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.

• Jellyfish – Completely exhausted or relaxed. There should be no tension in the body. It is an effort even to move or speak.
• Cool Californian – Very cool and relaxed movements. You don't need to do anything. Nothing really seems to matter.
• Neutral – You are fully awake and aware of the present moment. You use just the right amount of energy to do whatever it is you are doing.
• Curious Cat – You become very interested in things around you. You move from one thing to the next without staying for very long. Think ‘Mr Bean’.
• Guard Dog – You are waiting for something dramatic or scary to happen, but you don't know what it is. Your breathing is faster.
• Bomb! – You know that there is a bomb in the room but you’re not sure where it is. The tension is exploding from your body.
• Rigor Mortis – There is a bomb in the room and it is about to go off. Your body is so tense that you are completely unable to move.

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!)

Try asking characters within a scene to explore different levels of tension. For example, if the setting is a dentist's waiting room and two patients are at levels 3 and 4 but another one is at level 5 and the receptionist is at level 2, you are guaranteed an entertaining improvisation! Once the group gets to know these levels, they can be referred to during rehearsals or improvisations to clarify characters and their behaviour.

This is a simplified adaptation of the approach used by Jacques Lecoq (1921-99) in his acting training.

David Farmer runs the website www.dramaresource.com – a site that offers a wide range of ideas, games and courses for drama practitioners. He is the author of several books including 101 More Drama Games and Activities, from which this game is taken.