Download Drama resource - British Museum

Fieldnotes Drama and
Performance
This guide was devised by the Community Partnerships Team at the British
Museum in collaboration with youth participation and theatre practitioners from
Only Connect UK Dani Baker and Liz Bacon. Only Connect partnered with Talking
Objects Collective in 2014, supporting young people to create a site-specific
promenade performance piece inspired by the iconic Lewis Chessmen. Drama and
performance work can be done on many different scales in museums and
galleries, and is a fantastic medium to engage audiences with stories around
objects.
Why use drama and performance
in museums?
Working with the objects and collections at the British Museum, young people can
find theatre techniques a fascinating way of exploring the potential stories
behind historical and contemporary objects from across the world and
bringing those to life.
Theatre is an art form which seeks to tell and share stories with an audience, and
can promote, provoke and challenge our understanding of the world around us.
For many objects, there is an open-ended aspect to their history and therefore not
all the details about the objects are known. Young people’s creative responses and
interpretation of these objects are as valid as anyone else’s. Using theatre
techniques to explore objects helps young people to develop a sense of
ownership over the direction of the project, since we were asking them to
construct fictional stories, where the focus was on the participants’ creativity, not
on their historical accuracy. We were exploring the spirit of the objects (quite
literally in our storyline where the spirits of the Lewis Chessmen were brought to
life), rather than the historical facts.
Working in the galleries can help participants to place their own cultures,
traditions and life-stories in a wider historical and world context. Using
theatre processes while exploring objects also challenges the Museum to think
about the way in which it presents the stories behind the objects.
‘We learnt collaborating with
a large cultural institution
really gave the young
people’s work a different
sense of status an audience
appeal. Additionally, inviting
disengaged young people
into a space like this, that is
potentially intimidating, and
asking them to generate a
sense of ownership over the
space and the objects within
it, as well as supporting them
to develop relationships with
the people who work in that
building, I believe increased
the young people's
confidence in accessing new
spaces in general’
Dani Baker
Activities to try
Space/setting Walk around the gallery space and discuss what you notice about
dimensions, lighting, scale and layout. Think about the theatrics of the space, and
how the gallery can be used as a setting for a theatrical performance. What kind of
characters might inhabit the space? When might the story be set?
Working in groups, ask young people to choose one element of the space that they
find interesting and develop a freeze-frame image to draw attention to that space
(imitating architectural elements with their gestures and body language). Share
each group’s pose and reflect on what is effective for an audience. Choose a large
architectural element of a gallery (for example: we used the main staircase as you
enter the British Museum) and give the group five minutes to devise a frozen
image which draws an audience’s attention to that area. Reflect with the group on
the process.
You could also visit a gallery (e.g. the Enlightenment Gallery, Room 1) to observe
visitors’ activities. Choose one visitor to focus on and subtly mirror their ovements
as they wander through the gallery. Come back together as a group and share
your findings. Show gestures and movements you observed. Choose one favourite
movement or gesture per person and then put all the movements together to
create a ‘visitors in the gallery’ sequence.
Character development Visit a selection of galleries that you think young people
might find interesting or relevant. Split the group into smaller teams and ask them
to choose a character from the Museum (for example, a character from the Lewis
Chessmen in Room 40). Ask each group to choose a gallery and three objects in
that gallery that they find interesting. Set them the task of finding a story for their
chosen character that connects the three objects, and ask them to create a piece
of performance in the gallery space. The participants should be encouraged to
think about how they will use the space, and successfully move the audience
through it. Ask each group to share with the other groups, and evaluate what
worked in terms of the story, the use of the space and the development of their
chosen character(s).
‘Using the different galleries
in the Museum and getting
out of the rehearsal room
gave this project a whole
new dynamic. Just using
different spaces in itself
really helped to open up the
young people’s imaginations
and opened the group up to
different influences that
could help shape their work
and their creativity. Even
when not creating sitespecific work in the future I
would definitely continue to
try and work beyond the
rehearsal room in this way.’
Liz Bacon
Ask each person to walk around the space like their chosen character. Encourage
them to think about which body part leads their movements, and how their
character might interact with other people in the space. Next, ask participants to
think of an animal that their character might become. Ask them to walk around the
space as that animal. Using a scale of 1–10, 1 being a completely human version
of that character and 10 being totally animal, explore the dynamic between the
animal and human nature of their characters on this scale. Discuss and reflect,
asking each participant to consider where they think their character would sit on
that scale.
Narrative/story Identify a narrative theme in your performance and split the group
into teams. Send them away to create a piece of movement, rhythm or sound
exploring this theme (30–60 seconds long, that they can repeat). Discuss what is
effective and what each sequence evokes for the audience. Standing in the middle
of the space, ask the group to start their sequences in different corners of the
space (this could be a gallery or a rehearsal room). Give them instructions that you
will wave once when you want the group to start being drawn into the middle of the
space, and that you will conduct (higher hands, more exaggerated movement and
tension, lower hands, more subtle movement and tension for example) their
sequence(s). As the groups meet in the middle of the space, put your hands high
above your head, indicating that the group will reach a crescendo and ask them to
find a natural ending. Discuss afterwards how the sequence uses the space, how it
might pull in an audience in, and how the performers feel that it advances the story.
Practical tips
Don’t be afraid of the challenge of working in a big space, embrace the
opportunities this creates for the young people. Do be aware of how intimidating
these public spaces can be, so ensure that young people are equipped to deal with
those challenges. Work and develop your theatre pieces within the gallery space
as much as possible to get young people more comfortable using that
environment.
Understand the boundaries of the space and what is practical in the space whilst
not being limited. Allow a certain amount of calculated risk – if the young people
want to try something that is ambitious let them try, if they fail you can support
them to learn from this experience. Where possible, explore different spaces and
let participants choose which spaces they are interested in, so that they have more
ownership of the process.
Find ‘creative anchors’ within the space to help the young people connect with
the space and the objects within it (for example, ask them to focus on one or two
objects they are curious about, and find a creative link between them).
Try to engage other members of staff in your process – this will create more buy-in
from the Museum and more support for the young people. Be aware that Museum
staff need to protect other visitors and objects, so prepare young people for
their role and responsibility prior to the gallery visits.
Discuss what Museum visitors expect when they are in the galleries and how
dramatic work might challenge those expectations. Role play the responses young
people might expect to receive from visitors, and how you could explain what
you’re doing to promote understanding of your project. This should help minimise
negative interactions between young people and Museum visitors.
Give young people opportunities to engage with objects/collections in different
ways prior to their performance, to spark personal connections with objects and
works of art. For example, take a free eye-opener tour (free daily tours at the
British Museum of selected objects), research in the galleries, practise storytelling
using objects, etc.