Imaginative Journey

(Use a slow, soft voice to help players to relax and prepare for their pantomime journey.  Have students lie on the floor on their backs with their arms at their sides, legs uncrossed and their eyes closed.  Or have students put their heads down on their desk.  Remind students not to look at one another or talk during this exercise.)

Ask the students to imagine that their entire bodies are very heavy and sinking to the floor.  Slowly speak the names of different body parts, which are one at a time getting heavier and heavier: heads, necks, backs, hair, eyelids, etc.  Ask them to imagine that they are lying on soft, warm sand on a bright sunny day and that they are drenched in soft light of their favourite colour.  Ask them to imagine they are surrounded by the sounds of the sea. They can hear the waves washing against the shore, seagulls crying in the distance.  Have the actors slowly rise, as they feel ready to do so, and open their eyes, remind them to be silent at all times. 

They walk away from the warm beach, over some tall sand dunes and through some tall wet grass.  The grass cuts their legs they begin to walk quicker through the wet grass.  They see the sun going behind the clouds and the wind begins to blow.  The wind gets stronger and stronger and the rain begins to fall.  At first, just a sprinkle and then a cold hard downpour.  They grab their beach things and rush for shelter in a wooden hut.  They all cram into the hut.  They start looking at each other worried and wondering if the weather will ease up. 

All of a sudden the wind whips the top off of the shed and the cold wind and rain beats across their bodies.  They huddle together and put their heads down.  The rain eases and the storm finally goes away.  They are relived.  The sun peeks through the clouds and starts to dry up the rain.  They all grab their beach bags and head back to the sand. 

They put their things down and decide to see if the storm stirred some fish.  They wade into the Lough with their fishing poles.  They bait their hooks and cast their lines.  And wait, and wait, and wait.  (Enter student’s name), catches a fish!  She/he reels it in.  Is it a huge fish?  Ah, no it is just some rubbish – an old drink bottle.  She/he takes the rubbish from her/his hook and takes it to the bin.  Disappointed they all decide to give up fishing and sunbathe. 

They all move back to their beach bags and reach in for their beach towel and sunscreen.  They put on their lotion and lie down on their towels.  The sun is lovely and warm.  The sun beats down on your face and you feel totally relaxed.  You hear the whoosh of the waves, rocking you back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.  You are bathed in blue, then orange, then red.  You slowly open your eyes and are ready for the next activity.

 

(You could then have the students ‘slowly open their eyes’ and the next activity could be a creative writing exercise where they use this imaginative journey to springboard other things that could have happened on their journey.)