Activity 1:  Clap together.  A quick way of establishing focus. The whole group stands in a circle with their arms outstretched, middlefingers touching.  Everybody tries to clap at exactly the same time. This can be perfected through practice and concentration.

Activity 2:  Mirror movements.  In pairs, stand facing eachother.  One partner moves slowly with the other trying to reflect themovements as accurately as possible.  Make sure the movements are slowand flowing.  On a given signal, the leading swaps over.  Begin to makethe movements more exaggerated but keep them smooth, especially eachtime there is a changeover.

Activity 3:  Moving in space.  Encourage the students to movearound the room, filling up the space, changing pace, changingdirection, being aware of other people but not touching them.  Find newways of moving, with a different emphasis each time – smooth, jagged,slow, fast, heavy, light, high up, low down and so on.  Every now andagain shout “Freeze!”, asking them to freeze every muscle in the body.

Activity 5:  Begin to relate the movements to some of the stockcharacters.  For example the Zanni movements, including Arlecchino’s,are often led by the head.  The nose relates to Pulcinella, the chestto Il Capitano, the stomach to Il Dottore, the hips and chest toColombina and the groin to Pantalone.  Take each of these in turn andbegin to build up the character.  For example, Il Capitano: The Captainswaggers proudly.  He puffs up his chest, walking with a straight backand lifting his feet high, placing them down heel first, although hissteps are quite small.  He may also brandish his sword.  However, whenhe hears the slightest noise he is thrown into a complete panic, wavinghis arms in the air and running on the spot or trembling at the knees.

Activity 6:  Statues.  In pairs.  Without talking, one partnermoulds the other into an exaggerated statue of one of the stockcharacters.  The sculptor can demonstrate the facial expression theywould like the statue to have.  When everybody is finished, walk aroundthe space and look at all the statues, guessing which character theyrepresent and what they are doing.  Then swap over.

Plenary session: Is it possible for the actor to developunderstanding of a character through movement work?  Which characterswere easier to represent and why?

The rest of this article including sessions for Key Stages 3, 4 & 5 is available by purchasing the ebook So you think you know Commedia

• Introduction to Commedia