Drama Game: Upstage/Downstage

David Farmer
Friday, October 1, 2021

A lively game for learning about blocking (stage positioning and movement).

David Hurtado
David Hurtado

Age: 8 to adult

Players: Whole Class

Time: 10 – 20 minutes

Skills: Concentration, energiser

This is my adaptation of the game Pirates and can be played on the stage (with a health and safety warning) or a large space (mark out a rectangle on the floor).

Begin by explaining how theatre stages traditionally slope down towards the audience – and therefore the front of the stage is called ‘down stage’. Clarify that ‘left’ and ‘right’ are given from the point of view of the actors. Explain the names of the other parts of the stage (see diagram).

Now ask participants to spread out on the stage area. Explain that you will call out stage directions and they should follow them as quickly as possible – or they will be ‘out’. Those who are out become the audience at the front. Begin by calling out some of the stage positions, for example:

Up/Down Stage

Stage Left/Right

Centre Stage

Up Stage Right

Down Stage Centre

Next, mix in the fun commands given below. You could add a couple of new ones each time you play the game.

  • Paint the Scenery – pretend to paint the scenery (ask them ‘what’ they are painting!)
  • Steal the Scene – a melodramatic pose
  • Forget the Line – Stand still, cup your ear and say ‘Prompt!’
  • Critic in the House – mime blowing a kiss and winking at someone in the audience
  • Climb the Gantry – mime climbing the gantry to focus the lights
  • Take a Bow – Face the audience, everybody count to three together and try to bow at the same time
  • Curtsey – Face the audience, count to three together and curtsey
  • Hamlet – Say the line ‘To be or not to be, that is the question’ in as melodramatic a way as possible
  • Romeo and Juliet – Find a partner as quickly as possible. Romeo gets down on one knee and Juliet waves a mimed handkerchief out of the window. Romeo says ‘But soft, what light through yonder window breaks' and Juliet replies ‘O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?’
  • Witches – Get into threes and stir a cauldron, saying ‘When shall we three meet again, in thunder, lightning, or in rain?’