The Theater Workshop is a half-day interactive show which helps students come to grips with their set play texts by getting up there and trying it out. The students are encouraged to experiment with the play and discover its depths – while having a fun, high-energy morning with plenty of laughs.
The Workshop (developed by Mad Dog productions as a co-operation with the Schauspielhaus Nürnberg) is usually booked for Macbeth at Abitur level, but is suitable for any play by any author and can be run in German or English.
First, the students create their own productions of the same five-line play, showing the variety of the theatrical medium and teaching them about the effects of setting, character and motivation. Next, each group works on other short modern-language texts, which are put together to make a larger play – which turns out to be the play being studied. In a final section, the students can direct professional actors in their own interpretation of one of the play’s scenes.