games and performance

Working with my performance writing students this morning, I set them the task of quickly inventing a game to be played before, during, after or as a piece of performance. I asked them to determine a playing space, one or more tasks to be completed and a relationship between the players.

Here are three of the ideas they shared five minutes later:

1. During a theatrical performance, the player must try to copy another member of the audience: posture, coughing, fidgeting etc. The player thinks that they are the only person playing, though the game has many participants.

2. Team game for a group in which three people are blindfolded. Played in a town centre, the group must find beg, borrow or steal the seven objects on a provided list, including the blindfolded members throughout. When you have all seven items, gather in the park to build a rocket.

3. Played front of house at a theatre. One person collects the group’s money and buys the corresponding number of tickets distributed randomnly around the auditorium, which he or she then hides around the foyer. If you find a ticket, you get to see the show, sitting somewhere you didn’t choose; if not, you get to watch the show from the foyer.

Now trying to find some time to playtest.

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