Lesson video

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

This is the last lesson in unit three and we're going to be exploring the Minotaur again.

Today, we're going to be working in role as the Minotaur, and imagining and adapting the Minotaur's speech in a short scene.

For our lesson today, you're going to need plenty of space to work in.

So make sure you've got space above your head, to the sides and that the floor is clear for you to work in.

But you're also going to need something to write with, a pen or paper, something to jot down some notes with.

So please pause your lesson now whilst you'd go and get these things ready.

We've got quite a few things to get through today.

The first thing we're going to be doing is exploring an activity called the seven levels of tension.

We're then going to use that tension within our monologue.

And I'll explain what a monologue is in a moment.

We're then going to rehearse our flashbacks, and then we're going to put everything together as a performance.

Finally, you are going to perform this for yourself.

Our key words today are tension.

Tension is to do usually with our muscles in our body.

We think of how relaxed or tense we feel.

When we pull up on our body, we tense our muscles a lot, and when we relax them, we aren't pulling on them at all, okay? And this can be felt throughout our whole body.

We're also going to be looking at a monologue.

Now, a monologue is a speech by one actor and it's spoken in role.

We all going to be performing a monologue today.

We're also going to be using some direct address.

Direct address is when you speak directly to your audience.

Another key word we're looking at today is an aside.

An aside is something we think of as a Shakespearean device.

That means that it's something that was used in a lot of Shakespeare's plays.

And he created this in order to help the audience understand what the characters were thinking and feeling.

So part of the scene would progress in role with characters talking to each other, and then at a moment it would stop.

And one character would turn aside towards the audience, speak directly to them saying their thoughts and their feelings, and then turn back to the other actor and continue the performance.

So this is where the dialogue in the scene is paused in order to directly address the audience, and then the dialogue is returned to once again.

We're also going to be looking at flashbacks.

Flashbacks are moments where we go back in time.

We'll often use movement and dialogue to signal the change back in time, and then we would probably flash forward again to the original time period.

So who was the Minotaur? If you took part in last lesson, you will know about where he lived and what he looked like, but you still won't know in a lot of detail who he was.

So we're going to go through that now.

So Poseidon, he was the god of the sea.

He was a very, very powerful god.

Now, he sent a snow-white bull to Minos for a sacrifice.

So Minos is the King who lives in Knossos which is Crete.

Poseidon wanted Minos to worship him.

So he sent him a white bull, a beautiful bull so that he could sacrifice this bull.

But Minos decided, he didn't actually want to sacrifice it.

He liked this bull a lot, he thought it was very beautiful.

So instead he sacrificed some other things instead and thought that Poseidon wouldn't mind.

Now, Poseidon did mind a lot, okay.

So in order to punish King Minos for not to sacrificing this beautiful bull, he did something to King Minos' wife, Queen Pasiphae, and he made her fall in love with the bull.

And because she loves him, she fell pregnant and a Minotaur was born.

This was a half human, half bull, okay.

So her baby wasn't a human baby, it was half human, half cow, okay.

So she loved this baby, but he grew so large, and he started to really terrify people.

After he was born, King Minor imprisoned him in the labyrinth.

The labyrinth is a great big maze, okay.

Every seven years, 14 humans were chosen.

And they would be locked inside the labyrinth and the Minotaur would hunt them and eat them because he won a war against Athens and he decided this was their punishment.

And he would take 14 people away and he would lock them in the labyrinth for the Minotaur to feast upon.

The Minotaur had the body of the man and the head of the bull.

What do you think.

True or false? Watch your screen now.

Well done, it is indeed true.

And we've got a lovely image here for you of a Minotaur.

For this next activity called the seven levels of tension, I would like you to try and get yourself somewhere settled where you can be very, very relaxed.

If you have a bed near you, lie down on it.

If you've got a floor to lie down on, get on there.

If you don't have any of those things and you don't quite have enough space, sit yourself on a chair and just try to be as relaxed as possible.

We will be moving around at a later time, so make sure you have space available too.

Okay, we're ready to begin.

Now, in your relaxed state, I would like you to breathe in and out.

Feeling relaxation all over your body, nothing can stir you.

It's almost as if you're in a deep sleep enjoying every moment as you breathe in and out.

You have absolutely no worries breathing in and out.

This tension state number one also known as asleep.

We're going to move in the moment into tension state number two, which is called cool dude.

So I'd like you to calm in coolly, move yourself up to seating position if you haven't already and eventually to standing in a really relaxed, comfy way.

Now, whilst you're standing there, just feel the breeze, feel the hot sun on your face.

It's a wonderful, amazing day.

And now you're going to stroke casually through your town, or your village, or your city, wherever it is that you are.

And you are a really cool dude.

And as you're walking, this tension state which is really really relaxed is tension state number two.

We're going to move into tension state number three now which is a neutral tension state.

And this is not quite as relaxed as the last tension state, but neither are you going to be tense.

You have not got your head up, your head isn't down.

Your back isn't hunched over, it's not completely straight, you're just relaxed but the neutral.

Your legs aren't rubbing together, they're probably about hip width apart as you walk and not going to be massively apart.

Remember where your arms are as well.

They're not going to be flipping around by your side, they're just going to be walking casually with you.

This tension state three, neutral.

Now, we going to move into tension state four.

Tension state four is alert.

This one, I want you to think to yourself that maybe you're an important person and you've got things to do.

Maybe you need to tidy that book over there, maybe you need to lift something and put it over here.

There's things that need to be done and you're alert and you're going to do them.

And this is slightly more tense than being neutral.

Thinking about what it does to your arms and your legs.

You have more space than me to move.

So you can even move all around the room if you need to.

We're going to now move into tension state five, which is horrid.

Now you're in a rush, you've got things to do.

If you don't get things done, something's going to happen, it's going to be bad.

You need to get it done.

So stop rushing around the room, not running but being pacey, really making sure things are done.

Can you feel it in your body? As you need to move things, you need to do things.

You've done it.

Okay, you can relax.

Oh, there's something else to do, there's always something else to do.

Move that book, and then touch on here.

Look over here, it's got some dust, oh, no you haven't.

Maybe even use your hand.

Think about things that you need to do, and you are a lot more tense.

We're now moving up to tension state number six.

This one is very, very urgent.

If you don't get it done, something really, really serious will happen.

So I'm running around the room, doing things as fast as possible, up and down and side to side.

Really, it's almost as if you can't breathe, you're so fast but you can breathe.

Make sure you're breathing please.

Please move around, do things as quickly as possible.

You're feeling really, really stressed out.

It's all getting too much and now you're trying to think I'm just stranded and you can't even move.

You're frozen, you are stiff with some sort of emotion maybe fear or rage, but you're completely tensed.

You feel your hands, your arms, your legs, every part of you is aching, every part of you is heavy.

Your shoulders, your chin, your forehead, every part of you will ache with this tension state number seven, which is rigid with tension.

And relax.

Well done.

My question to you now is do you remember what tension state is neutral? Was it state one, the very first one? Was it state three? Was it state five? Was it say seven, the very last one? What one do you think it was? Points your screen now, let's see if you are correct.

Well done if you said tension state three.

Yes, this is the neutral state, which means you're neither tense nor relaxed.

You're right midway between being tensed and relaxed.

You don't need to remember the states, but remember how they felt and how you can vary the tension.

Okay, so now we're going to use tension in our monologue.

So we're going to be putting what we've just rehearsed and practised into a performance.

So this is our monologue, okay? And it has an aside in there.

So let's have a look at it first.

So our first part we say.

No, Theseus.

At that moment, time stood still.

I remember that I felt as a young boy because of how different time was.

But as I grew up, this turned to.

Then I was locked up in this labyrinth with only humans to eat every seven years.

I felt so.

Now, it is the moment I must die.

No, Theseus, please.

So before we go through that with the tension, let's have a quick look.

So we start by saying, no Theseus, and we end by saying, no Theseus, please.

Those are moments of dialogue where we're speaking as the Minotaur to Theseus.

And the rest of the monologue is almost an aside because we're talking directly to the audience.

We're now telling them how we feel.

Before we even apply our attention to our monologue, it's to think about what emotions we want to talk about, okay? Because this is something that I had scripted for you that I want you to put your own spin on.

So, the first emotion you feel is when you were a young boy.

And it's an emotion you feel because of how different you are, because you are half bull, half human.

So what emotion might you feel as a young boy because you are different? Maybe something like anger, maybe sadness, maybe confusion, maybe despondency, I don't know.

What sort of emotion might you feel? I've chosen to write down sadness.

And then it says, as I grew up, this emotion turned to another emotion.

What might that turn to as you get older? I felt that you might become more angry.

So I've written anger for my one but maybe you want to have it something like confusion or frustration or rage.

So as I grew up, the sadness turned to anger.

That's what I would say.

Then I was locked up in this labyrinth with only humans to eat every seven years.

I felt so, maybe this is where you feel anger, maybe this is where you feel sad.

Any think that you think is right is absolutely fine.

So choose your three emotions.

And then what I'd like you to do is to write them down.

So please pause the video now to go and write down the emotions that you choose.

They don't have to be my ones, they might be the same as mine in a different order or you may wish to do exactly the same as me.

That's absolutely fine.

So choose your three emotions, pause your video and write them down now.

I would like you to have a go at reading this monologue in different tension states.

First, well, we're all going to read it together as the cool dude.

So you're very, very relaxed.

So get yourself feeling relaxed and easygoing, and we're all going to read it like a cool dude.

No, Theseus.

At that moment, time stood still.

I remember that I felt sadness as a young boy because of how different I was.

But as I grew up, this sadness turned to anger.

Then I was locked up in this labyrinth with only humans to eat every seven years.

I felt so lonely.

Now is the moment I must die.

No, Theseus, please.

Where there any moments where that felt actually quite right? Maybe you felt that it was good for the line that said, at that moment, time stood still because you'll be relaxed in that moment because everything's still.

Time I'd like to experiment with the tension state six, which is urgent, it's the one just before we are rigid with tension state.

Feel yourself getting really tense.

You might want to move around the room as you deliver this monologue.

I'm going to ask you to pause because I think it would be very confusing if we do this one together because it's much faster.

Have speed, have tension in your monologue as you say it and make sure you have the correct emotions in place.

Pause the video now while you practise that.

Great.

Did anything feel really appropriate to be done with that tension state? Okay, which moments do you think it was? Maybe it was one of the other ones, maybe it's now is the moment I must die.

I don't know.

So where do you think you should keep that tension state in your monologue? Have a think now.

Okay, now we're going to move on because I would like you to not stick with one tension state for the whole piece, but I want you to try and play around with various tension states maybe for each sentence.

So have a feel, have a play around with speaking that out loud with your chosen emotions.

Please pause the video now while you practise that.

Well done, so how will varying levels of tension improve your performance? Will it make it more believable? Would it make it more exciting? What do you think it's going to do for your performance? So we've looked already at the seven levels of tension exercise, and we've now put them into a monologue.

But now I want us to rehearse some flashback.

Flashbacks as I've said before are when we go back in time.

Okay, so we are going to be going into some flashbacks in a moment with our monologue.

But before we do it with the monologue, I want you to think about how you're going to use your body and your voice to do that first, because you're always going to want to do the same thing.

Now, we're not going back in time, we're going to have a transitional period.

So there'll be a moment where you're in real time, and then we go back in time.

We need to show how we do that.

We can do it in so many different ways.

It might be that we choose to melt back in time.

So for example, we might be in present time and we'd freeze, and then we would melt into our next phrase where we'd begin our action above flashback.

And then we'd phrase our flashback, and then maybe we would melt backwards.

So it's kind of up into the moment where we were before.

Maybe you want to do something exciting and fast like a clock.

So we might say something, let's imagine that we're still using our dialogue of no, Theseus, beforehand.

So we'd go, no, Theseus.

And then we go into our saying about flashback.

And then maybe we would go back and reverse our block into our no, Theseus, stop, whatever it is that we're doing.

So have a real play around.

so we can do all sorts of different things.

We can melt, we can spin, we can do a shake, we can maybe become a robot.

Maybe we robotically break up.

Think about all the different things that you can do.

You can use speed to help you, maybe you're going to go fast or slow.

Think about the sound that you want to use as well to help you, think about the different levels that you can do.

So if you're going to melt, maybe you're going to melt all the way to the floor.

It's quite hard for me to show you using this camera, but you could use the floor if you want to.

Maybe you want to stamp some sort of ritualistic movement that you want to have instead of melting or spinning.

Maybe you want to make it much more fast.

Maybe you want to, even say the word flashback, you could do something like that.

You could say flashback, flashback, flashback, and then come into a flashback.

And then you would want to go flash-forward, flash-forward, flash-forward to come back in time again.

It doesn't matter how you do it.

As long as you have something that you really enjoy, that looks interesting that you think is going to help you transition from the present to the past and back again.

So I'd like you to now create your own flashback movement sequence.

Consider the speed and effort of your movement.

Keep it simple and effective cause you need to remember this for all of your other activities.

So I try and make it clear, effective, and fun.

Pause your video now to complete your tasks.

Great, I hope that you're happy with what you've created because we're going to now put it into our monologue.

Where do you think our three flashbacks should go? Have a think about it.

Have a look lines in your monologue and think about where you think they might go.

So I have chosen that our monologues are going to go in these three places.

So after we speak about each new emotion, we are then going to show how we felt that emotion.

So the first one is our emotion as a young boy.

So the first flashback, this is what I would like you to do.

First thing I would like you to do is to say your line with the desire to tension.

So if you want to say as a really number seven tension, you might say, I remember that I felt fear as a young boy because of how different I was.

So you say it with your desired attention, whatever that is, and then you're going to freeze.

At that point, you're then going to show your flashback with your movement and sound.

So if it's melting or whatever it is that you chose.

And then I want you to create a still image showing the Minotaur as a young boy feeling that emotion.

Then you're going to reverse your flashback with movement and sound.

Please, pause your video now while you rehearse this first flashback.

Great, I hope that you can remember that because we need to put it into your monologue at the end.

So make sure it's something you can remember.

We're going to now move forward to flashback.

So you're going to say your line with a desired tension, whatever that may be, then freeze in position.

We're going to then show our flashback with movement and sound.

And at this point, we are going to bring the emotion to life with a line of dialogue.

So you're going to think about something the Minotaur might say.

Maybe this is a moment where he is speaking to King Minos because this is before he's in the labyrinth.

Maybe he's saying something like, "No, I don't want my food.

"I don't want it.

"I'm not going to eat it." Maybe it's something like, "But please let me play with them, "I just want to play." So think about what it is that your character would say that really shows that emotion.

So please, make sure you reverse the flashback afterwards as well.

So pause your video now while you rehearse this.

Great.

Well done, we're going to move on now to the final flashback, which is slightly different.

So this is our line.

Then I was locked up in this labyrinth with only humans to eat every seven years.

I felt so-- I've chosen lonely.

So you're going to say your line with a desire to tension and freeze.

Then you're going to show you a flashback with movement and sound.

And this time you're going to create a still image showing the Minotaur in the labyrinth.

And you're going to create a thought track.

So use your emotion to help you.

So if your emotion is lonely like mine is, it might be something like, I wish I had more people with me, I wish I weren't alone.

And then you'd come back.

Maybe if your emotion is anger, it might be, I wish King Minos were here so I could eat him.

So think about what your thought track would be for the Minotaur, and it's going to be done as a still image.

So you will freeze, flashback into another frozen image where you say your thoughts out loud starting with I wish or I want.

And then finally, you're going to reverse your flashback and come into the monologue again.

So please, rehearse this final flashback for me now.

Great.

We are going to move on now to putting it together, okay.

So this is our performance, these are our words.

And I've put here for you so you can see it really clearly.

The first flashback is simply the still image, the second flashback is the line of dialogue.

So that's not your thoughts out loud, you're actually speaking to another character.

And your final flashback is with the still image and your thought to track.

So what I would like you to please rehearse this until you are really, really happy with it.

Pause your video now while you're rehearsing.

Now, I would like you to do this as one final performance without stopping if you haven't done so already.

If you would like for someone to come and watch you or film you, then please do so because that would make it really exciting to have an audience for you, even if the audience can't be live.

So pause this now while you do a final performance.

Well done.

I've got some questions for you to think about.

You've finished everything and you've done a brilliant job, but we need to evaluate our performance now.

So what did you like most about it? Was it exciting to do this? Did you find it challenging? Also, now that we've explored this and we have looked at the Minotaur in this way, do you have empathy for the Minotaur? Empathy means that you have an understanding about who he is and why he made the choices he made to eat people, for example.

Something else to think about.

What do you think would change your performance more, the tension or the emotions? Do you think it would change more if you just changed the way that you said your lines with a different tension in mind? Or do you think that maybe changing the order of your three emotions or changing them completely would make the performance completely different? What would make it more different? Well done.

So my final question for you is, can we feel empathy for monsters? Why do you think this is? Well done.

You've done a brilliant job today with some great performances.

I would really love to see some of them.

So if you would like to share any of your work with Oak National, please ask your parents or carers to share it by tagging @OakNational and #LearnwithOak.

Take care, bye.