Lesson video

Hello, and welcome to your drama lesson today with me, Mrs. Mears.

This is lesson three in unit three and we are going to be doing our first lesson on our Greek myth Theseus and the Minotaur.

Today we will consider the characters of this myth and how their stories and emotions shift.

We will also improvise and perform key moments in role as Theseus, as he explores his unique setting.

Tor the lesson today, we don't need much but we do need plenty of space to work in.

Make sure there's space above your head, to the side for you to move around in.

And that the floor is clear so that you can move around without hurting yourself by treading on anything.

Please pause the video to set this up now.

Great, our key words for today's lesson are thought tracking, thought tracking is when you speak aloud your thoughts in role as character.

We're also going to be looking at conscience alley.

Now conscience alley is when a character travels through an alley or a corridor if you will, and they travel along this path and the walls of this path tell the character what to do and why.

We're also going to be looking at mime.

Now, mime is where you use your imagination to handle a non-existent object as if it will really there.

And we're also going to be looking at still image.

Now we make still images by freezing the action, which is known as a freeze frame, but also by creating something ourselves as a frozen image.

The characters in the story today have interesting names.

So we're going to go through them all now, so that you know who they are and how they're related to one another.

The first character is Theseus.

Theseus is our hero and he is King Aegeus' son.

We've also got Aegeus, he's the King.

The King of Athens, which as you may know, is in Greece.

We've also got Ariadne.

Now, she lives somewhere else.

She lives in Knossos and she is the daughter of King Minos.

And then we have another character called Minos, King Minos and he's the King of Knossos.

Our final character today is the Minotaur.

The Minotaur is an interesting character because he is half man.

So he his part human, but he's also half bull.

Okay, please get yourselves up into your space because you're going to begin the story now with me.

We're both going to be in role as the same character, Theseus.

So let's start walking on our way to meet him.

On our way we've travelled across lands and we've taken part in what is known as six labours.

We defeated monsters, we've saved people from bad guys.

We've been absolute heroes and you know what? As we're walking, people notice us.

They know that I am the hero, I am Theseus.

So are you, we're all going to really relish in the joy.

People are waving at us, we're going to wave back.

It's wonderful, everyone is so happy to see us.

And we're walking towards Athens.

We're feeling really positive about meeting our father for the first time.

But as we're walking, we notice that the Athenians don't seem so happy to see us.

I mean, they seem to recognise us as Theseus but they're not really responding to us in that way.

They seem really sad, I wonder why that is? I wonder why everyone is so sad and downtrodden? We're almost at the entrance of Poseidon's temple.

This is where our father is.

We know he's in here.

We've been told, so feel that emotion.

Are you anxious, are you nervous? Are you scared, are you excited? How do you feel to meet your father? And in a moment we're going to open the door and we're going to stride inside.

So it's a push open door, so think about the emotion you feel as you open the door and let's go inside.

We're going to walk up to our father who looks at us, but doesn't seem to notice who we are and we're going to kneel before him.

And I'd like you to say, I am Theseus.

Now, you're going to have a little chat with your father and he's going to tell you some very, very interesting things.

So listen out to some of those key moments that he's going to tell you.

Oh, my son, my wonderful son.

How pleased I am that you are back, finally, you're here to see me.

Well I guess you're wondering why the people here are so sad.

You see, a long time ago, we were in a war with Knossos and you see, we lost the war.

We are so few, they are so many.

We just couldn't cope.

And you see, the only way that we could survive was to make a deal.

And that deal is the reason why people are sad today.

You see, in order to keep the peace with Knossos, every seven years, I have to send 14 people to King Minos in Crete.

Now that may not sound like much.

Seven young maidens, seven young men.

They send them to Minos and there they will be locked inside a giant maze.

This maze is called the labyrinth.

They never come back, they never return.

And yet it is the only way to stop war from continuing.

You see, it's not just a maze, inside the maze lifts a creature with a head of a bull and the body of a man.

This creature hunts and eats our people in the labyrinth.

It's so horrific, the creature is called the Minotaur and we also scared of it.

Unfortunately, tomorrow is the day that I need to send 14 more people to go to Knossos, to go to the labyrinth, to be hunted and killed and eaten by the Minotaur.

Okay, so how many people are taken to King Minos every seven years, do you remember? That's right it's 14 people every seven years, seven men and seven women.

So now that we know the situation, what is it that you think Theseus could do about this? Does he have many options? We're now going to do activity called conscience alley.

Now conscious alley is an activity where the walls speak to the character and tell the character what to do.

So one side about alleyway will be telling Theseus to go to Minos, the other side will tell Theseus to not go to Minos.

Don't go to Minos.

Now, we need to think about some interesting ways to say this.

So we're going to be using our voices in a really interesting way.

I want you to think of all the different ways that you can convince Theseus to go to Minos.

Maybe you're going to say it with speed, go to Minos.

Maybe you're going to say it slowly, go to Minos.

Maybe you're going to say it softly, go to Minos.

Maybe going to say really harsh, go to Minos.

Think about the tone in your voice.

Maybe we will explore it with pitch.

Go to Minos, go to Minos, I think the lower pitch works a bit better, you might disagree with me.

Maybe you will explore volume, being really loud and really quiet.

You can have a variety of different voices.

You're also going to be exploring how we're going to say, don't go to Minos, And it's that don't, which will be really, really important.

Are you going to emphasise the word don't, maybe you're going to emphasis the word don't go.

Don't go to Minos, maybe it's don't go to Minos.

What words are you going to emphasise? So, we're going to do this all together.

I'm going to say it with you, but I'm going to say it in a very neutral voice and I would like you to experiment with different voices.

So we're going to go one, two, three, four, five, six.

And as you can see, I've numbered their different conscience alley speeches that I would like you to say as we do this, are you ready? So, go to Minos.

Don't go to Minos, go to Minos.

Don't go to Minos, go to Minos, don't go to Minos, which voice really worked? Was there one of those, when you said it, that felt really convincing and so much more convincing than another that maybe Theseus might listen to? We're going to carry this on now, but instead of saying, go to Minos and don't go to Minos, I need you to come up with something more exciting.

I need a reason why.

So we're going to be thinking about the terms, what if? You're going to start quite far away so that you can take your six steps.

This is one example of how you might want to do it.

What if you go and you become a hero? Everyone will want to be with you and see you.

You're going to be the best King ever when you're older.

But what if you're killed? You'll never reign at all, you won't even be King.

But what if you manage to save the day? Not only will there never be wars again, but you'll be able to save these people from their death.

Save hundreds of people from being killed every seven years, it's amazing.

But what if you don't succeed? What if not only are you killed, but King Minos gets angry and starts another war? So now I'd like you to have a go yourselves.

So on each step, try and persuade Theseus to either stay or go to Crete, take six steps in total.

Now what if, is a great sentence starter but feel free to use any alternative.

Consider your voice and your facial expressions as well as your language.

Pause the video now to complete your task and press play once you've finished.

Brilliant, well done.

What was your most convincing argument? Was it something that was a stay or a go? And why was that the most convincing argument? Now, if Theseus had really those arguments in your conscience alley, would he have still gone to King Minos in Knossos or would you stay back in Athens? So, we've already done our decision to leave Athens and now we are going to accept the gifts.

We then need to escape from the labyrinth and perform the moment that we defeat the Minotaur.

Now that we've done our conscience alley, we know what we want, we want to go to Knossos, we think we can kill the Minotaur, we think we can do it.

So we tell our father, King Aegeus and he tells us that he's not happy, but if we're going to do it, we've got to do a few things.

We've got to be careful.

We've got to be amazing, we've got to be brave.

But also when we come back, so that he knows that we've made it alive, we need to make sure we change the sails on our ship because usually they are black and we need to change them to white sails.

And that will show him that we are there and we are alive and we've made it.

So upon doing this, we make our deal with our father and we take the place of one of the men and we're onboard the boat to Knossos.

Now we're onboard, I want you all to imagine that you're onboard this boat and it's rocky.

So can you stand and rock around? There's not much room to sit.

You're squished in with all of these 13 other people, have a look at them.

What do they look like, are they scared, are they terrified? Have I made peace with what's going to happen? Are any of them looking brave, are any of them pleased that you're with them? And I want you to say aloud, a thought to track as we're going around.

So something that you, Theseus, are currently feeling now.

So can you tell me, it can start with, I wish, I wonder, I worry, I want.

So say your thought track out loud now.

Great, okay, now we're on the ship and we're about to come into land and it's looking still rather beautiful.

It's very, very similar looking to Athens in fact.

And you're pushed off the boat, feel yourself be pushed off the boat.

And you're in a line as prisoner with all of the other people from Athens.

And before you are put into your prison, you notice King Minos, he's over there.

He's over there with two young daughters it seems. And one of them, one of them is very, very attractive and she seems to be smiling at you.

Now, this is quite nice, you know, So maybe you smile back, maybe you give her daggers back with your eyes.

Think about how you would react to being smiled at by the daughter of the King who's about to imprison you in a labyrinth.

So eventually, you and the others, you're pushed off into a cell.

So imagine yourself now in a small cell.

So can you make yourself really, really small as if you're in a prison and you're locked up waiting to be thrown into the labyrinth, when there's a knock at the door.

And it's the beautiful daughter of King Minos.

And she asks to see you.

So you get up, going to brush yourself down.

And I want you to think about what you're going to say to her but you're too tongue tied.

You don't say anything to her at all.

Instead, she tells you that she's here to save you and she hands you two things, a sword.

So take your sword in your hands, have a look at it, put it down.

And the other thing she gives you is a ball of string, it seems a bit strange doesn't it? So put that down.

And she says to you, she wants to help you get out of the labyrinth, but you need to make a deal with her.

If you do get out the labyrinth, she wants you to take her back to Athens.

What do you think? Well, there's no question about it is there.

Of course you're going to take that deal.

So accept her deal, maybe with a handshake, maybe with a nod, think about how you would like to accept it.

And then she goes off.

Great work everyone, some really great acting.

Now, I've got a question for you, been given these two gifts, a ball of string and a sword, how are you going to use these to defeat a Minotaur? Can you, why do you think Ariadne is helping you? Is it because she's in love with you? Is it because she hates her father and just wants to get away? We're now going to move on to our mime activity.

So I'd like you to make sure you're in a space where you can move a little bit again.

And we are first of all going to do some miming with a sword.

So I want you to have a look at this sword, before you even pick it up, have a look at it and think about what sort of size it is.

Is it really big, is it really small? This is the sword that Ariadne gave you and have a think about what it weighs.

So let's go and pick it up now.

Pick it up first, if it's really big, think about how you might need to handle it.

And maybe it's really, really heavy.

Maybe you need two hands to hold it.

Maybe it's quite light and you only need one hand.

So think about how it's going to move given how heavy or light it is and the size of it.

I mean, maybe it's a bit too big for the room you're in.

So I have to think about it whilst you're playing with it.

Another thing to think about is the texture.

Does it feel really soft on your hand or is it quite gritty and grippy? I mean, is it made from string? What's it made from this handle part? What about the actual sword part? Is it metal, is it wood, what is it? And you know, is it smooth? What's it like, is it sharp enough? Do you think that could be used to pierce skin of the Minotaur, do you think you need to slice? How are you going to use this sword do you think? How exactly do you hold it? Do your hands need to be in a particular position? Do you need two hands on it? Have a real think about how you're holding it.

Do you need to hold it at arms length because it's so heavy and so big or can you kind of bend your elbow when you're using it? What is it, can you kind of pop it down into your belt or is it something you have a need to hold the whole time? What does it smell like? Have a smell, I mean, is it old or is it new? I mean, does it smell of blood from previous battles? If it was a soldier? I don't know how Ariadne got this.

Did she steal it from a soldier? Did she just find it on the ground or has she always had this in her possession and she's never used it before? Also to think about the colour of it? You know, is it rusty and old or is it brand new and shiny? Something else to think about is the temperature.

Now that sounds strange, but is this a warm sword? Is it warm your head or is it really cold to the touch? And something else that you need to think about is the noise that it makes.

Is this going to, if you knock it against something, is it going to just kind of knock like wood, or is it going to make a kind of reverberating echo sound like tin, like metal? What sort of sound is it going to make? Put that sword down now.

I think we've explored the sword.

I think we need to look at the ball now.

The ball of string, now let's have a look.

First of all, is it big, is it small? Pick it up.

Okay, you need to pick up two hands, can you pick up with one hand, can it go in your pocket? What's it going to be like? And what does it weigh? Can you kind of juggle with it? Can you throw it up and down? You know, or is it quite heavy? Is it deceptively heavy? What's the texture? I mean, is it really thick wool? Has it just been shorn from a sheep and put together or is this wound really, really tightly.

How exactly do you hold it? Is it just one hand or two hands? Have a think about that.

What does it smell like? Maybe it smells still of like grass, 'cause it's literally still got grass in it from all the things that got caught up in the wool from the sheep, or maybe it's been cleaned and it smells really clean and brand new.

What colour is it? Is it the colour of wool, has it been dyed a certain colour? Does it retain heat or is it cold and what noise does it make if you drop it on the floor? Have a real think about that, pick it up.

Have a real think, great.

Those are the gifts with accepted.

We now need to get into the labyrinth and escape.

Okay, you're in the labyrinth now, you've got your ball of string.

You're going to tie one end to a corner somewhere.

you tell all the other Athenians to stay by the door because you are going in, you're going in search of the Minotaur.

You've got your sword, you've got your string, it's in your pocket and it's going to follow you as you go along.

So you can find your way back.

Okay, as we're walking, I want you all to walk very cautiously.

So think about what that means, to walk cautiously and you're looking around and every time you hear me clap, I want you to stand still because it's as if your character, Theseus, has heard something and he suddenly feels scared or nervous or you're walking very cautiously, very, very cautiously, freeze.

Where did that noise come from? Choose a direction that the noise came from and now start walking in that direction.

This time, we're going to walk in a very, very proud way.

So walk proudly as you walk through this part of the labyrinth.

You're proud, your chest is up high.

Think about how it makes you feel and freeze.

Choose another direction that you heard that from.

Okay, now you're going to walk bravely through this part of the maze.

Okay, brave, very, very brave.

Keep up that braveness, you are very brave.

Choose a direction that that came from.

Okay, now you're going to walk through this part of the labyrinth cool-ly, like a cool person.

You're cool, you're relaxed, you're easy-going.

Does this feel true? Does this feel like a way that Theseus would really walk through? I didn't even get to finish my sentence.

It came from that direction didn't it? Okay, now we are going to walk very arrogantly.

Think about how arrogant you are as your character, as you walk through this part of the maze.

And now you're going to walk very, very slowly through this next part.

Very, very slowly, because it feels like he might be very, very near and approaching you.

How slow can you go? Just how slowly can you move? Okay, now we're going to walk very, very nervously.

Okay, very nervously, think about what that does to you.

Does it create some gestures? What does it do? Okay, we're starting to get really, really nervous.

Okay, now carefully, we're going to walk in this direction.

Okay everyone, careful, you're very careful.

And we think we see him.

What does he look like? How are we going to interact with him? Take a deep breath, hold your sword, get it out and relax.

Well done, you did a great job.

So I'm going to ask you now, which adverb that I used when I was guiding you through the labyrinth, felt the most truthful? So when you walked proudly, did that feel real and truthful? Like how it should have done that Theseus.

Maybe felt carefully was the most truthful adverb, or cool-ly or slowly or bravely.

So, we're going to move on now to our final part of the lesson, where we are going to be doing a performance.

This is not a guided journey.

This is you thinking about your own performance.

We're going to be doing still images.

So there will be five still images.

And what you're going to do is, you're going to hold a still image for about five seconds.

And then you're going to slowly change into your next still image, and then hold that again for about five seconds.

And you're going to keep doing that.

So you're holding each still image for five seconds and then morphing into the next still image.

So our first still image will be the moment that you are looking for the Minotaur cautiously.

So it might be something where your hands over your head to look really carefully and you're squinting your eyes maybe.

Maybe you're cowering and corner, looking but being really scared and nervous, who knows, you've got to be cautious in this still image.

Our next still image is the moment that Theseus sees the Minotaur and feels dread.

So maybe he's suddenly up against the wall and he feels really, really scared.

Or maybe he's clutching his sword really close but I want to see the dread in your face.

We've then got the still image, the moment you prepare to swing your sword.

So this isn't the moment you actually are attacking him, this is the moment you're preparing to swing.

Our next one is the moment that he is dead.

Now you might choose for him to be on the floor and for you to be above him, you might choose to both be on the floor or for him to be leaning up against the wall and you're just standing there in front of him with your sword, who knows? But this is a moment he's now dead and you don't believe it.

So I want to see in your face and your body you don't believe that he is dead.

And your final still image is a different emotion.

He is dead and now you feel something slightly different, maybe it's relief.

So I would like you in a moment to pause the video to complete your task, remember to hold each image for five seconds before going to the next one.

This might be something that you want to film to show your teachers or it might just be something that you want to do by yourself and let it be finished at the end, but enjoy it and have a go.

So pause when you're ready to complete this task.

You did a really great performance.

How did you show Theseus experiencing a full range of emotions during this action, this action which would have only lasted a minute, maybe even less in real life? You would have seen him, attacked him, he's dead.

It might have been a matter of seconds but you, in your performance, showed a range of emotion.

How did you do that? Okay, so I'm just going to tell you a little bit about the end of the story.

Theseus ends up defeating the Minotaur and he takes everybody out of the labyrinth as he follows it back with his string.

He gets to the door and he gets everyone out.

Ariadne's there and waiting, Theseus and the others get on the boat and they're sailing to Athens.

However, there's a great big storm and they end up having to stop on the Island of Naxos first.

Whilst they're there Theseus is approached by the God Dionysus.

Now Dionysus in love with Ariadne and doesn't want Theseus to take her to Athens because he wants to marry her instead.

And he threatens Theseus with lots of problems and lots of wars.

And so Theseus decides, yep, I think I'll leave Ariadne.

And he gets away quickly.

He gets away so quickly, grabs all of the other Athenians, he gets on the boat and he sails back to Athens.

He forgets however, to change the colour of his sails.

He sails back with black sails instead of white ones.

Now King of Aegeus sees the boat coming back with black sails and assumes that this means that Theseus has been killed.

This troubles him so much that he jumps off the cliff and falls into the sea.

And that is one of the reasons why the sea is now called the Aegean sea, it's named after King Aegeus.

That is ultimately the story of Theseus, which you've explored brilliantly today.

So my big question to you before we end, is what was the most heroic moment in the story? Maybe you believe it was the moment that Ariadne actually approached Theseus and she defied her father, King Minos.

Maybe you felt the most heroic moment was indeed the moment where Theseus killed the Minotaur or maybe it was just simply getting on the boat and going to Knossos in the first place.

Well done everyone.

I hope you enjoyed the lesson today.

We've got one more lesson where we're going to be exploring the Minotaur in much more detail.

So I hope you can join me for that.

For now, well done.

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