labyrinth - Scarlet Theatre

Section 4 - The labyrinth and the senses
Subject area suggestion: English (Drama)
This section is closely linked to the activities that
Scarlet will do in the workshops. Drawing on the
sensation that is felt when walking the labyrinth,
Scarlet 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 labyrinth, 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 labyrinth.
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
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