Drama Game: Levels of Tension

Age: 9 to adult

Players: Pairs, Small Groups, Whole Group

Time: 25 minutes +

Skills: Improvisation, Performance

This approach can be used to explore changing levels of tension within a scene or between characters and can be applied to all kinds of improvisation and performance. Introduce the levels one by one by asking the players to explore them physically. The first one can be tried in pairs with one partner checking to see how relaxed the other person can be. The rest can be explored by asking the participants to move around the room focussing on one level at a time.

When the group have tried out the levels, you can explore them by improvising a scene where something goes wrong, such as taking a ride in a lift which gets stuck. They can begin at level 3 (Neutral) and then when the lift gets stuck their stress levels increase to levels 4, 5 and 6. When the lift starts moving again the levels decrease. (When I talk about levels here, I mean levels of tension, not floors in a building!)