Chapter 6

IMAGINE

Imagination is a very powerful tool. If you are able to imagine with great detail, it is like having a superpower — You can come up with new ideas, tell new stories and even solve problems! Do you want to know how? Here is an interesting story related to Arjun.

Around 500 years ago, in Chitrapur, a grand play about the Mahabharata war was being performed. Villagers had gathered to see it. The play began … When it was the most exciting part where Arjuna had to enter the stage, the actor playing the role stumbled backstage. His shiny costume tore on a sharp edge. The colourful fabric was ruined. Everybody was tense and anxious. Without the costume, how could Arjuna continue?

SCENE 2

Individual Skills in Group

You saw how Arjun became a hero. There are two things we can learn — good imagination helps and having unique skills in a team can make a difference. Though everyone is working together in a team towards a common goal, it is important to see what skills every member has and help build them. Everyone in the team cannot do the same thing. Each one has to contribute based on what they are good at.

Activity 6.1

Panchatantra Exercise

Divide yourselves into groups of five. In your group, assign one animal to each person. Every member makes a list of special qualities they have as that animal.

Now, as a team, imagine you are in the forest discussing a plan to escape the lion’s fury. Think of a new solution other than what the hare did. Discuss how the skills of each animal can be used to escape the lion.

Name of your group

New solution to the lion problem in the forest

Contribution of each team member

Activity 6.2

Object Improvisation: Group

Let us play a theatre game to understand how you can work individually in a team. Remember you had done ‘object improvisation’ last year? You used objects around you to give different meanings to them—like pretending your pencil box is a treasure box or a laptop. You can play the improvisation game for one round to recall what you did last time. It will also help those who missed out on playing it.

We will now extend it to include a team. The teacher first picks an object in the classroom. Suppose she picked a water bottle. It can be used in many ways, such as:

Theatre Game – recall (Grade 3)

The teacher randomly gives it to one of you. Based on the child’s action, the teacher sends another child to add to the scene. Now, both of them must have a conversation about that imaginary object based on the water bottle.

After the conversation has progressed, the teacher adds another child to the scene. Now, all three have to spontaneously build the scene around the imaginary object based on the water bottle.

Note for Teachers:
Only send children to add to the scene. The role that the child has to play and what has to be spoken will be decided by the child. The teacher should not assign specific roles to the children. They spontaneously decide based on the situation in the scene.

Note for Teachers:
Ensure that every student gets to perform both roles. The first person interprets the given object, and the second person adds to the scene. Both these require very different skills and need to be developed in children.

• For which object could you think of more improvisations?
• Which scene was most interesting when it was developed?
• List out three improvisations for five objects found at home.
• Which scene was the most difficult to develop? Why?

Now that you have understood how imagination is a superpower that will help you all the time, let us understand how this helps in theatre. Imagination in theatre needs to happen in two ways:

The previous activity, of building a story around an object, is the first type of imagination mentioned in the box. Remember, Arjun saved the day by creating a new costume with his imagination? That is the second type. It is called VISUALISATION.

Visualisation refers to the ability of the mind to create pictures, images, or scenes without having seen them before.

For example, you might think you are a superhero. That is not visualisation. But when you see yourself flying in the sky, across the ocean and defeating enemies to save the weak, that is visualisation. If you are able to see the details of what you are wearing, what you see around you as you fly in the sky, how you talk to others—then your visualisation is very good! Now let us do a fun activity to help you build your visualisation.

Activity 6.3

Group Scene Building

The previous activity had you all building scenes based on an object. In this activity, the difference is that you get to plan, discuss, and decide what you will perform. You have to spontaneously build a story. This will give you the opportunity to visualise. After you decide on the story, you visualise the details of the scene. These are some points you will need to help you visualise.

Points that will help you in visualising a scene

• What is on the stage when it starts (table and chair or actor standing with a bag, etc.)?
• When and from where the actors (students) will enter?
• Where and how they will speak to each other?
• How it will conclude, and from where will the actors exit the scene?

If your group is able to discuss and visualise this together, you are ready to perform.

Basic

The topic given by the teacher for each team is an object. The story is built and presented based on the object.

Advanced

A broad theme is given instead of an object. This gives more scope for creativity and imagination in building the story. For example, fear, anger, nature, school, and travel.

Panchatantra Exercise

A part of the Panchatantra story could be picked by a team to develop it and improvise differently (other than what has been given). The choice of animals in the scene and their roles can be changed as per the creativity and imagination of the team.

Note for Teachers:
The class will be divided into teams of four or five. Students have to come up with a story based on the object/theme given to them. Each team will be given 5 minutes to plan and discuss. When a team is performing, others have to watch them and make notes. After the performance, facilitate a quick feedback from all teams before moving on to the next group.

• Does the story have a different impact when its central focus is on an object or theme.
• Was there a similar pattern in which the stories began and ended?
• Can stories include both themes and objects? Try it out in your free time