No Dramas Meets Some Unexpected Characters

As part of my Projects Assistant internship at Extant I was able to attend 4 different No Dramas sessions. It was interesting getting to learn about the different facilitators’ styles and the importance of creating safe accessible spaces to deliver drama workshops in.

My first trip was to The Courtyard in Hereford with Ellen Jupp (Extant’s Administrator and Project Coordinator) and Steve George (the Hereford No Dramas facilitator). It was nice listening to Steve talk about the progress that the group has been making alongside developing new skills in the previous sessions.

The session focused on acting and we explored wants and objectives. It started off with an accessible game of zip, zap, and boing and after this we worked on some unexpected character scenes including:

1) an alien, a translator and its interviewer who were trying to figure out how this alien might be enjoying planet earth.
2) a parent being harassed by their child wanting sweets in a supermarket,
3) a police officer investigating a suspect trying to figure out what they had done
4) a hotel receptionist having to deal with two very demanding customers.

It was fascinating getting to play and watch these characters interact with each other. I enjoyed that Steve led the exercises clearly but was also effective in making sure we understood the purpose of them. He allowed us to develop new skills and gave clear examples when needed. At the end of the session, we had a chance to reflect and share with Steve what we thought of the exercises; I felt that as a group, we struggled a bit coming up with ideas for objectives, but one thing I learnt from the session was to make sure you’re adaptable with exercises.

Next stop was Arena Theatre in Wolverhampton where the participants were full of energy, and it felt like everyone knew each other already. We started with a fun name game – as part of our voice and sound session – and created our own tongue-twisters to strengthen our voices for clear diction and projection. These are useful skills for someone like me who mumbles and doesn’t project loud enough sometimes, so I’ll be using some of these exercises in my own practice.

We dived into status work by introducing ourselves from 10-1 revealing this through new characters. It was intriguing getting to experience the different character levels and status reflecting how the participants changed their voice and physicality to fit those roles…as well creating a soundscape for a lovely seaside location and a bustling New York City street. Steve was covering for Helena (who was the usual Wolverhampton facilitator) and his facilitation was similar to how he worked in Hereford – he was enthusiastic and engaging with the participants and got more energy back from Wolverhampton group because there were more people in the session. However, this meant it felt like he gave clearer and slower explanations in Hereford, whereas in Wolverhampton it felt like he rushed some of the exercises because he had a larger group to work with.

I attended the London workshops at Battersea Arts Centre and I really enjoyed the physical characterisation session led by Tom Skelton and assisted by Tam Gilbert. We had to deliver dialogue using different energy and elements e.g. being fiercer with fire, firmer and more grounded with earth, floaty or silky with water and temperamental with air. Tam made sure our energy levels stayed consistent throughout the session, and I thought the exercises were so useful I used some of them in my own facilitation work.

I taught the elements exercise at the Reach Group at Tramshed, Woolwich where I volunteer on Monday evenings. The participants explored the exercise in the room using their dialogue and physicality and enjoyed exploring different character and element traits and learnt how to embody those different traits without repeating themselves. As a facilitator, I’ve learnt to be more direct when explaining exercises and how to explore and develop characterisation with participants.

Extant provides online No Dramas sessions too and I attended one focused on voice and sound – led by Louise Hall and Tam Gilbert on Zoom. It was interesting learning how the facilitators adapted their exercises for an online setting; I usually prefer the in-person sessions, but the facilitators did a wonderful job of adapting the same drama exercises online. After warming our voices and bodies up – in my bedroom, which must have sounded weird to my family members downstairs – we devised an audio drama piece using our voices and objects in our surroundings, which meant I had to create some distinct farm animal noises – thus confusing my family even more. I found it easy to get distracted online, but I enjoyed the connectivity of bringing people together from different places.

Through No Dramas, it was incredible getting to experience a range of different facilitators and assistants. It allowed me to assess and compare the different styles and approaches to the exercises, which allowed me to think about what I enjoyed about their practice or thought they could have improved. I have learnt from the facilitators how to adapt exercises for visually impaired participants and how impactful it can be to create safe, sociable, creative spaces for them. The sessions have helped me and others to connect and make friends whilst joining in accessible and fun drama games and exercises – I hope they continue to run as they’re an important part of what Extant stands for.

Magnus Mackenzie, Projects Assistant, April 2025