Poetry in Motion

From ‘101 More Drama Games and Activities’

Poetry in Motion

From ‘101 More Drama Games and Activities’

“I find ‘Poetry in Motion’ a great way to teach lines from Shakespeare!”

– Martha O’Shaughnessy, Martha’s Speech and Drama

Age: 7 to adult
Players: Small Groups
Time: 20-30 minutes
Tags: #Improvisation, #Movement, #Speech
Materials: A selection of poems

Explore and perform poetry through drama and movement

In this activity, you can work with a selection of short poems or break a long poem into separate verses. Give a print-out to each group of four to six participants. Ask them to read through the poem and devise three or four freeze frames to represent significant phrases.

Next, groups must find a way of performing the poem, by moving between the still images and sharing out the words between them. They can try saying some of the words when they are still and some of them while they are moving. This will produce some very effective work.

Director’s Tips

  • Explore choral work (speaking words or phrases together) as well as solo speech.
  • Groups can perform their pieces in order if you are using one long poem.
  • Try the approach with short stories, raps and other texts.
Useful Poems for a range of age-groups

Bat Patrol | Georgia Heard
Brendan Gallacher | Jackie Kay
Brothers | Andrew Forster
Checking Out Me History | John Agard
Cosmic Disco | Grace Nicholls
Dear Key Workers | Laura Mucha
The Highwayman | Alfred Noyes
Hurricane Hits England | Grace Nicholls
Jabberwocky | Lewis Carroll
The Lady of Shalott | Alfred Tennyson
Lady Winter’s Rap | Grace Nicholls
The Magic Box | Kit Wright
Night Flight | Laura Mucha
On the Ning Nang Nong | Spike Milligan
The Right Word | Imtiaz Dharker
The Tyger | William Blake
Wanted: Wizard’s Assistant | Laura Mucha

101-More-Drama-Games

This game is from: 101 MORE Drama Games and Activities

‘This book cheered me up. Buy it and smile. There will be a lot of laughter in your classroom.’ – Drama Magazine.

Lively warm-up games and vocal exercises to develop concentration, focus, team building, storytelling, mime and movement. The activities are particularly useful for rehearsing and devising scenes as well as drama lessons and workshops.

This game is from:
101 MORE Drama Games and Activities

 

101-More-Drama-Games

Lively warm-up games and vocal exercises to develop concentration, focus, team building, storytelling, mime and movement. The activities are particularly useful for rehearsing and devising scenes as well as drama lessons and workshops.