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Improvisation – short drama scenes and games
The following play scenes are only game ideas and can be adapted accordingly. Some of the scenes can be developed into improvisations to reflect group anecdotes or life in the camp. These are simple scenes from everyday life presented in an amusing way.
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The lion and the tamers
Players:
A circus director and 3 lion tamers, who are sitting amongst the audience at first. A "lion", who is behind a curtain, "roars". (Apart from the lion’s roar and the shouts of the tamers, the game is silent.)1. Scene
The director appears in front of the curtain and holds up a sign with the words „lion tamers required“! A player volunteers themselves. The director removes the sign triumphantly and represents the lion tamer to the audience. The new lion tamer takes a bow and goes behind the curtain. The lion roars and the lion tamer cries out a few times. A shoe, a jacket, pullover and socks fly over the curtain and into the audience.2. Scene
The director appears once again with a hanging head and puts the sign out on display again. Then the scene described in scene 1 is repeated.3. Scene
In the first stage, everything is repeated like in scenes l and 2. The third lion tamer – a small lad – goes behind the curtain. A loud lion’s roar suddenly sounds. Then the lion’s tail flies over the curtain (you can make the tail from a thick wool, the tassel can be made from grass or linseed).4. Scene
The director appears and hangs out a sign: "I am looking for new lions!"
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The tightrope acrobat
Players:
The tightrope acrobat and four or five assistants. Apart from this, you will need two three meter long smooth poles which are not too thin, a ladder, a thick rope (possibly a washing line) and an umbrella.The tightrope acrobat appears well wrapped up (swimming trunks as the bottom layer, then gym clothes, then pullover, trousers and jacket. The final layer is a coat).
He takes his bows to the audience and walks towards the rope. The rope is stretched between the two long poles and attached at a height of approx. 2-3 meters. The poles are held by the assistants. An assistant places a ladder in front of one of the poles. The acrobat slowly climbs up the ladder. He tries out the rope with his foot, shakes his head and climbs down the ladder again. The assistants attach the rope half a meter lower. The acrobat takes off his coat in the meantime. The scene repeats itself again and again: Up the ladder, try out the rope, down the ladder, rope is placed 50cm lower, acrobat takes off his jacket etc. etc. until he stands there in his swimming trunks. Once he has got to this point, the rope will be lying on the floor. He puts up his umbrella and walks proudly across the rope — carefully and with stalking steps like a stork — applause!
The whole scene can be accompanied with some musical instruments. A fanfare can be played which each attempt.
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Playing out biblical stories
Biblical stories can be played very well with groups. This might be the story of Zachariah, the story of the lost son, the disciples in the storm or the denial of Jesus Christ by Simon. In all of the stories, the group members have to deal with the stories and try to re-enact them. It is your decision whether to use a narrator to tell the story or whether the actors themselves deliver the story.
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Playback Show
The group is split into bands of 3-4 players and choose a piece of music. If possible, suitable clothing can be used for a cool outfit. The winning band is the band who offers the best, most original and most fitting show to the chosen music.
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Mini soundtrack game or live broadcast
The group makes up a mini soundtrack story with narrators, players and the suitable background noises. In does not matter whether they choose a crime story, a love and romance story or a biblical story. The creativity of each member of the group is important. Each recording can be played back at the end and judged.
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Continuation stories
A story is read out loud. The end of the story is left open. The group then dramatises the end of the story.
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Fairy story sequels
Well-know fairy stories are performed by the group. The group might want to present the stories in the present time or possibly even combine different fairy stories with each other.
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At the dentist’s of Schreiersheim
Location: In an old-fashioned barber shop where teeth were once pulled out.
Players: The man with a sore tooth, the narrator and the barber.
A man with a fat swollen cheek comes into the front room of a dentists. This means: we do not see the cheek because it is wrapped in a large scarf. There is no one in the shop. He sits down on a stool in front of a table where a few torture instruments are lying. There is at least a hammer, a few large chisels and a massive pair of pliers. He writhes around in pain and stamps his feet. He sometimes cries so badly that the audience starts to cry with him. The narrator comes in from the left of stage
(A sharp lad who walks a fine line between compassion and taunt). He points at the poor man and says:
"Toothache – taken subjectively,
Is, without a doubt, most unwelcome:
But it has one characteristic,
that thereby turns to vigour,
which is outward often wasted,
to one point inward and here energetically concentrated.
The first stab of pain is hardly felt,
but the well-known drilling is already there,
the jerking, the wincing and the noise —
and the world news is out of mind,
the stock exchange,
the taxes and the 1 x table is long forgotten.—
In short, every form of usual existence,
which usually seems important and real,
is suddenly unsubstantial and futile.
Well even the old lever rusts,
we can’t remember what butter costs,
because the soul is hiding out in the narrow gaps of the back teeth —
And under roaring and ranting
One thing is certain: The tooth has to go!
(Wilhelm Busch)
The narrator leaves. The barber appears on stage (where possible: a man like a master butcher). The pained man opens his mouth and points at the sore tooth. The barber: "Yes, my dear man, it must be pulled out, otherwise you might get blood poisoning at the end of it all!"
The poorly man groans and holds his cheek while the tooth puller sots out his tools.
"You don’t need to be scared", he says in the meantime. "It’s about time that we sort that out. But it’s good that you didn’t go running into town with it. They hunt the money out of your pockets there and you don’t have anything but a bit of pain." He reaches for the pliers, wipes them on his trousers to sterilise them.
"Look, Willem!" he says trustingly. "If you go into town, a tooth breaker lives directly on the left side of the street, that is a serious flayer. He does it like this!" applies the pliers and pulls with all of his strength.
The patient kicks his legs and screams as if he is on the spit. "Yes, exactly. He does it just like that!" says the barber and pants a little.
"Isn’t that great?" the barber continues. "And then he takes 2 pounds for it. — and one street further on, there is another one – he does it like this." He pulls once again; fidgets and screams from the patient. "Look, Willem, he is such a con artist." He wipes the sweat from his forehead. "And you have to pay 5 pounds for his services there.
— — "yeah, yeah!" says the barber. "You see, that’s how they do it in the town. You will only hear cries and screams in vain, and you have to fork out until you’re broke. — But back to me, I do it like this!" He grabs the tooth with a smile, which he had already pulled loose.
Without any problem he takes the tooth (he takes a piece of wood or a boar’s tooth, which he already had in his left hand and takes from the patients mouth) studies it and places it elegantly on the table. "So, there is the minx. And? You’d be lying if you said that you noticed that. And me? — I don’t take 5 pounds for it, I don’t even take 2 pounds. It doesn’t even hurt and I only charge a single pound. It’s almost a gift and makes pulling teeth enjoyable."
Page 2: Further extensions to improvisational games or sketches
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