Education Secondary Teaching

Drama students in their teens often struggle moving from straight role-play (be a police officer, be a dad, be a shopkeeper) into characterisation that develops better drama and higher grades. The interconnectedness of human beings also drives home the smallness of the world, and teaches something of humanities.

Certain universal truths arise in drama. People speak about a "friend of a friend" who told them something, some rumour, hot tip or gossip. A few quick "Chinese whisper" type warm-ups should set the scene effectively.

The Shrinking World

Hungarian author Frigyes Karinthy published a story, Chain-Links (1929), in which the world was "shrinking" due to peoples’ ever-closer connectedness. This became "network theory," touching sociology, mathematics, physics, politics, travel, communications and the World Wide Web. A chain is any people thread in business, neighbourhoods and "friends."