Section 4 The <strong>labyrinth</strong> and the senses
Section 4 - The <strong>labyrinth</strong> and the senses Subject area suggestion: English (Drama) This section is closely linked to the activities that <strong>Scarlet</strong> will do in the workshops. Drawing on the sensation that is felt when walking the <strong>labyrinth</strong>, <strong>Scarlet</strong> will explore ideas of confusion of the senses, and encourage the pupils to make creative leaps of the imagination as a result. Included here are drama activities which explore the senses being overturned or challenged, and some exercises based on the concept of synesthesia; a literary technique as well as a neurological condition. Activity One: In the <strong>labyrinth</strong>, you often feel unsure about where you are, and how far you have to go. Your senses are being tricked by the shape of the <strong>labyrinth</strong>. Try out some of these exercises to release the creativity in your senses: 1. Your sense of smell: Pick up your pen, close your eyes, and smell it. What does it smell of? Does it smell similar to anything else? Now try with another object that you would not normally sniff! What do you notice? Try this with a partner blinfolded and offer them objects to smell. Can they recognise what the objects are? 2. Your sense of taste: At lunch or at home, try some food with your eyes closed. Eat it very slowly, and concentrate on all the different flavours you can spot. Does it taste of anything unusual, like sand, or car seats? You will surprised what you notice when you really concentrate. 3. Your sense of touch: Work with a partner. One of you will be blindfolded. The other person should carefully present everyday objects for the blindfolded partner to feel. Using only one finger, they should explore the object carefully, explaining exactly what temperatures, textures and shapes the object has. Which of the objects feels the most interesting to you? 4. Your sense of sight: You will need a hand held mirror. Walk around the room with a partner. Your partner will guide you, whilst you will hold the mirror flat in front of you (at the angle of a table) and look down. How does the world look and feel from this angle? 5. Your sense of hearing: Close your eyes and listen. How many sounds can you hear? Listen even more carefully, are there any sounds that you hadn’t noticed before? Pick a journey you do often such as from your kitchen to your bedroom, or from your desk to the playground. Next time you go on the journey, concentrate very carefully on the sounds that you hear. Now describe the journey to your partner using only sounds. You are not allowed to refer to anything that you can see- only sounds. How easy do you find this? 6. All your senses. Take a stone, or a similarly simple object, then look up at the sky. What can you see in the sky that is also in the stone? Now look back at the stone, what can else can you see in it that is like the sky. Keep looking back and forth. After a while, your stone will seem so similar to the sky that it will be your ‘photograph’ of the sky. Do this with any object of your choice. Activity Two: Some people have an interesting condition called synesthesia. People who have this condition mix up their senses in ways that most people are unable to do. For example, they might taste foods when they hear certain words, or they might associate particular sounds with colours, so that every time they see the colour red, they hear a drum beat. Poets often use the idea of synesthesia to make their writing more interesting. Let your imagination do all the work in the following exercises. 1. Look at worksheet 6. Look carefully at each of the colours for 20 seconds. What sounds do you think of? For each of the colours, write down the sounds that you think match the colour best. Now compare notes with your partner or group. 2. Worksheet 7 contains a series of sounds. When your teacher presses the link to the sound, listen carefully. What do you think the sound tastes of? Write down the taste of each sound. Listen to the sounds again, and after each one, compare notes with your partner. scarlet education 17
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