Lesson video

Hello everyone.

And welcome to another drama lesson in this verbatim theatre project based around journeys.

Today's lesson is called My Story and I'm teaching you how to make autobiographical drama.

So I'm going to be asking you to think about your own stories of journeys that you might've been on.

Some that are a little bit more every day and normal, and some that are a little bit more exciting and dramatic.

And we'll be thinking about how we write scripts about ourselves and about how we perform them too.

We're also going to have a look at some examples with some famous autobiographical drama, which you can watch and have a go at performing yourself.

I hope you're looking forward to it.

Let's see what you're going to need to take part in this lesson.

You're going to need something to write with, so a pen or a pencil, and you're going to need something to write on.

So a piece of paper or a notebook.

You're going to need a little bit of space to do some acting in too.

Because this is a practical lesson and you'll be moving around.

We need to keep safe.

So this lesson should take place inside.

Make sure there is enough space for you to work, including above.

So look out for any light fittings.

You might want to take your shoes and socks off and act in bare feet.

Either way, make sure the floor is not slippy.

Wear some comfortable clothing so you can move around.

You can pause the video now if you need to get anything for this lesson.

We'll start by recapping some previous learning about verbatim theatre.

Next, I'll introduce you to the key terminology today, Autobiographical Drama.

And the drama technique, direct address.

After that, I'm going to show you some examples of some autobiographical drama.

You'll be able to watch a video and you'll have a go at performing it yourself.

After that, it's over to you to do some writing of your own.

And I'm going to ask you to create a piece of autobiographical drama based on your own experience.

We'll be able to perform that.

And there's an exit quiz too where you can check all this learning.

So let's start by checking what we've learned previously.

What is for Verbatim Theatre? You need to decide whether this statement is true or false by pointing at the answer that you think is correct.

I'll read it out.

Verbatim Theatre is drama made from real words about real life events or a certain subject.

Usually from interviews.

Can you point at true or false now? It's true.

Verbatim, if you look in the dictionary, means in exactly the same words.

And in another lesson, we were conducting interviews with people and using their answers exactly to create a piece of drama.

So we don't take a player that already exists.

We use real people's words to make new drama.

Today we're not going to be using interviews.

We're going to be using your own real words.

You're kind of interviewing yourself.

Let's look at the key words then.

Autobiographical Drama is drama made about ourselves and we're going to be using Direct Address.

That's kind of like what I'm doing now where one actor speaks directly to the audience or a number of actors.

Let me show you what I mean by showing you some clips from some autobiographical drama performances.

We're going to watching an extract from a show called educating Ronnie by Joe Douglas.

And after that, we'll have a watch of something from A Gambler's Guide to Dying by Gary McNair.

Now these two writers and performers decided they wanted to make a story about themselves.

And there was no script that existed.

They couldn't go to the library and find a script about themselves.

So they had to make one.

That's kind of what we mean by Autobiographical Drama.

It's about them.

They wanted to tell their own story.

This lesson is called My Story because it's about you.

And you're going to get to tell your own story too.

So there are certain things in these clips that I want to look out for.

First of all, I want you to look out for this personal aspect.

We're looking for the performers to say things like I, or use the word I.

We'll be looking for when they tell us who they are, how old they are, where they come from.

Something else we're going to be looking for are details and descriptions because although a story might be interesting to you, we still have to make it interesting to other people.

So when we tell the story we add as many details and descriptions as we can.

We're also going to be looking out for dramatic language here.

So how do we take this from an interesting story, to an interest in theatre performance? Okay, let's watch this extract from Educating Ronnie right now.

We're going to watch it twice, okay? Look out for those three things Before I start, I want to be clear about what's true.

My name is Joe Douglas.

That's true.

This is my own story and as far as I can tell, all of what you're about to hear happened over the last 10 years.

Let me start at the beginning.

It is May, 2002 and I'm on my way to Uganda.

I white-water the Nile and nearly drown.

I sing Amazing Grace to sick children in a hospital.

I see elephants, lions, wildebeests, giraffes.

I do all that cliched stuff.

And then nothing.

Okay, we're just going to watch it up to there.

And it's a great show.

And if you ever get a chance watch more of it or maybe go see it one day, I really encourage you to do that.

I'm going to give you a chance to watch it again.

So you can pause the video now and rewind it and watch it as many times as you like.

When you re-watch it, I want you to look out for these three things that we've talked about.

Joe's telling a story that really happened.

Well, it happened to himself.

So where are his personal aspects that he talks about? What details and descriptions does he put in? What dramatic language has he used? Go back and have a watch.

We'll check in again in a moment.

Okay, did you enjoy it? I think it's a really great start to a piece of drama.

And Joe here is using the technique that we talked about, Direct Address.

He's talking directly to us, the audience, and it kind of feels like he's telling his story just to us, doesn't it? That's perhaps why we're going to use that technique today.

Direct Address works really well with autobiographical drama, because it's about you.

So the fact that you're telling your story directly to the audience seems to kind of make sense.

So did you notice Joe introduced some personal information or aspects to his performance? There's something near the start.

He says his name, which is really personal.

And he also says that this story is based on things that happened over 10 years.

So he's given us some basic facts and information at the start there.

He also includes details and descriptions.

I really like this bit where he goes through the different animals that he saw.

He didn't just say, "I went on a Safari." You see, he lists the different animals there.

Which helps to paint the picture of what's going on.

And it uses some dramatic language too.

He talks about white-watering on the Nile and nearly drowning.

Which is really interesting for us, isn't it? It draws us in and makes it seem like a really exciting story.

Let's take a look at an extract then from a different performance.

From A Gambler's Guide to Dying by Gary McNair.

We're going to do the same thing though.

I'd like you to watch it a couple of times and I'd like you to look out for personal information or aspects, details and description and dramatic language too.

Let's have a look.

I want to tell you about my grandad.

Just an ordinary guy living an ordinary life.

Trying in his only way to make the world just that little bit extra ordinary.

He's blurry now, it's hard for me to remember which parts of it are real and which parts of it I choose to believe.

But this bit, this I remember with crystal clarity.

We're just going to leave that there but, again, I think this is a really great opening to a piece of Autobiographical Drama.

And again, Gary is using the technique Direct Address.

He's talking directly to us, the audience but you can see in this version they're using some kind of different locations and some different angles.

Joe was sat still, talking to the camera and Gary is in some different situations and using some actions and some movement too.

You can pause the video now and go back and watch that again.

Or as many times as you like, and try and pick out some of those things that we talked about.

When you finished resume the video and we'll check in together.

So what did you manage to pick out from that piece of drama? Where were the personal bits of information and the facts? Were they right at the start? Gary says, "I", he's using the word I 'cause it's his story.

"I want to tell you about me and my granddad." So he was also kind of introducing another character there but he's given us the facts.

It's telling us who he is and he's telling us who his granddad is, too.

What about the details and descriptions? What about this bit? Kind of quite a good way to describe that he's forgotten some of the bits of the story.

He says, "It's blurry now." What a lovely way to describe your memory going a little bit hazy.

And where are the dramatic moments then? I love the last bit.

I really want to know what bit he can remember.

And he doesn't just say, he can remember it clearly.

He says, "I can remember this bit with crystal clarity." And we're just waiting to know, we're dying to know what that is.

So we've looked at two examples of autobiographical drama there.

And we've talked about the features of the writing.

There's lots of examples of great autobiographical theatre plays out there.

Here's another three from some female performers, which you might be interested in thinking about or exploring further.

Ladybones is about someone with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

Fatty Fat Fat is about body image and how we feel about ourselves.

And Appropriate is about marriage and exploring whether that's a good thing or bad thing or how we feel about it.

These three ladies, these three performers chose something that they wanted to talk about and was something that was part of their own life.

And I think that's what's really great about autobiographical drama, that we can take something that we want to make a theatre play about and just do it.

That's what you're going to be doing today.

First though, I want you to have a go at practising this technique we talked about.

Direct Address.

So that's where we'd perform directly to the audience.

So I'm going to ask you to choose one of the extracts we looked at.

Either Educating Ronnie or A Gambler's Guide to Dying.

You've got the scripts if you rewind the video, or they're also in the worksheet section two.

Remember, just because we're telling a real story doesn't mean that we shouldn't perform.

So I'm going to be looking for facial expressions, vocal expressions, and actions and gestures.

Think back to the videos we saw.

Joe was using his face and his vice a lot.

Gary introduced actions and gestures to what he was saying.

He was sometimes times in different locations too.

Pause the video and have a go at recreating one of the examples you've seen.

When you finished, press resume and we'll move on to the next part of the lesson.

How did you get on? I hope you enjoyed performing those extracts.

And I wonder which one you chose.

Whether you decided to have a go at the opening from Educating Ronnie.

And I wonder whether you decided to stay seated and look directly in the camera like Joe did or whether you try to include some actions or some movements in that.

Maybe you chose A Gambler's Guide to Dying.

Maybe you had a go at the Scottish accent there.

Or maybe you try to restage it.

Gary was in lots of different positions.

Maybe you chose to keep it more static and look directly at the camera.

Did you use your facial expressions? Did you use clear actions and gestures? Did you use your body language? Did you use your vocal expression? These are all key features of performance aren't they? So when we're storytelling and we're talking directly to the audience we really want to keep these features in there as well.

Let's check in then.

Today we'll learn about Autobiographical Drama.

And I want to make sure that you understand what we mean by that.

I'll read out the statement on the screen and you decide if it's true or false by pointing at the answer that you think is correct.

Autobiographical Drama is drama made about famous people.

Is that true or false? It's actually false.

Autobiographical Drama is drama made about ourselves.

I mean, if you're a famous person and you make a show about yourself, then maybe it is but it does not mean that.

Biography, you may have heard that word too, is about other people.

But autobiography is about ourselves.

I'm going to be asking you to create a piece of theatre about yourself in this next part of the lesson.

You might be thinking, "Why would we make drama about ourselves?" Why would we make autobiographical drama? There's hundreds and thousands of brilliant plays out there.

Why don't we just use them?" And you might even be thinking, "Well, I don't have a story to tell." Well, I would say, I think everybody's got a story to tell.

And sometimes the best stories are the ones that are about ourselves or the ones that we know that not many other people do.

Gary McNair in A Gambler's Guide to Dying tells a story about him and his grandad.

And he thought he was such a good story that he wanted the world to know about it.

Other times, if we make a piece of drama about something if we've been through a tough time, for example, it might help to share it.

So in the play Ladybones, by talking about obsessive compulsive disorder and the experience of that, it might help to create a bit of empathy between the performer and the audience.

It might help to work through some of the difficult times by sharing them.

We might want to highlight other important issues by creating drama about things that have happened to us or that we've been through, that we're passionate about.

And when we make autobiographical drama the dialogue comes really easy because it's our own words.

So we don't have to sit for a long time thinking about our lines, hopefully because we know the story so well it should come a little bit more naturally.

Let's just set some ground rules, though, for making autobiographical drama.

'Cause I want you to be comfortable with the material that you create.

So in this exercise, you should only share what you are happy to share.

Think carefully about the story that you want to tell.

Is this something that you are happy for other people to hear about? I also want you to remember that we are making a piece of drama and not just reading a diary here.

So we need to think about something that has a story structure, something as a beginning, a middle and an end.

Maybe we're not just talking about one particular moment here.

We need to think of a series of moments.

And we perhaps also want to think about something that's interesting for other people to hear.

With those ground rules in mind then, let's get right in our own autobiographical drama scripts.

And I'm going to ask you to do that in two parts.

This unit is called the journey.

And I'm going to be asking you to think about journeys that you've been on for this writing activity.

Remember this is Verbatim Theatre, so it has to be something that's really happened.

The first part, I want you to think about a journey that you do a lot.

So that might be something that's quite normal.

Maybe it's something you do every day.

It could just be the bus to school.

It could be the car drive to your grandma's or family, relative.

It could just be walking from your front door through the gate and down the street.

I still want you to include some personal aspects.

So I want you to say, "I was walking." I want you to maybe tell me where you are, how old you are.

I want you to include some details and descriptions.

So if you are walking down the garden path, what's there, what does it feel like? What can you see? And I want you to try and use some dramatic language.

So, even though this is kind of perhaps an everyday thing what can you perhaps exaggerate or what can you say in a way that will make us be interested to hear a little bit more about it? Don't think too much.

And remember, it's got to be something real pause the video and have a go at writing, maybe five or 10 lines to describe a journey that you do a lot.

One that you can remember really easily.

When you've written those lines, resume the video and we'll write part two.

Okay, have you got some lines about a journey that you do often or journey that you know really well? This time, I want us to think about a different journey or maybe even a destination that you have really loved.

Maybe this is something that you don't do very often.

Maybe this is a really special journey.

But remember I still want it to be real.

I don't want you to make this up and talk about going to the moon or something.

It's Verbatim Theatre.

So it has to have really happened.

I want you to write five or 10 lines again and I still want you to include those personal aspects.

Those bits of information about yourself or where you are? I want you to include details and descriptions and include some dramatic language.

So if you're talking about a special holiday or walking in the hills or a nighttime and the city streets or been with someone important, I want you to try and tell it in a way that will make it interesting for me.

You can start this part with the line.

"But all the while I'm thinking of a time when.

." and you can tell me this memory that you have.

Pause the video, write down those five to 10 lines when you're finished, resume the video again and we'll think about how we're going to put the two parts together and make it into performance.

So you should have two pieces of writing now.

Five to 10 lines about a journey that you do often a kind of an everyday journey or something that's quite normal.

And you're also going to have five to 10 lines about a really interesting journey or special place.

And I'm going to ask you to put them together to make a full performance.

So using our technique, Direct Address you will talk to the camera.

Now one-person speech is called a monologue and that's what you'll be doing.

You'll be talking to the audience by yourself and telling them your story.

Use your performance skills to bring it to life.

Your face, your voice.

You can move around and add actions and gestures.

What I'm also interested in seeing is the change, or the contrast between the two parts to the story.

So we have our normal journey.

Then we have a really exciting journey.

So see if you can show a change there.

I'll show you a little example of my autobiographical drama, My Story and then you can have a go at making yours.

The year is 2021.

I'm 37 years old.

It's 9:42 AM in the morning.

And it's raining.

I have just shuffled the familiar path from my bedroom, down the hallway and to my office.

I stand there staring at the peeling paint on the white door.

My feet are cold and I looked down and I forgot to put my slippers on.

I've made this journey 99 times before, today is the hundredth day.

And all the while, I'm thinking of the time when my feet weren't on this carpet, but they were on warm, golden sands.

I can hear sea lapping and then the boat arrives.

I wobble on and I sit down and suddenly it just goes quiet.

As we get further and further away from the land.

And until the land's just to pinprick in the distance.

I don't hear anything.

The blue ocean stretches out all around, as far as I can see, but I'm not scared.

I'm happy.

So that was my example of a short, autobiographical drama.

And I hope you could see where I tried to put in some personal aspects, some information and facts to set the scene like how old I was or what year it was.

I also tried to use some descriptions, like when I talked about the paint peeling off the back of the door.

And I try to use some dramatic language.

For example, when I said that everything went completely quiet.

I really tried to perform my story.

So I did use my vocal expression.

I tried to change my facial expression.

I tried to add in some small actions and gestures.

And I hope you could see a change in tone, between when I was talking about my everyday journey kind of walking the office at home, compared with a really special journey when I was on a boat in the sunshine.

And I'm hoping you can do something similar now.

So I want you to take your two pieces of writing.

Your first bit of writing about a journey that you do a lot.

And your second bit of writing about a kind of special journey, put them together into performance, like I did.

You can pause the video now, have some fun with that.

And when you finished, you can resume the video and we'll finish off the lessons together.

How were your autobiographical dramas? I bet you've all got some really, really interesting stories to tell.

And perhaps by doing this, you are already thinking of other things that have happened in your life or things about you that might make another great piece of theatre.

Something that we've been unable to do today is to perform in front of an audience.

And if you were to do that, perhaps you could think of other things that you could add in, such as to interaction with the audience there.

You could add some music like Joe Douglas did in his performance.

You could even start to ask some questions or some rhetorical questions, which would get the audience thinking about your experience.

Remember, this is quite personal, isn't it? So the more connection you can make with the audience the more impact you'll have.

I really hope you've enjoyed working on this Verbatim Theatre lesson with me today and created some autobiographical dramas.

If you are proud of what you've created and you want to share it with us, then you should get with a parent or a carer, get yourself on Twitter and you can upload those autobiographical drama performances for me to have a look at.

If not, that's no problem.

And hopefully I'll see you in another drama lesson, sometime soon.

Here's the credits from the extracts that we watched.

Two really, really great pieces of theatre.

Just take a look at all the people that are involved in making those.

There's loads of careers in the arts.

These might give you some ideas about what you could explore later on in your life too.

I'll see you soon.

Thanks for joining in.