Warm-Ups for Drama Students

Some fun exercises to get you in the spirit!

Hello class!

Thank you for selecting Drama as your elective.

Know that I set a rigorous curriculum which will force you to engage on both a physical and mental level and mental-physical level and also this thing I coined last year called the plane of dramatic physicality.

You will walk away from this elective with invaluable life skills. After all, drama is the only subject that can teach you inter-costal-diaphragmatic-breathing methods and the Alexander Technique of mind re-education. I bet you’re glad you’re not learning what taxes are!

How many of you want to be an actor when you grow up?

Wow look at all those hands! One, two, three, fours, Janet is your hand up too?!

I must say, I’m glad you’re all so wildly ambitious to ‘make it.’ I personally think acting is a very safe career choice, and an even better steppingstone to becoming a teacher or joining the army.

Seeing as though this is our first class together, I’d like to introduce you to some warm up exercises to help get your mind calibrated. You can (and will) use these at any time to increase focus, alignment and a centred core — undoubtedly important things, and not at all a distraction from learning about how to renew your license or check your credit score.

Without further ado, let’s begin.

THE FINANCIAL STRESS:

• Bring your knees to your chest and clasp them tightly with your hands. Imagine your knees are bags of money and you’re holding on for dear life so your crippling living expenses don’t take it away. Whilst foetal, squeeze your legs tight and release all the air out of your lungs. Do you feel breathless? Great. That feeling is how I feel at the end of every month not knowing if I’ll be able to pay rent. After all, what do I value more? A roof over my head or paying $1,000 to advance my drama teacher license?

THE CRY ON CUE

• Let’s skip this one for now — it’ll become second nature once you reach 30.

THE COLD SWEAT FEVER DREAM:

• Lay flat on the floor. Great work my little butterflies! Focus on your breathing. Close your eyes. That darkness you see. That loneliness — that’s drama! Focus on your breathing a bit more. You’ll naturally start to hyperventilate. This will awaken your cold sweat glands. Get used to this feeling at 3am when someone from Ecuador calls claiming they’re form the tax office but you never learned what fraud is so you give them your details anyway and now start to think that was a bad idea!

THE BE MORE DIVERSE

• Let’s sit in a circle and try to be a bit more diverse.

THE BE LESS DIVERSE

• Whilst we’re here, let’s try and be a little less diverse.

THE SELF REFLECTION

• Partner up and face each other. What I want you to do is look deep into your partners eyes. Compare yourselves. Really weigh up what makes their life better than yours. What do they have that you want and then ask yourself, “what’s the point? I’ll never be as good as them, so why even try?” Life’s unfair, isn’t it. You’re a bit shorter, a bit fatter. Should we take 5 or just launch right into —

THE LOSE 10 KILOS

• You want to be a star, don’t you?

Children, when the chips are down and your back is against the wall, remember that you studied Drama as a year 9 elective. Bring those skills back into the fold and use them to enhance your life, for they are invaluable.

Let’s have an early lunch.