“We are now about to visit the most marvellous places and see the most wonderful things”
Story Explorers – Drama and theatre workshops developing communication and self expression
Why?
Our inner worlds are unique places to each of us but our shared stories cross cultural and language barriers
Theatre allows us to explore what it means to each of us to be human, yet also allows for deep communication on a non-verbal level.
We believe in collaborative story telling and encourage everyone, through the use of games and appropriate technology, to contribute meaningful ideas to our work, to act out our imaginative creations and celebrate each others achievements!
Case study: Jess
Jess rarely speaks in daily situations and when asked a question responds with one word answers such as “happy”, “yes” and “no”. After about a year of working with Jess’ group we introduced a microphone into our regular sessions. Over the next 3 or 4 months her understanding of what to do increased until the point where she said “yes” to having a go at singing our “Hello” song. It turned out that she knew every single word and could sing the whole thing from start to finish! We were all open mouthed and emotional to see how much she had taken in and could contribute in the session. She’s now one of the first to ask for the microphone in the session.
What are the positive outcomes?
Communication skills, expression of thoughts, ideas and feelings through movement and voice, confidence and body mechanics, embodying positive people, developing confidence in our ideas and contributions to the group, expression of emotion in a safe and supportive environment, developing emotional intelligence, supporting a sense of own identity in relation to others, encouragement of critical thinking, problem solving, understanding others point of view, increased confidence in speaking and listening, provides opportunities for multi-sensory experiences.
Who is it for?
Our sessions are always participant led and our experience working with disabled people means that we can adapt the activities for every ability and experience level. Numbers usually range from 6-8 but we can accommodate larger groups when required.
Sessions will be tailored to the individuals in the group taking into account the abilities of the participant. Support worker participation is essential and we pride ourselves on being able to get everybody in the room feeling comfortable, involved and thoroughly immersed in our drama sessions.
What would it look like?
Typically our drama sessions last for an hour. We always start with a physical warm-up to get our bodies active and our hearts pumping. We often play games to get us moving around the room, starting and stopping, moving in and out of other people and interacting when prompted.
We might then go in to a story that we’ve been developing around a particular theme such as a fairytale, the seaside or perhaps the theme of journeys. Through games and sharing ideas we form short sketches and longer narrative pieces. It’s lovely to share our work and we always look for an opportunity to share with a wider audience what we’ve been working on!
iPads and our other assistive technology are useful tools in giving everyone in the group a “voice”, from making choices using simple yes/no board type apps, to choosing characters, to triggering SFX or playing a melody.
We always end with a cool down and stretch, check in with everyone to see how they’re feeling after the session and say thank you for sharing and caring for each other in the group.
We believe in the power of the arts to help everyone lead a fuller, more meaningful life.