Lesson video

Hello.

Welcome to today's drama lesson, with me, Mrs. Mears.

This is part two of Beowulf.

We're going to be considering the settings in the story of Beowulf.

And we are going to create and develop a performance, that will bring our key settings and situations to life.

We're also, going to be sharing out thoughts about, how and why it is, that we can still connect to a poem, that is over 1000 years old.

In the lesson today, all you're going to need, is plenty of space to work in.

So make sure you've got space above your head, if you're going to be standing up.

Space to the sides, because I'm going to expect you to move around and space on the floor.

So clear anything that you might tread on.

Please press pause, while you get those things ready.

For today's lesson, I split it into three different activities.

The first one is, using physical theatre and soundscaping.

I'll explain what they are later.

We are then going to move on, into thought tracking and talking objects.

And finally, we're going to be doing our performing.

We're going to the journey back in time.

Our key words for today are, physical theatre.

Now physical theatre, is when we use our bodies, to create objects or scenery.

Another key word for today is soundscape.

Now a soundscape, is making sounds to create atmosphere.

We're also looking at, thought tracking.

And that's when we speak aloud, our thoughts, of the character.

We're going to be looking at still images.

Again, this is when we make pictures by freezing the action, or simply by recreating a moment.

And finally, we're looking at guided journey.

A guided journey is when your teacher, me, will lead you through a story and you have to act, in a spontaneous way, to that story.

This is the story of Beowulf.

At the beginning, King Hrothgar, who is King of the Danes.

He was having lots of parties.

And every time he has a party, his people get terrorised and attacked by a monster called Grendel.

And this happens at the end of every party, he has at Heorot Hall.

The Danes decided then to stop having parties, because they are just too scared.

And then this wonderful man who Beowulf, who was a hero in Geatland.

He takes his boat and he sails, all the way across, to save the Danes from Grendel.

He has to convince her Hrothgar, to have a party at Heorot Hall, in order to trick Grendel into appearing.

So that he can then, attack.

So Beowulf, does indeed attack Grendel and he injures him so badly that there's nothing left for him to live for.

So Grendel goes off into the distance and goes and dies alone.

What do you think the most exciting part of the story is? Why is that? What makes drama and stories exciting? Is it danger? Is it suspense? Is it tension? Is it something else? This is one of the major settings in the story.

It's a place called Heorot Hall.

The story is set over 1,500 years ago.

It takes place in the area, we now know as Scandinavia.

It's very, very cold, because it's up in the Northern hemisphere.

It's in land that was occupied by the Danes.

And it's near lots and lots of marshlands which are very, boggy, muddy, grass type areas.

Heorot Hall itself is known as a mead hall.

You may know, what beer and ale are.

And they are types of alcoholic drink.

And Mead is very, very similar to that but it's made from honey.

So this is a place where people would come, traditionally to come and drink Mead together.

As you can see by the pictures, the outside of the building was very, very wide, and it was made from all of these timber structures.

Inside, you would have lots of big timber beams. There would be maybe one or many tables, where people could gather, together.

They would drink their mead.

They would tell stories and they would meet up with each other.

Have a look at the picture and think about all the different things inside the building, that you can see.

Look at all of the different beams and possibly the hiding places, that people would have had, when the monster came in and attacked.

Before we continue, I've got a question for you, based on what I've just spoken about.

So, Heorot hall, was a Mead hall.

Is that true, or false? Well done if you said true, because Mead indeed it's a similar drink, to beer and ale.

And it was a huge hall, where people would gather together and socialise.

Okay.

This first exercise is all about, physical theatre and soundscaping.

Which is using our bodies, to become objects they cannot and using sounds, that maybe fit in with the atmosphere or the idea of that piece.

So the first thing, we are going to become with our bodies, on the count of three.

Is a ship, a ship, a large boat.

One, two, three.

Form on the ship with your body.

Think about what part of the ship you are, all you the whole ship.

What did you do? Did you get down on the floor and have your arms and legs raised up? Did you do something like me? Now let's think about this ship.

How sturdy is it? Is it going to creak? Cause we go from side to side.

Is it going to splash around the waters? How fast does it move? Is it moving up and down? You've got to keep this still, as a piece of drama but it's not a still image.

It's still moving.

So you are an object and you're moving around.

This ship is in the sea and it's moving.

Think about the noise that it's going to make.

Create your own sounds to go with it.

Great job.

Now we're going to become something else.

We are going to become the sea.

You've got five seconds, to create the sea using your body.

Think about the floor, up high being to the side, think about what your spaces.

Five, you're going to be the sea, four, three, two, one, freeze.

How did you create your sea? Was it similar to mine? Now, think about this sea, now I want you to start moving.

You created your frozen, still image of the sea, but now we're moving.

Is it moving fast? Is it a fast moving sea? Is it moving slowly? Does it sometimes change? Are there some parts of the sea, that move fast and slow? Is it moving all around? Maybe it's not just stuck into one area.

So think about how you might move.

If your legs, weren't part of it, for like mine, you can keep them, in there too.

Now think about the sound that your sea is making.

Because Beowulf travelled over the seas, to get to the Danes, to go and save them from Grendel.

And this is a really important part of the story.

Another object, which is really important in the story, which I'd like you to become now, with your bodies, is, a sword.

Create the sword with your body, in five, four, three, two, one, and freeze.

My sword's very pointy and tall.

Maybe yours is on the floor.

Now think about how this sword will move.

What sound it might make.

Is it going to crush on something? Is it going to chop? Think about how it's going to move.

Is the rest of your body moving with it, or are you still, from the rest of your body? Think about what you want to do.

Now, the next one we're going to make with our bodies.

We've got five seconds to create it.

Think about different levels.

Think about how your facial expressions, might help as well.

We're going to get into the position of, a roasting fire.

In five, four, three, two, one, and freeze.

So my roasting fire, is going to be sitting down and I'm going to be moving my arms, like fire crackling.

Think about the sound that you would make.

Maybe it's a low sound.

Fire, kind of pops and crackles.

It's wonderful.

And it moves very, very fast, which is why my hands, are going everywhere.

Now, we guys do something, a bit interesting with our fire.

We are also going to be doing something called morphing.

Morphing is when we transition from one thing to another.

So we are going to morph, from someone rubbing our hands over the fire.

To then the fire itself, and then going back in, to the person, rubbing their hands.

For example, on one, we will rub our hands by the fire be a person warming themself by the fire.

Think about how it might make you feel.

And then we're going to morph and change into the fire.

Maybe you're going to spin into it.

Maybe you're going to melt into it.

Maybe you're just going to form it slowly.

So one, rubbing your hands by the fire.

Two, morphing into the fire.

Let's see how you make that fire move and dance.

And then I'd like you to morph back as your person.

Lovely job.

We're going to do the same, with the next object.

But first we're going to form it with bodies.

We're going to create, in five seconds, the Marsh land.

Which is the boggy, grassy area.

Five, that grassland, four, it's called marshland, three, two, one.

And freeze it's a marshland.

My marshland is quite long.

I sit wonderful and then get your marshland moving.

My marshland I'm going to imagine, is in the wind a lot.

So I'm going to have that wind sound as I move.

And what we're going to do, is we are going to create someone, walking through the marshland.

Remembering it's very boggy and muddy because it's wet grass.

So we're going to walk through the marshland, become the marshland, and then go back to walking.

Are you ready? Okay, start walking with your sounds as well.

And morph.

And morph back.

Well done everyone.

Did you surprise yourself, with one of your creative ideas? Which one was it? Which objects do you think, that you created, reflected the time, and place of the story, the best? How did it do that? We're going to be looking at what we did, with our physical theatre and soundscaping activity.

And we're now going to, add to that little bit more.

So we know that Heorot Hall, was this magnificent, and amazing Hall.

And now all you need to is, rather than going through every single object, like in the last activity.

I want you to choose, which object it is, that you're going to interact as, in a moment.

Would it be the Mead tankard? That is the cup, that you would use to drink your Mead from.

Maybe you would prefer, to choose to become an Oak beam.

These are the great big beams, that form the structure, of the building itself.

Maybe, the large table.

Might be a great object, for you to become.

Maybe you're a creaky floorboard.

You can make some wonderful sounds, that you choose to become the floorboard.

Or maybe you want to be something, a bit more interesting.

Like a mounted stag's head.

So choose, which one, you think you would like to become and create a still image of that, in five, four, three, two, one, stop.

Great, stay frozen there.

Because now you're going to, thought track, as your object.

Now, at this moment in the story, you are the objects, in Mead hall and there's a party going on.

And this is the party where Beowulf is, hiding in wait, in order to go and attack, Grendel.

So if you are, for example, the roaring fire.

Which I didn't tell any of you to be so I'm going to do that.

And I'm going to show you that one, for example, you're going to say, some of your thought tracks out loud.

I will, first of all, say my thought track and then I will do this with my hand, that'll be your turn, to say your thought track.

Okay? And we've got five, thought tracks to do.

So stay frozen.

I worry that my fire will be put out, before Grendel gets here and no one will see him coming.

I wish, I could rise up big and attack him.

Because I love the people who come here.

I love the Danes.

I wonder if my fire will last the night and I will be able to see Grendel myself.

I want, my people to live in peace.

I want to feed them, wonderful food, on my fire and provide heat and safety for them.

I don't want them to live in fear.

I won't give up.

I will protect them.

Okay, we're going to move on.

The next thing we're doing, is talking objects.

Talking objects, is different to thought track.

Because you're not saying your thoughts aloud.

You are speaking, aloud.

Okay? You are saying exactly what you can, see or you can hear.

Maybe it's something that your object can feel.

Maybe it's something you can smell.

You might want something as simple as I notice, or maybe you're going to choose, I wonder.

You're going to wonder something.

So this is the moment, that Grendel is actually, in the building.

And you're going to talk, as objects when Grendel brushes past you.

So I'd like you in a moment, to pause the video.

As you get into your position as your object, and you are going to speak aloud, what you can see or hear.

Feel, or smell, notice, or wonder.

So pause the video now while you do that, and then press play when you come back.

I just want to ask you, how does it feel, to imagine, the, objects being, living beings with their own thoughts and their own opinions? Did it feel strange? Did it feel quite natural, to personify these objects? How did it feel, to act out? And was there a particular sentence data, that had a really big impact for you? Fantastic.

We're now moving on to the final part of the lesson, which is our performing.

Now we are setting, our performance now.

Where it is 1,500 years later, the story is now ready over 1,500 years old.

And we're going to imagine, that we are anthropologists.

Anthropologists are people who study history, from a human behaviour perspective.

So we look at, how humans behaved.

So, we might look at, how they interacted with different objects, how they created things.

And it helps us to understand, what the culture was like.

And we're going into the, area that we now know as Scandinavia.

And we're going to look at, this story.

And we're going to try and investigate if there's any truth to it.

Did any of it really happen? And we're going to go, to Heorot Hall together.

So we're going to journey just as Beowulf did.

So over the sea, through the marshland.

And we're going to see, what we can find out about the past.

We're going to use physical theatre and thought tracking in our guided journey.

Okay.

Let's all get it off now and start rolling.

We are, almost, at the land where we believe, Heorot Hall was.

Really digging with that oar, because, do you know what.

If Beowulf was alive, he had to be really strong because, just sailing in this sea, is really quite hard.

It's quite tough.

Okay.

And we were there.

We can get out the boat, make sure, you get out the boat okay.

Oh, it's a bit wibbly wobbly.

Okay.

There's a lot of marshland.

Now we're going to have to start, tracking through the marshland.

Oh, we forgot our backpack.

Let's go and get our backpack on.

Everybody, one arm in, another arm in.

Strap it together, wonderful.

We're ready.

Now let's go through that Marshland.

Oh my goodness, it's really sticky and oozy.

Start to feel it, on your feet, as you're walking through this marshland.

Do you know? I think if there was a Grendel, we would see his tracks somewhere, don't you? In all of this mud, no I can't see anything.

But then it was 1,500 years ago.

Okay.

What's this? Is it.

Do you know what? If we look from the other side, do you think this is a mead hall everybody? Maybe this is the one, that was actually Heorot Hall.

What do you think? Have a little look around, everyone.

Have a real, look around.

See if you can find a door, can anyone find it? Can you find a door? Oh, you've, you've found something? Oh, yes, it looks like it, could have been a door.

So shall we creep under? I mean, it's a bit broken, all the timber.

So I think we're going to need to creep down.

Crawl all way in.

Crawl on the floor everybody.

Get underneath, get into this hole.

Okay, once you're in, let's stand up and have a little look around.

Okay.

This is interesting.

Okay, maybe we need some light, 'cause it's really, really dark.

Now I've got some matches in my pocket and, look, the fire, it's still there.

It's not alight, but we can light it and maybe see something.

Should we go up to it now? Let's come and, light our match and create the fire.

Once we create it, we're going to become it.

Are you ready? Now as this fire, I would like you, to do some talking objects.

And in the talking object, I would like you, as the fire.

To tell me, what you can see.

Okay.

And we're going back in time, as the fire.

And we're going to see, what the fire saw, when Grendel was here.

So, anything you want, I see.

and then finish your sentence.

Three, two, one, go.

Lovely.

And now we're going to go back to being the anthropologists.

We're going to to jump back.

Are you ready? Three, two, one.

My goodness.

I can't believe it.

I mean, we are anthropologists, we're doctors, We are scientists.

We don't believe in all that.

No, that must've been, that was some sort of trick.

That was trick, wasn't it? We didn't hear that at all.

We can't believe it.

We don't believe it.

We won't believe it.

But now we can see the place.

And do you know what, it looks amazing.

Let's all looking in all and wonder at this amazing place.

I think it's time to get your camera out.

Get out your camera.

Let's start thinking things that we can take some nice photos of.

Oh, that looks interesting.

Or there's some interesting things over there.

Or there's some scratches on that timber.

Let's have a look over there.

See those scratches, wonderful.

Take all sorts of pictures, of things that you find.

Things that you see, that you think could be interesting.

Oh, everyone, come and have a look.

It's a mead tankard.

We just take a photo of it.

And once we take the photo, we are going to become, the Mead tankard.

Are you ready? Three, two one, click.

Become the mead tankard with your bodies.

That's it everyone.

And now as the mead tankard, we are going to have a thought track.

We are going to say something that we thought, the night the Grendel appeared.

It might be, I worry, I wish, I wonder.

So start your sentence with that.

It's a thought track, of this mead tankard.

Three, two, one.

Great.

And we're going to jump back as the anthropologist.

Three, two, one.

You heard it again, didn't you.

Everyone we're all shocked.

Show me how shocked you are.

Okay.

This is a bit of a spooky place.

I think we need to, let's get back into the zone.

So, what were we coming to do? Yes, we were.

We were coming to look, to see if there's any truth to this story.

Okay, so if there was a guy, who was hiding from a big monster, let's think, where would he hide? Go and explore.

Have a little look around, your on mead hole.

Think about where, you might hide.

Does anyone have any ideas, under the table? Someone said.

Let's see if we can get on the table.

Oh, it's very dark here.

He probably wouldn't be able to see anything, to that attack.

Where could we, oh.

Up an oak beam.

Yes, there's a big oak beam here.

Should we all start to climb up it? Wonderful.

Everyone climbing up and let's get behind the Oak beam, stand still.

Okay, we're leaning on this Oak beam and we can see great, great things.

Can we take a photo, from this bird's eye view, okay.

Everybody get ready and click.

Have a look at your camera? Can you see something? It looks like a shadow, doesn't it.

But there's no shadow there.

Very strange.

Can we take another photo, just to be sure.

Get ready, three, two, one click.

And now if, this shadow, I don't know about your shadow on your camera.

It looks like a monster.

It's starting to form and develop.

Okay.

We'll take one more photo.

Just to be sure.

Three, two, one, click.

The monster is right behind the beam.

I'd like to see, just how scared you all are.

Do you believe that maybe this story was true, after all? And maybe the ghost of Grendel, is hiding street behind this beam.

Okay.

There's only one way to find out isn't there.

We're going to have to reach out and touch it.

Are you ready? Let's get brave, let's get ready.

Okay.

Three, move your arm around the beam.

Two, one and touch it.

Can you feel that? There's definitely something there.

In three seconds, you are going to morph, into this ghost of Grendel.

And you are going to make the sound, that Grendel would make.

Are you ready? On the count of three, one, two, three.

Make your sound and relax.

Well done everybody.

Did you enjoy, morphing, from being your person reacting your anthropologist, into becoming the objects? Did the physical theatre activity, that you did beforehand, help you to imagine yourself at Heorot Hall, as these objects? Well done everyone.

We have completed the whole lesson and you've done your performance with me, going back to Heorot Hall.

So, my big question to you, is, what is there, in this story of Beowulf, that is still relevant today? Well done everybody, you've done great work today.

If you would like to, ask your parents or carers, to share your work with Oak National Academy.

Well done.

I hope that you can join me, for the next lesson.

Where we'll be exploring the story of Theseus and the Minortaur.

Take care.