Basic Costume to Use for...

Towards the end of last year I saw a remarkable one woman show at the Arcola theatre in East London. Stolen Voices by clarinetist and actor Neyire Ashworth was one of the most moving and entertaining pieces of theatre I have seen in a very long time. In it Neyire portrayed many characters from her life in quick succession. To do this she used simple changes in costume along with a change of posture. She put on a cap and instantly became a East End market trader, changed the cap for a shawl and was her Turkish grandmother and so it went on. We can use this device in the classroom. Students, whether they have learning difficulties or not, can usually pick up the meaning of simple changes of costume to represent a change of character pretty easily. There are however some students who need a bit of help to make the change from speaking to someone who is usually their teacher to treating her as if she is the queen. For them we can assist by: • explaining clearly that when we have the crown on then we are representing the queen • putting the crown on and off – several times until they begin to understand • changing position and posture too when explaining this, as that provides another term of reference for them to understand the difference. By this I mean, stand in one place to say “Now I am your teacher” then move a couple of paces away, put on the crown and say “When I am here with the crown on it means that I am being the queen – so you will need to approach me in a different way ….” and so on.