Theatre of Alienation
| Theatre of Alienation | |
|---|---|
| |
| Designer: | Ben Henley; writing by Holly Gramazio |
| Year: | unknown |
| Players: | 4-6 |
| Stuff required: | Script pages, chairs, video camera |
| Crew required: | Two |
| Preparation: | Ten minutes (plus hours and hours reading Brecht and procrastinating) |
| Time required: | 30 to 45 minutes |
| Place required: | Anywhere fairly quiet |
| Activities: | Acting, deduction |
| 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 based on your vague memories of Brecht/Chekov/Ibsen. It need not make any sense.
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 hand-picked team of experts on Gilbert Bright. They have 15-30 minutes 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". Add to the pressure by videoing their performance and encouraging bystanders to watch.
Have them make up a title for the piece on the spot when the critic arrives.
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 critic/moderator 'reviews' the performance based on how convincing it is as a piece of theatre, or how amusing the results were, depending on personal taste.
If playing the game more than once in the event, write up the star ratings and play titles with brief capsule reviews.
Example script
[[Image:{{{image}}}|200px|Handout thumbnail for ToA script final.pdf.]]
- Written by Holly Gramazio, based on a vague notion by Ben Henley
