Lesson video

Hello, and welcome to drama.

This is using drama conventions to explore contemporary issues.

This is lesson three of six, a person and a place part one.

This unit covers topics such as seeking asylum, leaving home and being a refugee.

If these are sensitive topics for you, we recommend checking with an adult before starting this lesson.

Or completing the lesson with a trusted adult nearby.

My name is Mr. Wood, and I'm going to be your teacher for this lesson.

If you're ready, let's get started.

For today's lesson, you're going to need a pen and paper and plenty of space.

So you can pause the video now to get those things and click resume if you're ready to move on.

Well done if you've already completed your introductory quiz.

If you haven't, you can go back and do that.

Now we're going to start with meeting the character.

Okay, that will all make sense in a moment, then we're going to understand the scenario.

Similar to what we did in our very first lesson.

Then we'll continue looking at developing that character, before we finish up with our exit quiz.

Keywords for today's lesson are character, and that is of course, a person with qualities distinctive to them.

Refugee, and this is a person who is fleeing conflict or persecution.

Okay, so someone that's in danger.

Scenario is an outline of a scene or play, with its own setting.

And visualisation, a drama strategy that allows you to imagine the details of something.

So that could be setting, it could be an object.

It could be a new location.

Now we're going to be meeting our character for today.

This is Taylor, Taylor is 13 years old.

They have a family and they are happy.

You must now work in role as Taylor for the next activity.

I'd like you to think of a last name for Taylor.

Do that now, have you got one? Let's move on.

So this is your life as Taylor.

You are happy and you're settled.

You have many friends, you and your family all look out for each other and that's all you need.

Taylor lives in Libya, North Africa.

Libya is situated in the Sahara desert, if you've ever heard of that place.

And there has been conflict between government and the public, where many people have been killed.

That may not be pleasant, but that is your life.

Okay, that is the background of Taylor, and that's where they come from.

To them, they know no different.

Trouble in your home has never been too far away.

The area can at times be dangerous but that's okay because you're used to it.

You know what to look out for, you know what to avoid.

Risk and fear have just become part of your everyday life.

I'd like you to close your eyes now, think about what it is you can see.

What's in front of you, what's directly beneath you? Can you feel the rubble beneath your feet? Some paths can be really tricky to walk on.

Can you hear that sound in the distance? of rioting is it? You can hear bottles being smashed.

That is the sound of chaos.

What can you smell? You know what that smell is don't you? You've smelt that before.

You're well accustomed to that.

It's the smell of smoke.

Something not too far away is burning.

What can you touch? If you had to reach down to the ground, what was it you would be able to touch? What would it feel like? Are you looking for something within the rubble? Is there something of yours there? What can you taste, on the tip of your tongue what is that sensation? Adrenaline, hunger? Okay, well done.

It's late one evening and you're asleep.

Your mother is saying that you and your family are leaving home tonight.

It is too dangerous to stay where you are.

You're home, you have no idea where you are going but you do need to leave all of your things behind and become a refugee.

What might you be feeling at this time? What's going through your head.

There is tension rising in this scenario.

Is that true or is that false? Three, two, one, of course, the answer is true.

There is pace increasing, there's a sense of severity.

So what's going to happen if they don't go? Is the scenario going to get a lot more severe for that person, for poor Taylor? So let's meet this character properly.

This is Taylor, they're not from around here.

They're 13, as you know, they have family.

They don't get to see their friends anymore.

And sometimes they get very sad.

You just experienced a brief few moments of Taylor's life, in a very quick, very consolidated way.

So this is a role on the wall.

This is an example of the sort of ideas for Taylor.

Okay, their the name's at the top there.

On the outside, we've got external factors.

So we have, always worrying about their sister.

Dislikes new places, likes the sunshine.

Tired most of the time and on the inside, we've got the internal factors.

So things that affect their personality.

Caring, kind, so this is one example of a role on the wall for Taylor and a role on the wall is something that we should be quite used to, as we looked over them in the last set of lessons.

So you're going to have a go now at creating both the outside and the inside of the role on the wall for Taylor.

You decide their background and their personality.

And this information must have both the internal and external factors.

So think about feelings, think about personality traits.

Think about their family, their friends, their appearance, their likes, their dislikes and hobbies.

Okay, you don't need to rush this.

The more detail you have, the better because it will help you understand in your mind, who Taylor is.

Okay, so pause the video to be able to complete this.

Once you've given it a go, click resume and we'll move on.

Now we move on to understanding the scenario.

So in the last year, Taylor fled Libya with family.

Libya is listed as one of the three most dangerous countries on earth at present.

They've had to relocate to new accommodation multiple times.

Would you be comfortable moving frequently? Would you be okay with it? Would you do it if you have to? What about if your life depended on it? What about if your family's lives depended on it? There are many decisions, many choices in life that aren't obviously clear, they aren't easy.

And it's clear to me that Taylor had to make some decisions that they were first of all, not comfortable with.

And secondly, they realised they had to do.

Taylor has had multiple fresh starts, new friends and goodbyes.

There were occasions when saying goodbye were not possible.

To leave somewhere at the drop of a hat.

Like the very last part of the introduction, where they had to leave their food, regardless of how tired and hungry they were.

Taylor has seen many new places and travelled through many different countries, all in an effort to escape war, death, violence and catastrophe, very, very negative.

And refugee is someone who is fleeing conflict or persecution.

Is that true or is it false? Three, two, one of course, the answer is true.

They seek refuge in a sanctuary and this can be anywhere at all.

Okay, so a refugee is someone who is trying to escape the conflict and escape the danger and anywhere that doesn't have that immediate danger or conflict, is seen as a sanctuary.

Okay, it's a safe place.

Now that we understand the scenario which Taylor finds themselves in, regardless of their choice, we now need to develop the character in line with that scenario.

In order to show a successful character, you need to understand them, okay.

You need to know that character inside and out to be able to show an audience the best possible version of that character.

So we're going to develop our understanding of them through various drama strategies.

What information would you like to know about Taylor? What parts of their life have I not alluded to, have I not given you? What questions would you need to ask in order to find out this information? You're going to have a go at jotting down these questions between 10 and 15 in hot seating.

Okay, these are questions that should provide us with key information about the character.

And you may choose to find out about their background, relationships and they don't need to be romantic relationships.

They can be relationships that were positive or negative.

Okay, so with family, with friends, with an environment.

You can have a relationship with an environment, whether it's positive, as I said before, or negative, Something that makes you happy or sad and you can have a range of questions for history, okay.

To try and figure out where they were at a particular time in history, and then why they moved.

It could be that you have a range of questions on family, heritage, where they came from and so on.

Okay, so click pause to be able to complete this task and jot down your questions in a list and then click resume when you're ready to move on.

Now you have your questions, it's time to find out the answers.

So in your interpretation of Taylor's character, answer these questions that you have written down, as Taylor would.

Okay, so this is going to involve your own imagination and interpretation of Taylor's character.

Stay in role and answer creatively.

And you can use a piece of costume to help you stay in role if that's helpful.

Okay, it could be a scarf, it could be hat.

It could be a jacket, a jumper, a shoe, whatever you like.

Experiment with the character through your use of vocal and physical skills.

Okay, so think about how Taylor would speak, how they would look around the space.

How they would interact with certain things in the space and how they would present themselves to a new audience.

Pause the video, to be able to complete this task and click resume when you're ready to move on.

If you were able to observe Taylor on their journey from danger to sanctuary, seeing what they went through, how on earth would you describe it? What sorts of things do you think they've witnessed? If you could be on the journey with them from start to finish, as an object.

We look at the idea of a coat, boots, bag or a string bracelet, what would you say? If these are items were able to observe that journey, how would their perspective offer new light to the character and the situation? Pick one of them for me, either option one, two, three, or four.

It's been a long journey.

Yeah, I'm Holey, that's right.

Yeah, been well-worn, well-worn.

Well, someone's got to be positive haven't they? This has not been an easy ride and trust me, I'm not the first one to do this job.

My brothers and sisters have done this before me.

Let's just say, they were well used too.

But it's okay because we're fine now, we've done the journey, it's been long and it's been tough, but it's okay 'cause now I can rest.

I get to sit and think about, not having to think about the journey.

It was cold.

It was tough.

It was tough, it was a real challenge.

I didn't really do much.

I didn't really see, a great deal of what was going on there but I felt the issues.

Taylor would pull at me when they were nervous.

Yeah, I've broken many times, just frayed away.

Each time I thought, that's it.

I'm just in an extra piece of fragility and weakness, but now I don't look like that.

I've got marks of where I've been put back together again and tied back into one.

And I look back on those parts of myself as strength.

I mean, literally, they are moments of strength because it shows where I've fallen apart and been put back together again.

And I've seen the stresses of Taylor's life and they've all come through me.

And I like to think that I have helped Taylor make themselves strong.

There was one time when we were moving late at night and we got separated from the rest of the family and it felt like forever away from them.

Somehow we bumped back into them.

And at that point, I was there with them.

I was almost tethering them together, like chains, chains taking us to a place where they have the key and they can take them away 'cause we never need to worry about parting again and not seeing one another.

So it was scary, it was terrifying.

But now there's hope.

And there are symbols of strength in us, that live through us as we've seen this journey and we've been through it together.

Now we're going to use speaking objects to understand multiple perspectives.

So you've chosen one of your following options, coat, boots, bag or string bracelet.

And you're going to speak as if you are that object.

Talk about what they've seen from their perspective about the truth of the journey Taylor has been on.

You need to pause the video to be able to complete this task and click resume when you're ready to move on.

Okay, how did you get on? Did you enjoy that activity, was it quite challenging? I hope that you've found a way around being sensitive with this.

I hope there were moments that you could connect with on an emotional level and also on a very appropriate level as well.

Okay, so understanding more about the scenario and also appreciating that this is a scenario that's real for a lot of people.

Okay, so speaking objects can allow you into a main character's head.

Is that true or is that false? Of course, the answer is false.

Speaking objects gives us many outsider perspectives on a situation that we might be quite close to when we work in role.

So now consider how these descriptors might change the way you speak as that object.

So you can choose the same object for the last activity or you can choose a new one, it's entirely up to you but we have for the coat, heavy, wet, torn with some patchwork.

For boots we have durable, dirty, practical, strong.

For the bag, we have saggy, slow, sluggish and for the string bracelet, we have tired, worn and frayed.

When we talk about speaking objects, we're now going to give them a hint of character as well.

Okay, so that when we speak as that object, we can start to understand which object it is.

So, we need to develop your understanding of that object.

Use the descriptors to inform how you speak in role, consider the range of vocal skills you could use.

Okay, pause the video to be able to complete this task and then click resume when you're ready to move on.

Okay, now that you've done that and you've given it a go, I want you to contrast this by picking another option.

So either the coat, boots, bag or string bracelet.

Speak as if you are that object, talk about what they have seen from their perspective and their thoughts on the scenario.

Try to notice different aspects to your previous object.

A recap of them, the coat is heavy, wet, torn, patchwork.

Boots, durable, dirty, practical, strong.

Bag, saggy, slow, sluggish.

String bracelet, tired, worn, frayed.

Pause the video to be able to complete this task and click resume when you're ready to move on.

Okay, how did you get on? We've reached the point in the lesson now where we're at the end.

And today you've worked brilliantly to meet a character and build them using a role on the wall, just like we did in our previous lesson.

You've understood the scenario that might contribute to the character.

And you developed the understanding of the character through things like hot seating and speaking objects, to gain multiple perspectives.

Those drama strategies are incredibly useful when building a character and developing your understanding.

So great work, well done.

As always, you can share your work with us on Twitter.

Just make sure you ask your parent or carer for permission first.

They can tag us on Twitter using @OakNational and hashtag Learn with Oak.

Until our next lesson, which is a person and a place part two, take care, and I will see you then, bye-bye.