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Intro: Theatre Fforwm Cymru commentaries to Forum Theatre "record of what happens / what do we do at each workshop"

Gill reads the commentaries of "the power of the circle". These commentaries will soon be added to this webpage.

Everyone says their name and then a description of how they feel right now on a scale from 1-10, a colour or a little something else that is relevant. Also everybody has to say what they are wanting / hoping to gain from this workshop. For an example: I hope to gain new friends, I hope to re-understand things, I hope to bring more rain and sunshine to my fields…!

No restrictions in this circle - may be restrictions in other circles later in this training.

Game 1 - "Fruitsalad":

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Everyone sitting on chairs in one big circle. One person is standing in the middle without a chair. The one in the middle says a statement which must be true for himself/herself. If the statement is true for anybody else in the circle, they must change chair.E.g."change place anyone who are wearing jeans" or "Change place anyone, who has ever been jaloux".

You are not allowed to go to the chair next beside you. When people change places, another person will be left without a chair and he/she has to say a new statement.

This game can also be played with: eyes closed - walking backwards - dancing - crawling etc.

Groups of three is standing in a line arm in arm. Two persons are not in a group. One person is cat - one is mouse. The cat is chasing the mouse. Both cat and mouse make sounds to hear who is chasing who. The mouse can at any time put his/her arm in another arm belonging to a person in a group. If the mouse chooses a person standing right in the line, the person standing left in this line will become the mouse. If the cat catches the mouse, the mouse will be the cat.

If the mouse connect with the person standing right in the line, the one on the left becomes a dog instead of a mouse and is now chasing the cat. The cat who is now being chased can again connect with a person in a group, and the person who is "free" will be a new dog. So from being the one who chase, the cat now becomes the one being chased. Everytime the cat connects with a person in a line, a new dog is being "born", and the one who was the dog, becomes the cat. Very important to remember the frightening sounds of the animals.

One person must try to catch all the others. The person who is chasing has to touch the person he/she will catch. The person being touched freezes and can only be free again if somebody else makes the same "sculpture" / "pose" as the one who freeze.

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Two and two (A and B).Both parts must be comfortable with the situation. A talks for one minute and B listens. A notices if B seems board. Notice your own and the others body language. The facilitator decides the subject of the talk.

The subject/theme can for an example be: The trip to where you are, your name, the place your live in, or the like. Then B talks for one minute about the same subject.

Working with young people this can be a good exercise for them to learn to listen.Be aware that it may be difficult for some people to talk about some of these subjects.

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One goes into the middle of the circle and says a word or phrase that he/she thinks sums up the expressions of Porto. For an example one goes in the middle and says: "Ocean" and swing her arms. Another goes to the middle and says another word/sound/phrase while doing another move. One at a time has to fit in like small parts of a machine. The facilitator can stop the process and ask people to start all over again. While the machine is being build it is important to listen and be aware of the others sounds/words/moves, before you go to the middle and there are making your own expression. When the machine is finished the facilitator asks, if everybody think this is representing the whole image of Porto.

Then the facilitator can start an stop parts of the machine. One pat on the shoulder means start, two pas means stop. Then machine is working in different tempo decided by the leader: 8 o'clock in the morning - 12 o'clock lunch time - 4 o'clock in the afternoon - 5 minutes to midnight.

Standing in a big circle. Everybody put their index fingers together with the index fingers of the person beside them. The facilitator then claps her hands together and everyone are to clap at the same time.