take on 1930’s classic You Can’t Take It With You. The company have worked
internationally with Svenska Theatre, Finland with their bi-lingual production of A
Midsummer Night’s Dream. In the last year Told by an Idiot have toured their 2013 hit
My Perfect Mind with the Young Vic theatre and Drum theatre Plymouth, Too Clever By
Half at the Royal Exchange Manchester and Get Happy, their Christmas show for
children, commissioned by at performed at the Barbican.
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BIOGRAPHIES
PAUL HUNTER
Director
Paul is co-founder and co-Artistic Director of Told by an Idiot with Hayley Carmichael. He has
been involved as director/devisor/performer in all their work to date, including Get Happy
(Barbican), Too Clever By Half (Royal Exchange Manchester), My Perfect Mind (Young Give,
Drum Theatre Plymouth), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Svenska Theatre Finland), You Can’t
Take It With You (Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester) The Comedy of Errors (RSC), The
Fahrenheit Twins (Drum Theatre Plymouth, barbcianbite and unitytheatre), and Beauty and the
Beast (Lyric Hammersmith and Warwick Arts Centre). Other acting credits include: Troilus and
Cressida and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (both Shakespeare’s Globe), Rapunzel (Kneehigh) and
Les Enfants du Paradis (RSC). He was an Associate Director at the Octagon Theatre, Bolton,
where he directed The Venetian Twins, The Beauty Queen of Leenane (winner of MEN Award Best Production), and Accidental Death of an Anarchist. His other directing credits include: Low
Pay, Don’t Pay (Salisbury Playhouse), and Senora Carrar’s Rifles (Young Vic). Film/TV credits
include: Pirates of the Caribbean (On Stranger Tides), Snow White and the Huntsman,
Black Books, Trinity, The Only Boy For Me, Tunnel of Love.
STEPHEN HARPER
Performer
PETRA MASSEY
Performer
DUDLEY REES
Performer
GED SIMMONS
Performer
MICHAEL VALE
Designer
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Michael has designed the sets and costumes for over 170 theatre and opera productions
both in the UK and abroad including those he has directed.
Companies he has worked with include: The Royal Shakespeare Company; The National
Theatre; The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; English National Opera; Glyndebourne
Festival Opera; Opera North; English Touring Opera: De Vlaamse Opera, Antwerp; Los
Angeles Opera; New Zealand International Art’s Festival; Galaxy Theatre, Tokyo;
Warsaw Globe Theatre Company; Munich Biennalle: Lyric Hammersmith; Almeida
Theatre; Manchester Royal Exchange; West Yorkshire Playhouse; Sheffield Crucible;
Northampton Theatre Royal; Liverpool Playhouse; Nottingham Playhouse; Bristol Old
Vic; Plymouth Theatre Royal; Edinburgh Royal Lyceum; Bolton Octagon; Oldham
Coliseum; Manchester Library Theatre; Salisbury Playhouse; Colchester Mercury
Theatre; English Touring Theatre; The Royal Festival Hall; The Queen Elizabeth Hall;
The Sage, Gateshead; Battersea Arts Centre; Told By An Idiot; Spymonkey and Kneehigh
Theatre Company.
His work has been nominated for two Olivier Awards; a Charrington Fringe First Award;
an Irish Times Theatre Award and a Manchester Evening News Theatre Award.
Lighting Designer
Sound Designer
TOUR
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Venue:
Dates:
Box office:
Tickets:
Venue:
1DA
Dates:
Box office:
Tickets:
Birmingham Repertory Theatre
27 February – 15 March
0121 236 4455 / Birmingham-rep.co.uk
£10 - £15
Crucible Lyceum Studio, 55 Norfolk Street, Sheffield, S1
18 - 22 March (ON-SALE FROM 16 NOVEMBER)
0114 249 6000 / sheffieldtheatres.co.uk
£15.50 - £18.00
Venue:
Dates:
Box office:
Tickets:
Traverse Theatre
26 – 29 March (ON-SALE FROM 7 JANUARY)
0131 228 1404 / traverse.co.uk
Venue:
Dates:
Box office:
Tickets:
Soho Theatre, 21 Dean Street, London, W1D 3NE
2 April – 26 April
020 7478 0100 / sohotheatre.com
£10 - £20
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Interview with Paul Hunter, actor and
Co-artistic director of Told by an Idiot
My Perfect Mind is based on a difficult experience in Edward’s life. Why did you
decide to create a piece around such a topic?
The starting point for My Perfect Mind in some respects is quite a traumatic event in
Edward’s life and we decided to try and make a show from that trigger because at the
time Edward and I were talking about doing something together and Edward said I
think we should do a pocket version of King Lear, where he plays Lear and I played the
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Fool. When he told me the story of going to New Zealand having learnt the whole of King
Lear and then after two days of rehearsal, going into his hotel room and having a
massive stroke and not being able to do it, I thought there was something rather
extraordinary about that and potentially a show - where someone goes on this
extraordinary journey from knowing one of the largest parts in Western drama to not
being able to put his thumb and fore-finger together.
...it’s about the
human spirit,
resilience and the
fragility of life
We hope that there’s something in there about the human spirit, resilience and the
fragility of life, but it’s not about that event, we touch on that event; sometimes quite
surprisingly, sometimes lightly, sometimes comically, but that’s not what the show is
about, it’s about a trigger to explore this notion of human fragility via Shakespeare’s
King Lear.
All Told by an Idiot’s work is steeped in play, with My Perfect Mind being such a
personal story did your approach have to change at all when starting to work on
it?
As a company that revels in the notion of play, in the best sense, to play seriously, it’s
always the starting point for all our work and it’s no difference for something like My
Perfect Mind, however all the work differs because of the personalities involved; the
different people in the room and the combination. So I think play is very much at the heart
of My Perfect Mind but it’s playing in a slightly different way, the way we are improvising
is different just because of Edward which is fantastic.
There’s a sense of the playfulness and improvising becoming quite pure at times so there’s
the possibility that in the show there are sections that remain fairly improvised
throughout which is something that we’ve touched on before in our work but it may go a
bit further this time.
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We revel in the
notion of
play...
to play
seriously
Where does the title, My Perfect Mind come from?
The title My Perfect Mind is part of a quote from King Lear, it’s from the moment in the
play when Cordelia sees King Lear again, they’re re-united and Lear can’t quite believe
what he’s seeing. He’s cast her out and made this awful choice and then descended into this
type of madness, he can’t believe what he’s seeing and when he has this moment of
disbelief he talks about himself ‘I fear I am not in my perfect mind’ and rather than the
whole quote we liked the ending for a show which is about the mind.
What questions do you want to arise from the piece?
The only reason we make anything is to have an effect on the audience, which is our overriding consideration when we make anything. I hope the show does provoke questions in
the audience but we don’t set out to provoke any specific questions. We don’t have a
specific thing we want the audience to go away feeling or thinking. There are things in it
that will provoke the audience at the time of seeing it and hopefully stay with them when
they leave but we’re not after anything in particular.
Suffering from a stroke could be thought of as quite a grown-up experience. Do
you think there is relevance in this issue for a younger audience?
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I think the show will work for an audience of older teenagers and above. There’s
something about the playfulness and anarchy of the show which is obviously very
particular to Told by an Idiot and which works brilliantly for a younger audience. The
show is not about a stroke, there’s a wonderful playfulness, anarchy, surreal feel to it
which almost has the quality of some strange sketch show at times - we play with reality,
what’s real and what isn’t real, so there’s definitely something there for a younger
audience.
‘I fear I am not in my perfect mind’
What does a Told by an Idiot workshop involve and what do you think the pupils
get out of it?
A Told by an Idiot workshop, for me, is about playfulness and openness, so I think when
people come to our workshops, if they’re up for playing and they’re open to trying lots of
stuff that I throw at them they can get a really exciting, funny, challenging workshop. It’s
very, very alive, very dynamic and very much about being in the moment, being present
and also a lot of fun.
INTERVIEW WITH ACTOR,
EDWARD PETHERBRIDGE
What originally attracted you to the project?
Well, I have just this minute noticed that the latest description of the show reads, ‘A comic
tale of a man not doing King Lear’, but I was attracted to do this project as a ‘back door’
route to doing Lear, (having fallen ill when I had the last chance). In fact I have just spent
the afternoon alone with my Penguin paperback of the play, trying to get as close to Lear
and William Shakespeare as if I were re studying and spouting the lines from his own
handwritten manuscript. We will do as much of the huge tragedy as it’s humanly possible
for two people to do, bearing in mind that we are billed as a comedy!
How do you prepare to enter a rehearsal period?
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Preparing to rehearse for the first run of the play I did after the stroke that robbed me of
Lear, I vowed to jog from the Tube station to the rehearsal room every morning. Slowly my
jogging has improved since then. Even to play Shakespeare’s abdicating old king, ‘four
score years and upwards’ as he describes himself, one needs to be as nimble and as fit as
possible: I still do exercises I used to do as a young actor at the National Theatre in the
1960s. For this rehearsal period it seems as if all roads lead to Lear and the ‘comic’ riffs
that tell our story, so that even seeing a film or listening to the news, or observing an
elderly man on a bus (even if it turns out to be my own reflection in the window) is part of
the preparation period.
“I still do exercises I used to do as a young actor at the
National Theatre”
Describe an average day in the rehearsal room
Working with Paul and our director Kathryn, ‘average’ seems to be the wrong word, but
for years now there have been directors and companies who use methods of working on a
show that would have seemed like average drama therapy had they been used when I first
began. Some still seem like that to me, and either wrong headed, time-wasting or
pretentious, whilst other methods are liberating. I’m not keen on tossing beanbags or
‘trust exercises’ – one learns whom one can trust.
How do you work with Kathryn and Paul?
We don’t decide anything in cold blood – devising the show is done through the heat of
improvisation. Usefully we have had Michael Vale’s set to work on almost from the
beginning. Kathryn might suggest an idea and Paul and I go at it and end up in some odd,
sometimes exciting places, whether in Lear’s Britain (and we have sat and read scenes
together of course) or we are simply on or under the steep white slope of the stage.
Sometimes it is as if we are taking part in an exhilarating magic master class.
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“We start our pretending games when we are tiny children. I play
pretending games with our terrier dog every day; there is something
elemental about it, it’s in our DNA.”
What do you enjoy most about your job?
Well it’s not answering questionnaires like this. It’s a privilege to be asked, but one is
afraid of sounding pompous or worse.
I have enjoyed working with so many talented people, I am tempted to ask ‘what’s not to
like?’ but the job can be frustrating or even dull. At its best there is something special
about reaching a kind of truth through pretending … having an inkling about what it is
like to be someone else, somewhere else, perhaps some when else. We start our pretending
games when we are tiny children. I play pretending games with our terrier dog every day;
there is something elemental about it, it’s in our DNA.
INTERVIEW WITH ASSISTANT DIRECTOR,
xxx
What originally attracted you to the project?
Describe the role of an assistant director?
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How do you prepare to enter a rehearsal period?
Describe an average day in the rehearsal room
What do you enjoy most about your job?
INTERVIEW WITH DESIGNER,
MICHAEL VALE
What does a designer do? The designer will work very closely with the director
and creative team to work out what they need in a set.
Question – why do you think it is called a ‘white card design’?
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Answer – because it is a very simple design made out of card, normally
white card!
To think about...
What strikes you about this set?
Are there any differences between this set and the white card design?
What do you think the designer had to bear in mind when putting the
rostrum together?
What originally attracted you to the project?
I have worked with Paul Hunter and Told by an Idiot before as a designer and have
always been interested in the way in which they devise productions and produce scripts
from an initial idea which appears to have many possibilities, none of which you are
precisely aware of when you begin.
Your concept is very interesting, where did you get your ideas from?
How did you work with Kathryn Hunter, director, to come up with the design?
Describe the role of a set designer
The set designer's role is to engage, aesthetically, with each and every practical and
sensual demand of the production as expressed in the script and elaborated upon by the
director, actors and other craftsmen and women involved in whatever capacity.
What do you enjoy about your job?
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Collaborating.
In groups create your own set for Never Try This At Home, the more imaginative
the better! Take the main themes of Never Try This At Home and decide which of
these would you want to bring out in your set design.
Told by an Idiot WARM UP EXERCISES AND GAMES
Devised by Paul Hunter and Told by an Idiot
Tennis ball warm up
Games and play 1
Games and play 2
Tennis ball warm up
to warm up the body, and to improve co-ordination, team building and physical
precision & perception and for fun! The exercises follow on from one another.
EXERCISE ONE - tennis ball warm up 1
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Using one tennis ball per person, stand in circle facing each other.
Place ball under right foot.
Rub foot on ball to warm foot up - rapidly rub ball backwards and forwards.
Make sure you breathe and keep other leg slightly bent.
Stop - then repeat rapid rub again, on the same foot.
Then roll a ball around outside edge of foot, first one way then the other.
Then rub rapidly again.
Place tennis ball just behind ball of foot - breathe out and apply pressure,
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first to ball of foot, then roll ball along each toe, breathing and pushing ball
onto underside of each toe on each out breath.
9
10
11
Do the same exercise back the other way, from little toe to big toe.
Then rub rigorously again.
Spread toes and try to pick ball off floor with toes.
Rub vigorously
12
18.
13
14
15
Notice difference between two. Walk round for a minute or so.
Return to ball. Swap feet.
Repeat numbers 2 to 12.
EXERCISE TWO - tennis ball warm up 2
1 Shift weight from left to right foot - repeat 10 times to loosen knees and hips.
2 Place ball between shoulder and ear on right side.
3 Place left arm behind waist.
4 Bend knees and roll arm (right) in circles - keep changing directions then trace
figure of 8 and change direction of figure of eight.
5 Return to circling arm.
6 Slowly bring to stop, remove ball and become aware of changes by turning head
gently side to side look at different.
7 Repeat numbers 2 to 6 on left side.
8 Place chin down on chest slowly, take head round, drop jaw slack and back
other way.
9 Walk around, change direction - get eye contact - don’t miss anyone out. Does it
feel different looking with a relaxed neck and shoulders?
EXERCISE THREE - tennis ball warm up 3
1 With knees bent, pass ball from left hand to right hand, swinging arms to and fro.
2 Then throw and catch ball rather than passing it from hand to hand. Movement is
as if your hand is wrapping over the ball.
3 Keep breathing - remember it's more about movement than catching ball.
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4 Do same movement but without ball - really imagine you can see ball.
5 Then go back to catching ball - extend reach.
6 Then make movement smaller - how small can you make movement?
Open out again to medium size.
7
19.
EXERCISE FOUR - partner tennis ball exercise
1 Keep ball and find partner. Do same rhythm and same movement - but with a
partner, face to face.
2 Try to find movement together - as you get going look at partner's movement.
3 Develop the exercise so that no one is leading.
4 Keep going if someone drops ball - other to catch up.
EXERCISE FIVE - movement and ball - solo
1 Solo
2 With ball in right hand, swing arm back and watch it move - let head join in
movement.
3 Breathe out when arm is down, breathe in when arm is up.
4 When hand goes forward swap ball over from one hand to the other.
5 Develop this so movement is smooth and facilitates passing of ball from one
hand to another.
6 Then move so that when ball is passed it is thrown from into air, caught by
same hand and then movement goes down.
Bend knees make movement bigger.
7
EXERCISE SIX - movement and ball - partners
1 Do same as exercise five, but with a partner.
2 Come up and go down together.
3 Breathe together.
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4 Move to throwing ball for each other during movement - don’t break swing.
EXERCISE SEVEN - one hand catch
1 Bend left leg and push through right leg.
2 Place right arm under leg with ball let ball, go and catch with same hand through leg!
20.
EXERCISE EIGHT - rhythm and catch
1 Standing straight, throw ball so spins off fingers - throw and catch.
2 Throw ball so it doesn’t spin - flick off hand.
3 Return to spinning.
4 Hold right wrist with left hand - throw ball and shake right hand whilst ball is in
air - shoulders should be relaxed.
5 Throw ball and clap as many times as you can before you catch it.
6 Throw ball, sit on floor and catch it.
7 Throw ball, sit down stand up and catch it.
8 Throw ball, run away and come back and catch it - be light on feet! Keep going
further her away from ball.
EXERCISE NINE - back relaxation with ball
1 Kneel on hands and knees.
2 Place ball on base of spine. See if you can roll it up and down spine slowly and
delicately.
EXERCISE TEN – stretching
1
2
3
4
5
Push with right foot into floor and stretch up right arm.
Move to left and do same.
Let go - bend knees and hang down - relax - move head around.
Slowly curl up - head should be last thing up.
Hang down again but stretch further with arms - keep shoulders down.
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6
Go onto all fours - take weight onto hands - then move up again.
7
Give face a rub/massage.
Yawn - big attitude (felt in full body - repeat this twice).
8
21.
EXERCISE ELEVEN – massage
1 In pairs - one to bend down, the other to give them a massage - on back - arms bum - all over - and give good rub down. (Obviously, please use your discretion
about how much body you ask each pair to touch! This exercise was taken from
rehearsals with adults.)
2 Come up slowly, head last
3 Swap over - let voice out whilst being rubbed.
GAME ONE - number games
1 Stand in circle
2 As a group try to count to 20. No-one speaks at same time, and no-one says two
numbers consecutively.
GAME TWO - name, movement and ball game
1 Say someone else in circle's name - remember whose name you said and who
said your name. No name should be repeated - everyone should be included.
2 Repeat names in order, a few times.
3
Repeat exercises but with movement. Look at someone, make eye contact, walk
towards them. As you walk towards them, they look at someone else and move
away from where they were standing. You fill the gap where they were standing.
Repeat until everyone in the circle is included and you return to the beginning.
Remember who you walked to and who walked to you.
4 Repeat movement, a few times.
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5 Start name exercise. Once it is established, add the movement exercise at the
same time.
6 If your group is up for it, add a ball sequence on top of name and movement
sequence.
Games and play 1
to encourage play and creativity within the group, and potentially to find qualities of
performance.
22.
GAME ONE - wink murder
1 Group lines up against the wall making lots of noise. Leader taps 'murderer' on
back.
2 Walk around the room. Keep eye contact with everyone you pass. If the murderer
winks at you, die horrid death after 5 seconds.
3 At point of 'death', all in group stop and look at dying one, then at each other and carry on walking.
4 If you guess who is murderer, whisper to leader. If you are wrong, you die.
5 Play again, with the instruction that murderer is to get as many out as quickly as
possible.
GAME TWO - song murder
1 Divide group in two. Half of group to play and half to create a protective circle
around the players.
2 Half who are playing to think of a song from which they can repeat a couple of
lines.
3 One by one whisper to leader what your song is.
4 Leader to say what murderer's song is.
5 Group to close eyes and sing their song very quietly and walk around the space
(protected from harm by other half of the group) and listen for murder's song.
6 Murderer can catch people as they go past. Everyone else tries to avoid
murderers song with eyes shut.
7 If they are having trouble catching everyone, you might want to pause and
allow murderer to sing alone so the group can locate him/her.
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8 Swap over.
9
Watchers to notice how people move - could progress this by drawing character
work from people's movement and voice/attitudes when they are thinking
about something else - e.g. the murderer catching them!
23.
EXERCISE ONE - ball movement exercise
1 Walk round space.
2 Get eye contact.
3 Leader adds ball.
4
Keep it passing from person to person as you walk - don’t hold onto ball.
5 Introduce second ball - and a third.
6 Ask group to jog and keep passing ball.
7 Could add as many balls as there are people.
EXERCISE TWO - ball movement performance exercise
1 In pairs with a tennis ball.
2 A - throws ball up into air and runs away. B runs to catch ball.
3 B catches ball, throws up into the air then runs - A catches.
4 Repeat.
5 Now, when you catch ball, look at leader - clock him/her. Moment is suspended
somehow.
6 Ask group to sit and be an audience.
7
Pairs chosen to show work. As they throw and catch they clock audience.
8 Repeat but this time, they have to tell a story, but they only tell story when
holding ball. Leader to give them a title: e.g. “the gun fight”. Start game just with
balls and then add story once balls are established.
EXERCISE THREE - partner ball forehead exercise
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1 In pairs. Place tennis ball between foreheads.
2 Move around space with no one leading.
3 Find a moment of stillness, then see if you can move again without anyone
leading.
4 Don’t allow ball to drop.
5 See if you can sit on the floor and come up again.
6 Add - talk about what happened after leaving school/college last night (or
something else that isn't taxing!).
Ask group to sit and be an audience.
7
24.
8 Pairs chosen to show work. Add “no you didn’t”- contradict story by provoking it
- other person to try and placate contradicter. (e.g. 'I went home on the bus', 'no
you didn't!', 'oh yes! You're right - I forgot. I walked home because I didn't have
money for the bus fare.', 'no you didn't!"' … etc.)
9 Repeat the exercise with another pair but remove ball - show power of a
character. Encourage them to play with space and see how they can be
intimidating. Are the pair equals or is one more intimidating than the other?
GAME THREE - FOUR SQUARE
1
2
3
4
5
Mark out floor with chalk or tape as in diagram:
4
1
3
2
Play with a football. Try to knock King (standing in square 4) out.
People's status is raised as they stay in. Ball has to bounce in a square or you're
out. Aim is to knock King out - by hitting the ball to him/her so he/she can't
return it. Other team members form a line by square 1 and join in as soon as
someone is knocked out and everyone moves up a square.
A different version: ball has to touch 2 hands, then 2 feet. When it touches feet
it doesn't have to bounce).
Another version: pass ball from foot to hand to foot to hand.
Games and Play 2
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to encourage play and creativity within the group, and potentially to find qualities of
performance.
These games followed a general warm up session - finding new and inventive ways
of warming up our bodies and voice. The warm up session ended with an all over
body massage in pairs, where the voice was released.
24.
GAME ONE - cat and mouse
1 Groups of 3. Link arms.
2 1 person nominated as cat. Another as mouse.
3 Cat chases mouse until mouse links arms with a group of 3. As they link, the
person on the other end of the chain becomes the mouse.
4 Ask cat and mouse to think about tactics - who is in control?
5 Version 2: when link on, immediately change role. So mouse becomes cat and
begins chasing. This provides a very entertaining moment of confusion where the
cat wonders if they're a mouse or a cat!
GAME TWO - name tag
1 As usual name tag. Out if you get tagged 3 times.
2 Version 2. Swap names within the group - repeat names a few times first.
3 Version 3. Use the names of the characters you are playing.
Grandma footsteps - and extensions
1 One person is on one side of the room facing away from the rest of the group who
are standing in a line.
2 They are to imagine that the person on the other side of the room is the ‘grandma’
or ‘granddad.’
3 The large group then try to creep up on the ‘grandma’, who turns occasionally to
try and catch them moving. If anyone is spotted moving then they have to start
again.
4 The first person to touch ‘grandma’ on her shoulder is the next ‘grandma.’
5
This activity can be extended to getting the group to creep and go down on all
fours and up again before they are allowed to touch ‘grandma.’
27 NEVER TRY THIS AT HOME - Education Pack
6 Also another extension is to not actually have a ‘grandma’ but a imaginary one,
and the line/group have to be focused and really work together as a group and
freeze all together when the ‘imaginary grandma’ turns.
25.
EXERCISE ONE - bamboo sticks (need a range of sticks or pieces of wood about
2 foot long for this exercise)
1 everyone in group walks around the room.
2 Sticks are introduced one at a time by leader, and thrown from hand to hand as
group walk. Gentle pace. Eye contact vital. Add more sticks if you think the group
can stand it!
3
Everyone in circle. Pass sticks to neighbour on right, all on same beat.
4 Add reversal - leader says 'change!' - all group pass to left.
5
Add extra stick. Leader stands in centre of circle passing a stick to someone after
saying their name. so - 'Paul' - then stick is thrown to Paul, Paul catches it and
passes it back to leader - at the same time as passing other sticks around circle.
6 Variation. In a small circle, hold stick out to right. Throw it to right and run to left
with eye contact. No sticks to drop!
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TESTIMONIALS
‘...buzzing after two days with Told by an Idiot - what an absolutely inspiring two
days of workshops!’
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‘It was a pleasure to enter a room where there was such a palpable energy and
enthusiasm for the work at hand as well as genuine interest taken in the group as a
whole.’
‘You made me remember why I wanted to make theatre’
‘Fabulous atmosphere, expertly and quickly constructed, full of fun and inspiring
games. Good play.’
‘Told by an Idiot have such a wealth of experience and expertise – it was a joy and
privilege to have some of that shared with us. Thank you for an enlightening,
engaging and invigorating day!’
Working with TBAI reminded me why I wanted to be an actor in the first place’
‘An energising and inspiring two days that leave you wishing all workshops were
like this’
‘Absolutely worth doing. Highly recommended. Joyous and positive, non-scary and
fun combined with practical exercises that lead to direct, tangible, visible results. I
wish I could work like this all the time.’
PREVIOUS SHOW IMAGES
30 NEVER TRY THIS AT HOME - Education Pack
CASANOVA 2009, Lyric Hammersmith
THE FAHRENHEIT TWINS 2010, Drum Theatre Plymouth/unitytheatre/Barbican
31 NEVER TRY THIS AT HOME - Education Pack
THE COMEDY OF ERRORS 2010/11, RSC
AND THE HORSE YOU RODE IN ON 2011, Drum Theatre
Plymouth/Barbican/Brighton Festival
32 NEVER TRY THIS AT HOME - Education Pack
YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU 2012, Royal Exchange Manchester
ADD MORE
For more information please contact:
Rachel Meyrick – Assistant Producer
020 7407 4123
rachelmeyrick@toldbyanidiot.org
RADA Studios, 16 Chenies street, WC1E 7EX
Twitter: @toldbyanidiot93
Facebook: Told by an Idiot
33 NEVER TRY THIS AT HOME - Education Pack