Back to Basics Lesson 8 - Status

Lesson Objectives By the end of the lesson pupils will have: Recapped how a performer shows status on the stage Explored different levels of status Create an improvisation based on different levels of status

Warm up In pairs you have 2 minutes to act out the following 4 line dialogue in as many different ways as possible. Do not add anything to the text! 1. Hello 2. Hello 1. You’re late 2. I know How does this exercise link to our lesson objective on status?

What is status? Who can tell me what status is? In simple terms status is how important a character is. In society our status is determined by our class. Our class tends to be determined by either our jobs or the family we are born into Who can give me an example of a high and low status character?

Let’s see how good you are! In a moment you will be given a card with a status on that you have to convey to the audience - 2 is the lowest status and an Ace is the highest. You are a teacher in the staffroom at school. Through the way you interact with other people and what you say you need to play out your status Audience members, you will be asked to rank the people at the end of their short scene

King = Head teacher Jack or Queen = Deputy head 9 or 10 = Assistant head 7 or 8 = Head of year 5 or 6 = Subject leader 3 or 4 = Normal class teacher 2 = Trainee teacher Think about what the different status characters might do in the staff room, where they might sit, how other people might treat them, what they might talk about etc

So how did we do? Audience members you now need to discuss who you think had the highest to lowest status and line the group up accordingly What Drama skills did people use to show their status level?

Can you work it out for yourself? This time your setting is at a party Your teacher will give you a card which you must not look at but place directly on your forehead! Whoever has the Ace is the host so everyone should want to speak to them! Depending on how other people react to you can you guess your status?

Improvisation In groups of 3-4 create a short scene about bulling that shows at least 3 different status levels Think about what you saw during the previous exercise – how did people speak? Did they make eye contact? How did they stand/walk? How much space on the stage did they use? Etc

Script work Read the following script extract from from the play, ‘The Terrible Fate of Humpty Dumpty’ In groups of 5 rehearse the text focusing on conveying the different status of the characters

Plenary What is status? What Drama skills do we use to show it on the stage? Can you pick out a star performer from the lesson? Why were they so good? What do you need to work on in order to improve in Drama?