This is a sample of the group notes from a scene that lasted 2 minutes. The thinking (although messy) is rich and was used to write deep logbook reflections on the scene "Shirley Never Gives Up Searching" from Stolen by Jane Harrison. 

Fearless by Mirra Todd hit the HSC Drama text list this year and I absolutely love teaching it. I was privileged to see the original production performed by Milkcrate Theatre Company in 2012. This production spoke to my heart and it is wonderful to see the hearts and minds of my students also be opened through the very personal and powerful stories of the marginalised characters within this text. 

The following is a list of  ideas to assist you in exploring this text within your classroom. This is clearly not an exhaustive list, more a starting point for entry into the text. 

Opening connections - Prior to students entering the space set-up the following videos / articles on homelessness around the room. (I have previously done this using iPads with a different article and video loaded on each.) Students move around the space engaging with each of the separate sources.  What strikes you about each source? What questions arise from each source? What do you see, think, wonder and feel? Students write their thoughts in their logbooks at each station. Following the activity above, engage in class discussion around the notes each student has written. How does homelessness lead to loneliness and isolation? How does Lotte personify this is Fearless? 

Possible examples of sources include:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2613636/How-homeless-makes-invisible-Experiment-New-York-people-walk-past-families-members-not-recognize-them.html 

http://www.cairnspost.com.au/lifestyle/from-couch-to-classroom-jasmin-surfs-her-way-through-school/story-fnjpuwet-1227131054842

http://www.andreastarreese.com/ 

http://www.news.com.au/finance/economy/homeless-make-way-for-worlds-most-powerful-leaders/story-e6frflo9-1227120674023 http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2014/oct/12/one-in-seven-australians-living- poverty 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-8ee7qyfF0 

http://www.homelessnessaustralia.org.au/index.php/about-homelessness/fact-sheets

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLwjEtY4uas 

Tagline scenes -  Give each student a tagline from the play, (eg. Loneliness makes you feel like a fat ugly girl at a ball. Loneliness is a child with and ant farm.). Each student creates an individual response to the tagline through performance using only sound (no dialogue) and movement. When students are prepared sit in a circle. Each student performs their response one after the other around the circle without stopping - each performance blending into the next. What are the feelings they embody in each performance? What mood it created? How is loneliness personified? Discuss the notion that loneliness takes many forms - temptress, bully, friend, consoler, and liberator. These forms are the spine of the character Lotte. Note the taglines signify a shift in the text. 

Sculpting - Mirra Todd writes, “...it’s as if we’ve all been happily mining clay, with everyone tossing their clay with great fervor onto the ever-increasing clay-pile. Then everyone goes away and you as the writer are left with marvellous pile of clay that is utterly shapeless. Then begins the process of sculpting it into something else, something that has resonance and relevance to those involved in the mining process, but also something that will connect those themes to the wider audience.” (Introduction notes)

Set the stage using various levels and placing clumps of clay in different spaces. Create different spaces that reflect the different areas in the text. Eg. The bar, chair, bathroom, kitchen, tv room etc. Students enter and select a space and a piece of clay. Beside each piece of clay students will find a word such as addiction, depression, anxiety, psychosis, shame, decay, anger, loneliness, emptiness, despair etc. Ask the students to read the word and absorb it. Students are asked to take their clay and mould a symbolic representation of that word. How can you mould clay to represent shame, or emptiness, or anxiety? How does this word make you feel physically? Once complete the class will move through the sculpture gallery and view each work. As each work is discussed the word is revealed. Slowly each work is removed from the space. The students need to replace each sculpture with their bodies physically taking up a pose to express their word. Begin to tap into each student to draw a sound from them that embodies that emotion. It can be an actual noise or use of onomatopoeia. Students are then encouraged to layer these sounds at will. As teacher in role interject using quotes from Lotte “ It’s a BEAUTIFUL morning.” “Welcome to the Hell Room.” Discuss how this creation reflects the set-up of the stage, the layering of sound and the development of the Hell Room. What was the mood? How was it created? What role did sound play? What impact would this have on the audience? Examine the quote “Fearless is set in The Hell Room, which bleeds into and out of various people’s lives, and the remnants or decaying reality of their worlds.” 

Introduction to the Creative Process -  Ask students to answer the questions posed by Mirra at the beginning of the creative process. Students find common themes with their peers and begin to create a short performance on one of these ideas using three tableaus to explain their issue/idea. How do these questions give purpose to the found material? Students read the introduction to the creative process at the beginning of the text. How does this process differ from other theatre?

Cabaret - Define cabaret. (http://www.timeout.com/london/cabaret/a-beginners-guide-to-cabaret) Watch the video of Liza Minneli in Cabaret. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxmz3RcNNBE) Students describe the style of the excerpt they watched. Why do you think a cabaret persona has been selected by the playwright for Lotte? What impact would this have on you as an audience member? 

Poetry / Song -  Lotte opens the play with a song called ‘The Hell Room’. In this song she asks three questions How do you think it feels to be shunned by all and sick of your own company? How do you think it feels to be invisible when you’re desperate to be seen? How do you think it feels to live on the street and let’s face it, who calls that living? In pairs students are allocated a question. They are asked to create a song or poem that responds to Lotte’s question. One student will then take on the role of director, the other as performer. How can you present this song/poem as a performance? Students are encouraged to use the elements of production to manipulate their song /poem into a theatrical response. After each performance, evaluate as a class whether the songs are contrived or realistic. What themes overlap with Carlotta’s song on page 30, Crystal’s song on page 36, Mutt Dog’s song on page 40 and Dog Tag’s song on page 46? Do you think these songs are a response to Lotte’s questions? Why is song/music used throughout the text? What impact do you think the music has on the audience? 

From Lotte’s Mouth - Temptress, bully, friend, consoler, liberator, tormentor are words to describe Lotte. Find examples of each of these various sides to Lotte in the text. What purpose does Lotte’s character serve? Is Lotte the Black Dog? The Devil? Or just an inner stream of consciousness? Lovesy (2014) describes her as a “... 21st Century mischievous parasite trying to leech onto humanity.” Students are asked to take on one of Lotte’s personas and play this against another classmate using dialogue from the text. Ask the class mate to sit and shut their eyes. How did you feel playing Lotte this way? How did your classmate feel being spoken to this way? How do you think the audience would respond to Lotte? Why? 

Character Play -  As a class look at the description of Pepper. What sits at the core of Pepper’s character? What group of people does Pepper give a voice too? What issues does she raise about Contemporary Australian society? Find examples from the text. What would Pepper’s HELL ROOM look like? Answer this question through a physical image on stage (I originally used cans of baked beans to create this image.) How does this image symbolise Pepper’s hell room? What is her character flaw? What does she want? What is she trying to achieve as she moves forward? Each student then draws a character out of the character jar. They complete the above process for their own character including creating their Hell Room on stage. The student then choses the most significant piece of dialogue for their given character and performs this dialogue to the class in their Hell Room. Discuss. 

Stage Reading -  Students read the review on Fearless from the Sydney Morning Herald. (www.smh.com.au/entertainment/theatre/dark-but-by-no-means-gloomy-20120918-264el.html) The author writes, “Ultimately, it delivers a message that is hopeful without being glib: the cure for loneliness - or at least a reprieve from its most debilitating effects - comes not from looking inward, but from reaching out.” Do you think the author is right? Why/why not? Complete a staged reading of Scene 20 where Crystal and Clipper connect. How does this scene give the audience hope? 

Directorial Task -  Students imagine they are directors of Fearless. How would you approach the Epilogue? Students pool their ideas as a class and decide on an approach. They recreate the scene on stage. What role does the elements of production play in this scene? How does the playwright engage the audience? What techniques can the director and actor use to further enhance the playwrights intentions? 

The Lucky Country - Australia is referred to as the Lucky Country more than once throughout the play. “Clipper: People used to call this place the Lucky Country, but she’s a toothless bitch who’s lost her grip, if you ask me. People like you don’t stand a chance if you ask me.” What do you think Clipper means in this quote? What issues does the play address? Students draw up a table listing the personal, social, political, artistic and cultural issues dealt with in the play. How does Mirra Todd use his ensemble to bring these themes to life through the play Fearless? Discuss. 

References
Lovesy, Sarah, (2014). Building capacity for implementing the Drama Stage 6 Course Prescriptions–HSC 2015–                             2017: Topic 2 Australian Contemporary Theatre Practice–Fearless. Retrieved from 
                         http://www.curriculumsupport.education.nsw.gov.au/secondary/creativearts/assets
                         /drama/pdf/Fearless.pdf


Todd, Mirra, (2012). Fearless. (A Milk Crate Theatre production) Currency Press, Sydney.

Verbatim Theatre is a form of documentary theatre built from the exact words taken from interviews with everyday people. Generally the plays centre around an event, current issue or theme. It is currently on the HSC Drama Course Prescriptors in NSW, Australia. 

Verbatim Theatre is not known for it's theatricality, instead it centres on the language drawing truth from interview transcripts or other relevant documents. When I began teaching Verbatim Theatre my students struggled with the dryness of the words on the page. I needed to crack open this form of theatre for them. 

Here I share with you a few simple workshop ideas for opening up the world of Verbatim for your students. I have also included two workshops that introduce the plays Embers by Champion Decent and Parramatta Girls by Alana Valentine. Hopefully, they will be of some use to someone out there! Please feel free to get in touch if you have any questions.

Equipment:
Workshop 1 - iPads or other recording device, headphones.
Workshop 2 - Cronuts (or other food related item!), A3 paper, textas, scissors, music, images of cronuts (or other food related item!)
Workshop 3 - Photo images of the 2003 Victorian Bushfires, newspaper articles from The Age about the 3002 Victorian Bushfires, A3 paper, recording devices. the text.
Workshop 4 - String, pegs. a projector, a computer or other device, a bench or similar (a drama box would do!), butcher's paper, black and yellow textas, red paint and brush, A3 paper, the text. 

Workshop 1 - An Intro to Verbatim through the Universal Theme of Love: Think of a time when you have felt love. Recall this situation remembering as much detail as you can.  Find a partner. In pairs interview each other about a time you have felt love. Record your partners response using the iPad. After you have finished recording your partner, transcribe the interview word-for-word. Write pauses, um’s, and grammar the way it was said in the recording. Note any physical shifts during the interview. 

You are now going to recreate the telling of this story verbatim. You are going to play your classmate, respectfully, truthfully, and authentically.  You must deliver word for word their story. Rehearse your performance. As a class, take a position on stage as your character (classmate) and one by one perform your moment of love. Your teacher will use music as transition from story to story. 

What is the result? Was your performance authentic? Were your classmates performances authentic? Did you believe these stories of love? Why? Link into introductory notes on Verbatim Theatre. 

Note: This activity could be run using Headphone Verbatim techniques if preferred. 

Workshop 2 - Cronut Verbatim:  (Any food could be used… but who doesn’t like cronuts!) Sit in a circle with a piece of A3 paper and a pen. Try to have a different colour pen to everyone else. Your teacher will give you a cronut on a plate.

Look at the cronut. Write down what you see. (Take a new line for each sentence.) Smell the cronut. Describe how it smells. Taste the cronut slowly, paying attention to the flavours, the texture, the feeling of it in your mouth. Write down the details before taking a second bite. Continue to describe the cronut in as much detail as possible. 

When you are done,  cut up your paper into sentence strips. Bring the sentences back to the whole group. Lay out the sentences on the floor and arrange them into a piece of text with meaning. Remember to play with the elements of drama particularly contrast, tension and mood. 

Once the text is laid out in order, perform the text as a group with each person delivering their colour lines. Layer this dialogue with projections of cronuts and possibly music at different points. Try and make the performance as engaging and authentic, as possible. 

How was the text layered to create dramatic meaning? Compare our performance to Verbatim plays. How do the playwrights of these texts layer dialogue to make truthful stories theatrical?

Note: There was a student in my class who was allergic to nuts. Her transcript was very funny and created an excellent contrast to the other pieces of writing. She shared how unfair life was that she could not eat the cronut! 

Workshop 3 - Introduction to Embers: Look at the images taken during the 2003 Victorian bushfires. Using the post-it notes, quietly respond to the images. What do you see? What do you think? What do you wonder? What words come to mind? 

Choose one of the images that really draws you in. Explain to the class why you were drawn to that image. Take this image and write a creative story (on A3 paper) from the perspective of the photographer. Explain who you are, where you are, why you are there and what compelled you to photograph that moment. When you are finished read your story to the class. Post the images and stories on a collaborative work space. 

Your teacher will then give you a newspaper article from The Age newspaper at the time of the bushfires. Highlight three phrases from your article that move you or capture your attention. Read these phrases to the class. How does this language differ from the language in your stories? Who are the people that are spoken about in your articles? Post your highlighted articles on the collaborative space. 

As a class, discuss any experiences you as a group have had in relation to bushfires. Your teacher will write on A3 paper any key phrases/significant quotes from this discussion. This is placed on the collaboration board. You are then asked to interview three people outside the classroom. You must ask them two questions - If your home was threatened by bushfires would you stay and defend your house or would you evacuate? Why? AND If you did flee, what would you take with you? Why? Document your interviews by recording them on your phones or other devices. Write the most interesting interview out verbatim and place it in the collaboration board with other interviews from each of your classmates. 

As a class read the poem ‘Bushfire’ by Peter Salom. Decide on three key phrases from the poem that really capture your imaginations as a class. Place these key phrases on the collaboration board. 

Take time to really look and engage with the collaboration board. As a group devise a performance about the 2003 Victorian Bushfires only using words, phrases or quotes from the collaboration board. Think about the structure, the setting and the various dramatics techniques you could use to layer this text. Rehearse and perform your piece. 

What similarities does your performance have with the play Embers? What were the differences? What verbatim techniques did you use to create your performance? What impact did your performance have on the audience? What verbatim techniques does Embers use? What impact does this have on the audience? What themes and issues were evident in your performance? 

Workshop 4 - Introduction to Parramatta Girls: After watching the play, work as a class to identify the six most significant moments of the text based on the impact these moments had on you as an audience member. Chart them on a timeline of the play. Justify each decision to your teacher. Once decided return to each scene and find one word or phrase that captures the essence of that moment. It might be as simple as ‘Hope’ or symbolic such as ‘When a tree falls in a forest and there is no one around, would it be heard?” Create a tableau freeze for each moment in the play. Transition from freeze frame to freeze frame with one character layering the word or phrase over the image. Keep these images and words at the forefront of your mind as we will be returning to them. 

Find a partner to work with. Each pair will be given one large piece of butcher’s paper and a black and a yellow texta. Lie on your butcher’s paper and ask your friend to trace your outline. Inside your outline use your yellow texta to write down your hopes and dreams for the future. Think about your future relationships, career, home, travel plans etc. Dream big. When you are done share some of these hopes and dreams with your classmates. Swap your outline with someone else in the class. Once you have a new outline, choose a character from the play that engages or interests you. Write this characters name above the outline in your black texta . Using information from the play and your notes, as well as quotes said by and about the character, fill the outline with words, phrases etc. that define your character. Feel free to write over the hopes and dreams your classmate wrote in yellow. The more information about this character the better. Once you have finished, hang your character on the makeshift clothesline your teacher has created. One by one, your teacher will discuss each image, stripping it of it’s name and replacing it with a number, smearing it with red paint in the places your character was abused. By this stage the hopes and dreams are invisible. This becomes the set for your performance today. 

The teacher begins to project the footage of the 60 minutes interview with the Parramatta Girls onto the figures. Respond to the imagery using the prompts - I see, I think, I wonder. Place these statements on or around the clothesline adding to the set. Your teacher will then read these theatrically as they will most likely parallel the reaction and thoughts of the audience to the original text. 

Return to your character which you were focussing on and complete these two tasks by yourself - 1. Write a letter to the Australian public telling them all you want them to know about life in the Parramatta Girls home. 2. Choose a moment in the text that defines your character. It might be a line or a small paragraph. Prepare this moment for performance. 

Once completed we will prepare for a performance on the stage. The set will be the clothesline of outlines, projected images and a bench. You will begin by each getting up and performing the significant moment for our individual characters in a continuous stream. This will be followed by our tableaus from the first activity and then by individual chunks from your letters to the Australian public. The performance is continuous. 

After the performance unpack the workshop and the final product. What did you see? What did you hear? What did you feel? How was drama tension created? What was the mood of the final piece? Where was the focus in different scenes? How was language and symbol manipulated to create dramatic meaning? How were the themes and issues of the play represented? What impact did it have on you when you were in the audience? What impact would the full play have on the audiences watching? Why?

Note: This can be quite a heavy workshop due to the content of the play. Feel free to split the workshop in half if need be and undergo the second half at a later date.