Theatre of Alienation
| Theatre of Alienation | |
|---|---|
| |
| Designer: | Ben Henley |
| Year: | unknown |
| Players: | 5 |
| Stuff required: | Script pages, chairs, video camera |
| Crew required: | One/two |
| Preparation: | Ten minutes (plus pastiche time) |
| Time required: | 45 minutes - 1 hour |
| Place required: | Anywhere fairly quiet |
| Activities: | Acting, editing |
| This is a tested game. It's been tested in real life, but needs a bit more polishing before it's fully playable. | |
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Players attempt to recreate the fragmentary last work of the genius playwright Gilbert Bright. The problem is that the only copy is a set of shuffled, unnumbered photocopied pages. They must work out how to order the script, and then stage the play.
Preparation
Get Holly to write an 8-10 page pastiche of Brecht/Chekov/Ibsen.
Put in logistical problems - like characters passing around a letter - and clues to sequence (gun on mantelpiece, people leaving/entering, etc).
Shuffle the pages and photocopy them with pieces of paper in the way of some key lines.
Gameplay
The players take the part of a cutting-edge theatre company (encourage them to think of a name for the company). They have half an hour to reconstruct the sequence of the pages and write in the missing words.
Then they must read through the play, using appropriate props if possible, and be judged by an "eminent critic" - can be a volunteer, or a video camera - enough to make them feel that they are under a bit of pressure to perform.
Stress to the players that the critic must never know about the shuffled pages debacle - the read-through must keep flowing at all costs.
Scoring
The moderator or the critic scores the play on the following factors:
Sequence: A maximum of 10 points, subtracting 1 point for each page that is not in its right place.
Smoothness of read-through: Up to 9 points are available for how smoothly the read-through went: award 1-3 points for use of props, 1-3 points for absence of awkward silences, 1-3 points for missed lines
Acting and creative interpretation: Up to 6 bonus points for quality of acting, or particularly committed overacting, or clever/amusing ad libs to cover gaps, or imaginative choices of missing words.
Divide the final score by 5 and round down - that is the rating that the critic has given the play.
If playing the game more than once in the event, write up the star ratings and team names with a few words summing up the performance - e.g. "** Confusing", "***** Sell your mother for a ticket".
