One-off Workshop: Gestures

David Porter
Wednesday, May 1, 2019

Without gestures, human communication would be poorer. Gestures are expressed through hands and fingers, but also in the face, head, shoulders, backs and halfturns. This one-off session explores a range of possibilities to help a character communicate meaning more effectively.

Adobe Stock/kegfire

Learning objectives

Working in collaborative groups, students develop story making and characterisation skills through exploring/ developing a scenario in which gestures are the main vehicle of communication, and share it with their peers.

Resources/research:

Warm-up (15 mins)

a) Ask students to find a standing space, feet apart, relaxed.

b) Ask students to show a series of emotions in turn without words, purely from body posture and facial expression: anger, disappointment, hunger, fear and want.

c) Ask students to experiment with doing the following by gesture alone: calling someone over, rejecting somebody’s closeness, giving directions, avoiding somebody’s eyes, expressing disapproval.

d) In pairs, A demonstrates displeasure towards B with no words, B doesn’t care.

e) Same pairs, same gestures, add appropriate dialogue.

Gestus

Brecht’s theory of gestus (attitude plus gesture and point) refers to an actor demonstrating essential attitudes and bearing, physically and verbally. He said ‘all feelings must be externalised’

Teacher-led discussion (10 mins)

Think of teachers, adults, friends you know – what gestures do they regularly use to support what they say? Are they habits? Do they actually help communication? Are they distracting?
Picture how through body language and gesture alone a character can express almost anything. Ask for any examples/ experience from students: Has anyone experienced rejection, encouragement or approval just by gestures? What about rude gestures?

What do thumbs up, smoking, chewing, touching an ear lobe, pushing hair off face, clicking fingers, cracking knuckles, pushing glasses up nose or turning your back actually mean? Can status be shown through gesture, such as standing up to a higher status person or bowing to them? Discuss the term ‘just making a gesture’ to describe doing something half-heartedly just to keep others happy. Note – depending on time and the ability of your group, a mention of ‘gesture politics’ might be appropriate.

Devising start points (30 mins)

Focus on drama skills through gestures including still images, mime, movement, facial expression, vocal ranges, silences and proxemics (distances between characters) to explore this session. Try to avoid all students in a group playing the same age and background, unless it’s effective. Some may be or choose to be less able to use a full range of gestures – use that in the drama. In groups of 4-6, devise a short drama around one scenario:

a) A seriously ill person communicates in a limited way but has information others need to know, and fast.

b) At a party one must get another to do something (illegal, dangerous or regrettable) without others knowing about it.

c) The disappointment of an adult in authority with one or more younger people must be shown in a change of atmosphere.

d) A simple gesture by one person is misunderstood by others, causing problems.

e) A rude gesture starts a chain reaction of rage leading to tragedy, but the originator of the gesture didn’t understand it.

f) Someone decides to make a gesture in charity/pity for another, with disastrous consequences.

How could it develop?

Add in a further complication such as that someone deliberately misinterprets a gesture to suit his/her own agenda.

Experiment

Make a list of possible gestures on the board or paper. Each one suggests character traits and plots: the hitchhiking thumb, thumb down, handshake, head in hands, a wink, hands on hips or scratch of the nose can all lead to real drama.

Sharing scenes (30 mins)

After selected shared scenes, allow time for brief peer, self and teacher comment and assessment on the effective use of gestures to support both characters and story lines.

Plenary/Discussion (5 mins)

Summarise learning and how gestures in the broadest possible sense buttress a character and convey meaning to an audience.

Follow-up

To build a vocabulary of physical and facial gestures for drama, watch a variety of people on TV with the sound off – reporters, politicians, soap actors, adverts and reality/game shows.