Theatre Games http://dramaonlinelibrary.com/theatre-crafts/theatre-games-iid-1...

Theatre Games
by Clive Barker

6: Simple movement games

There are five principle ways of taking the pressure off the actor in simple movement
games. All of these methods direct the actor to focus his attention outside of himself, and
so extrovert the flow of energy instead of introverting it, and by so doing, break down self
consciousness and free the actor’s body/think mechanisms.

Aims and objectives

The first of these methods uses games with simple aims and objectives for the actor to
reach for which take his mind off the movements he is making.

In Tag, which everyone knows, one player chases all the others, until he touches someone
else who then becomes the pursuer. The aim or objective being to catch someone or to
avoid being caught. The game leads to a violent release of energy with players running
wildly all over the playing space – usually with enjoyment.

Various forms of Tag can be introduced which, through rules, produce a refinement of
movement patterns. If the rule is made that the touch can only be made on the head, and
only when the pursued has his feet on the floor, the movement alternates between running
and jumping. If the rule is made that the player touched must hold the part of his body that
was touched, until he is released by touching someone else, obstacles are introduced that
he must overcome. In Cat and Mouse the pursuer runs after only one opponent. The other
players join hands in a grid, forming alleys through which the chase may be pursued. On
command the players change the direction of the grid so that the alleys now run at right
angles to the previous lines, and control of running and changes of direction are
introduced.

Tag is a good starting game because of the violent release of energy. One must first of all
release energy before one can work to control and discipline it. The length of the game
depends on where you want to go later. If you want to move quickly towards some form of 70
disciplined work, then a long game of Tag tires the actor slightly and takes the top energy
off, making it easier to concentrate and be still.

Two-circle Tag is a cooler version of the game, and lets you begin a session without too
violent a release of energy. Players stand two deep in a circle. Again, the hunter pursues
the quarry, but the quarry can escape by standing in front of any of the pairs in the circle.
When he has done this the rear member of what is now a trio becomes the quarry and
must evade capture. The game allows an alternation of violent activity and rest. As the
circle gets smaller, by adding to the front of the pairs and taking from the back, the players
are brought closer together.

Tee-ak-ee-allio or Team Tag This game produces such a violent release of energy that it
virtually exhausts the players. It is useful at the end of sessions involving detailed or
concentrated work, when a violent release of tensions is called for. The players divide into
two teams. Each team has a base in a corner of the room. The object of the game is to
capture the opposing players by tapping them on the head and calling ‘tee-ak’. Once
touched, the captive goes to the enemy base and can only be released from there by one
of his own side running through the base shouting ‘tee-ak-ee-allio’. He can then rejoin the
game, which continues until one side manages to capture all the opposing players at one
time.

1 of 6 4/13/19, 12:46 AM
Theatre Games http://dramaonlinelibrary.com/theatre-crafts/theatre-games-iid-1...

Red Rover is a form of one-legged Tag, but also relates to several other games,
particularly British Bulldog. In Red Rover, one player is in the centre of the room whilst the
others line up against one wall. At ‘Go’, the players hop from one wall to the wall opposite,
evading being touched by the player hopping in the centre. If caught, they join him in the
middle and the game continues until no-one is free.

The purpose of the game is hopping, which is a shift of the balance of the body’s weight in
space, controlled by one foot. The child is exploring and developing his powers of balance.
The game structure adds obstacles to be overcome in the interests of perfecting the skill. In
another version of Red Rover, the players fold arms and the object is to knock the free
players off their balance in order to capture them, thus intensifying the necessity of
controlling balance by the opposition of outside forces.

In British Bulldog the players are on two feet and have to be lifted clear of the ground. 71
This creates a trial of strength, in which the players are trying to overcome or use the force
of gravity, in lifting or avoiding being lifted.

As an example of the development that is possible in these games, let me give a sequence
of three games, to show how one can move out into complex areas of human relationships.

The sequence starts with Red Rover which is a skilful but simple release game. The next
step is to refine the rules, so that players are caught, not by touching, but by stealing a
handkerchief tucked into the back of the belt. This increases the dimensions of the spatial
movement, and also calls for more evasive skills in twists and turns around the central axis,
rather than speed of dash to the other side. The next step is to change the framework of
the game so that, instead of a dash from one side of the room to the other, it becomes a
group game. All players are opposing all other players in an open situation. The object is to
steal as many handkerchiefs from other players as one can. Once the handkerchief is
stolen, the player retires from the game until a winner emerges. Actually the game is best
stopped at two remaining players, as one against one rarely ever produces a victor. The
area of dangerous space has been totalised in this way, and the player is forced into a
position of all-round awareness, with quite violent shifts of balance in response to a number
of external stimuli.

The game moves into an entirely new area when there are only three players left. In order
for one of them to be put out of the game, since surprise is no longer a factor, two must
make an al liance against the third. The third can break the alliance, if he can change his
position in space, so that the balance of forces shifts, and he is in a position to make an
alliance with one of his opponents against the other. What usually happens in the game is a
shifting sequence of alliances and betrayals, as the players manoeuvre for positions which
will take them out of danger and put another player in it. The game thus becomes a
laboratory for studying human relationships in space. When games are played at this level,
they form the basis for new games and further exploration. When they are played at this
level, I would never involve the whole group but split into alternating players and observers.

I hope it can be seen that the last game described brings attention to bear upon the nature
of relationships on the stage, and leads the actor to an awareness of space as a factor in
relationships.
72
Competition
The second of the methods for taking the pressure off the actor focuses the energy in
competition. This is the simplest of the methods but probably the one that has the widest
use, since the framework is so loose that you can include whatever physical exercise you
like within it. However, it will not usually sustain for very long. You can keep it going by
introducing ‘best of five’ contests, or even seven, but competition palls very soon as a
stimulus to a group and the method is best kept for areas of movement that it is particularly
suited for, or when you can find no other way of tackling them, which is very rare. I find
relay races useful for certain areas of movement. I use them for movements which employ
contrasting and opposing directions.

Over and Under is one of these. A simple relay game in an extended line, where the
running player has to go over the head of one of his team-mates and under the legs of the
next, before returning to his place and touching off the next man. As he too starts ‘over’, all
the team are continually going up and then down. I use it for passing a ball, between one’s

2 of 6 4/13/19, 12:46 AM
Theatre Games http://dramaonlinelibrary.com/theatre-crafts/theatre-games-iid-1...

feet, over one’s head, to the man behind, who takes it with his feet (sitting down, of
course). The ball is passed up the team and then down again. If the ball is dropped it
returns to the front man for a new start.

The most important area in which I use Relay Games is for walking exercises. I make the
game a walk to the opposite wall and back, using a sequence of steps that involve, for
instance, reverse shifts of balance. A sequence of two steps forward, one step back, would
do this. The reverse turn of the waltz involves the following sequence:

Left foot forward

Right foot forward
Left foot back
Right foot back to join it
Left foot forward and so on.

Any pattern of movement such as this brings the actor into the problems that I
demonstrated in the vaudeville dance step. He tries to think about what he is doing, or
looks at his feet and becomes un coordinated. Players are instructed to say out loud what
they are doing as they do it. ‘Left foot, right foot, left foot back’ etc or ‘Forward, forward,
back, together’. In this way they think what they are doing and not about what they are
doing. It is an important stage in the co-ordination of mind and body.
73
I also use an extended team-interweaving relay which employs various modes of
uncoordinated walking. The intellectual leads with his head; the sailor rolls his shoulders;
the hairy athlete pushes out his chest; the horse-walker prances with his knees leading; the
fashion model leads with the back of her pelvis, shoving her crotch out without opening the
pelvis. The game leads to an exploration of wrong or uncoordinated forms of walking and
how these relate to projected character, and to an examination of balanced walking. Many
children’s play exercises can be utilised in this structure, such as frog and kangaroo jumps,
or walking on all fours, stomach uppermost.

I also find it useful to use a fireman’s lift relay, where number one in the team carries
number two to the far end of the room, and stays there, while number two runs back for
number three and so on. This is a violent introduction to the problems of handling the
weight of another person’s body, and leads to more exploration of co-operative balance
and control.

External object: ball games

The third method of taking the pressure off the actor focuses upon an external object such
as a ball. In one way this is fundamental. In the Middle Ages, the medical pioneer, Galen,
constructed a whole system of therapeutic and hygienic exercises around a small ball, on
the grounds that it was the cheapest piece of apparatus and well within the means of even
the poorest to obtain. One of the earliest training exercises used by children (which trains
the co-ordination of hand and eye) is catching a ball. There are a wide variety of rules
introduced by children specially to improve this coordination. A ball is thrown against a wall
and the hands must be clapped behind the back, first once, then twice, and then three
times, and so on, before the ball is caught. The thrower sometimes has to perform a 360
degree turn before catching the ball. In another game a ball is thrown against a wall, a
name is called, and the person named must run and judge the bounce so that the ball
passes between his legs. Skipping ropes perform a similar function for children in training
rhythmic co-ordination and judgement of distances.

The exercise which finally clinched my belief in the usefulness of children’s games was the
one shown in illustration nos. 9–12. In the early stages, the one technical physical exercise
that I was unable to replace with a game was the pelvic whip. This is a very difficult 74
exercise involving a circular revolution of the pelvis from high front open to high back
closing, to low back closed, with a sudden impulse through to low front opening. The
exercise involves a revolution of the pelvis on the front/back–high/low axes, with a gradual
closing of the pelvic joints and an opening impulse at the lowest point. This exercise, more
than any other, proved impossible, because, like most people, the mobility of our legs in the
hip socket was severely restricted and the position of the pelvis, through use, was retarded.
Three pelvic whips, performed by a beginner clutching the kitchen table for support, are
enough to turn him into a neurotic wreck. But the game of standing with the legs apart and

3 of 6 4/13/19, 12:46 AM
Theatre Games http://dramaonlinelibrary.com/theatre-crafts/theatre-games-iid-1...

throwing a ball through the legs against the wall, to be caught on its return demands an
alternation of closing and impulsively opening the pelvis. Children – and adults – can
practise the exercise for long periods, without getting in the least bit anxious.

[Image removed for copyright reasons]

[Image removed for copyright reasons]

[Image removed for copyright reasons]

[Image removed for copyright reasons]

In the second game the players sit in a circle with their legs spread wide and straight, and
with a foot touching the nearest foot of the player seated on either side of them (illustration
nos. 13 and 14). The ball is lobbed underhand to bounce somewhere within the triangle
made by another player’s legs. The player on the receiving end must catch it before it
bounces, or have a point against him. The most effective way to score points is to bounce it
just inside the ankle, which requires the maximum stretch to catch it. The exercise covers
the same ground as the physical education exercise of pressing to touch the toes or the
space between the feet, with two significant differences. The players are prepared to go on
for long periods, enduring the physical discomfort for the sake of the game, and, because
the ball is used, the player stretches to reach an external object, and the energy flows from
the centre out to the periphery of his reach and beyond. In the physical education exercise
(illustration no. 15), because the exercise is self-contained and self-justifying, the actor
often allows the back to droop over, in pressing towards the space, and in doing so he
introverts the flow of movement and energy. If the dynamic line of the illustration is
continued, the actress appears to be about to disappear up her own rear entrance. Instead
of the energy flowing directly from the centre to the periphery, it flows from the centre,
round the periphery and back towards the centre. The more energy the actor puts into the
exercise the more self-inflicted violence he causes himself.
75
[Image removed for copyright reasons]

[Image removed for copyright reasons]

76
[Image removed for copyright reasons]

A very important ball game tackles the problem of the low centre of gravity and all the other
encumbrances to erect posture. A tennis ball is held as high as the arms will comfortably
stretch without lifting the shoulders. This usually is just about the place where the fore head
and the hair line meet. The ball is dropped. As the ball drops, the base of the spine and
pelvis collapse to fall with it, in a straight line between the heels. The ball is caught just
above the ankles. The ball must not be watched but must be caught through reflex
reaction.
77
If the spine does not drop straight, that is, if the pelvis swings to the back, either the ball
hits the chest, or the top body overbalances and the arms are too far forward to catch the
ball. The game is very like an uncontrolled ballet plié, and works on the same muscle
groups. I use it to try to induce the actor instinctively to release tension in the anti-
gravitational muscles by collapsing the centre of his body and letting it fall straight to the
floor under the force of gravity.

Other people
The fourth way of taking the pressure off the actor is by using another person or persons. A
number of these games are included in later sections of the book, as they tend to fall into
very special areas of work, where the simple games lead to explorations of relationships
and interactions. The second game above, though, can be replaced by having two people
place their feet against the feet of their partners, with their legs opened wide and turned
out. They join hands across and pull and relax in a rowing action. This tends not to be as
stimulating as the ball game, but it has the virtue of relaxation during the stretch, with the
partner supplying the effort.

Strong gathering movements can be worked at by drawing a line down the centre of the
room, and dividing into two teams on either side of the line. The object is to grab the hand

4 of 6 4/13/19, 12:46 AM
Theatre Games http://dramaonlinelibrary.com/theatre-crafts/theatre-games-iid-1...

of an opponent and drag him across the line to join your side. Groups of players can join
forces in tug-of-war style.

Many of the games I use involving partners and opponents are used to work at whichever
Laban action dominates the particular game chosen. Thus The Raft described under ‘Trust
Games’ in Chapter 8 works at floating. The Two-man Somersault (illustration nos. 16–18)
is a game which tackles the fear of falling. Exercising the calf muscles by stretching and
relaxing them can be tackled by the game of Fox and Grapes. One player holds an object
high above his partner’s head and he must stretch to try to grab it before it is removed from
his extended reach. The player holding the object tantalises his partner by lowering it and
then raising it out of reach. The player reaching must keep both feet on the floor.

[Image removed for copyright reasons]

[Image removed for copyright reasons]

[Image removed for copyright reasons]

78
I use games and exercises involving partners when working to free the voice. The
production of sound to no purpose seems to inhibit actors more than anything else. Sound
directed towards a partner, or drawn in response to a partner, is easier to produce, and
when produced, is easier to control and work on. An exercise I use frequently in this area
involves two partners standing back to back. The basis of a children’s game is used. One
player puts his arms under those of his partner; places the small of his back under his
partner’s buttocks; and, by bending at the hip joints, lifts his partner on to his back. In order
to support the partner, the supporting back must be flattened, and the back of the lifted
player is correspondingly flattened. The head, neck, spine, pelvis relationship becomes that
which allows no tension stops along the spine, and there is therefore no pressure on, or
tension in, the voice producing organs, and the voice can be released freely in either
player.

Imagination
The fifth and last way of releasing the actor is to create some structure where he takes the
pressure off himself by the use of his imagination. This is probably the most important
category and is an area of children’s play in which many elements and processes inter act.
Children use the Crossing the Ice game to develop quick, light, direct movements. The
mime games of flying an imaginary kite, or holding on to a helium balloon are useful; I use
these in conjunction with playing at being a balloon, and then a drunk, and on to an
exercise of being a man ten days in the Kalahari Desert, without food and water, with just
enough strength to stay upright, and knowing he won’t get up if he falls. All these games
work on taking tension out of the anti-gravitational muscles, particularly the muscles just
inside the thigh above the knees. The exercises explore light sustained movement, and the
minimum necessary amount of anti-gravitational tension.

I use the idea of a motor-powered model aeroplane, on a control wire looped round the
finger, for explorations of extensions in space around the periphery, and also for pure 360
degree revolutions of the trunk. If the revolution is not pure, the orbit has a hiccough in it 79
and the plane crashes. With one early group this exercise was performed by actors varying
the extension of the orbits, and working in different planes of movement (high, low, middle),
and at varying speeds. With a sense of awareness of each other’s rhythms, a ballet was
created of some beauty and with a striking likeness to Chinese painting.

A combination of using the imagination and other people can produce a game like
Climbing the Matterhorn, which also uses competition. Two teams race to the top of the
Matterhorn, by crawling over the bodies of the previous climbers in the team, to stand
balanced on their shoulders. They then pull up the following team climbers. The first team
to get a man to the top wins. The game is played lying on the floor, which is taken to be the
face of the Matterhorn.

Imagination games can be combined with object games to good advantage. Throwing a
ball and, through the imagination, varying its character, so that it is a lead cannon-ball, or a
fragile bauble from a Christmas tree, or a time-bomb, is an exercise which I often use as an
introduction to games and exercises which require strong, sustained concentration. I
usually try to combine these games with the production of vocal sound, as a means of co-
ordinating physical and vocal efforts, when the actor has other things to think about.

5 of 6 4/13/19, 12:46 AM
Theatre Games http://dramaonlinelibrary.com/theatre-crafts/theatre-games-iid-1...

All of these games necessitate muscular activity, whilst directing the actor’s attention away
from the specific nature of the activity. He is given something else to think about. It is worth
pointing out that these games allow cheating and short cuts (most games do), and that in
playing the games the habitual body tensions of the actor leading to faulty posture are only
minimally reduced. In the teaching process, if, after a game has been played several times,
it is analysed and its pure purpose and function are revealed, most actors have no difficulty
in incorporating the technical purity of the exercise into the game the next time they play.
During later sessions the leader can correct posture in the interest of playing the games
more effectively. The actor, therefore, tackles movement obstacles through functional
activities, and is prevented from becoming self-conscious about problems, as he always is
if you tell him, for instance, that he hunches his shoulders and should relax them: he
immediately becomes more self-conscious about his shoulders and the tension increases.
It is very difficult, if not impossible, consciously to relax any group of muscles in the body in 80
isolation.

The process of introducing technical discipline into a games activity is necessary because
a simple children’s game will not sustain the actor’s attention and stimulate his energy flow
for ever. The gradual introduction of discipline into a game moves the playing into higher
levels of skill, and the adult needs this to sustain the activity. But it is important that the
game be played first simply for its own sake and for the enjoyment it gives through release
of energy, otherwise the technical considerations will become inhibiting. It is almost always
true to say that, until a game begins to become stale or boring to the actors, it is difficult to
introduce technique into it, because until that point the game is enjoyable in its own right
and for its own sake. That being the case, why should anyone want to change what is
enjoyable already? The development from game to technical exercise often has to be
allowed to take its time. Rushing destroys the value that can come out of it. When the
energy flow in a certain game begins to diminish, the time has come to start introducing
discipline.

Copyright © Clive Barker 1977. Critical introduction copyright © Dick McCaw 2010. DVD copyright © Dick McCaw 2009. Produced
by Arts Archives www.arts-archives.org
All materials on this Website are the copyright of the publishers or are reproduced with permission from other copyright owners. All
rights are reserved. The materials on this website may be accessed solely for personal use. No materials may otherwise be copied,
modified, published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without prior written permission of the publisher.

6 of 6 4/13/19, 12:46 AM