Artist Toolbox: The Queen's Rules

A quick improv game to add to your toolbox. This one was taught to me by a student and I love it! But the students love it even more!!

It's a great warmup and helps with getting students out of their shells.

The Queen's Rules

How to play:

One student sits on a chair or 'throne' in the middle of the stage, as the Queen or King. Leave half of the class in the audience to watch and then the rest line up next to the stage. These participants are the Queen's servants. To stay in the game they must do her biding without making a mistake.

As the first servant enters the stage, the Queen announces "You are dead, because you didn't (do something)." 

e.g. "You are dead, because you didn't bow to me when you entered."

or

"You are dead, because you didn't present me with cake."

The servant then leaves the stage and joins the back of the line. The next servant must remember to complete the Queen's task (bow/give cake, etc). Once they have done this, the Queen announces to this servant the next rule, e.g. "You are dead, because you didn't fly in on a broomstick before you bowed." They leave the stage and the next one enters. (note: the Queen needs to be quite specific about her instructions. She must specify when in the order the new rule happens. She can increase the difficulty by adding rules into the middle of the routine sometimes, instead of always at the end of the list.)

Now the new servant must now fly in on a broomstick and then bow. They are killed and a new rule is added. The rules can involve telling jokes, completing elaborate series of actions, acting like a complete buffoon; whatever the Queen wishes. However, if a servant forgets a step of the pattern they are eliminated from the game.

Keep playing until you're down to the last surviving servant or until is time to switch the audience for the actors and start all over again with a new Queen or King.

Fantastic fun!

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Comics Which Pack More Than Punches

Recently I've delved into the world of comics and discovered to my delight that not all comics are the pulp of the standard superhero story. Although I have enjoyed reading some Marvel and DC, the sugary shallowness of the majority of their lines can't come close to the richness of some of the more unusual comics I've discovered so far.

Here are a few of my recommendations for comics which pack much more than just punches...

Jim Henson's A Tale Of Sand

Jim Henson tried unsuccessfully a few times to get the screenplay of A Tale Of Sand made into a movie, however Ramón K. Pérez has brought it to life now with his stunning illustrations. I don't want to tell too much about the story, which for the most part needs to be deciphered from the images, but suffice to say that this surreal fairytale of sorts is captivating and challenging in its appeal. It's a breathtaking race through the desert, which seems to be without rhyme or reason, but the wealth of artwork will persuade you to go back multiple times to uncover all of Henson and Perez's ideas.

As a warm-up for the comic you might want to check out Henson's intriguing short film- Time Piece...

IDW's The Infinite Loop

The Infinite Loop is a time-travel adventure about fighting for love when the odds are stacked against you. Teddy fixes anomalies in time by suppressing them, but when she meets Ano, “a time paradox” and the girl of her dreams, Teddy must decide between fixing the time stream or the love of her life, both of which have unique consequences. This comic fights for strong female role-models, same-sex couple's rights and for love above all. I was also so impressed to see that at the end of each issue was a reader's coming out story. It's a gripping sci-fi story as well! 

Here's an interview with the creators which gives you a good feel of what they're working towards. 

Nick Hayes' The Rime Of The Modern Mariner 

A combination of striking visuals and haunting prose, The Rime Of The Modern Mariner updates Colderidge's classic poem for the "careless kind' of modern humans. It's message of pollution and ecological destruction makes for a chilling read, while at the same time Hayes' illustrations drive the sentiments home.

I picked this book up for only around £15 which is incredible given the amount of work which has gone into the art. It will be remaining in my book collection for ever now though, it's too special.

Here's a post from Hayes himself about the book to find out more.

and finally for now...

#musicomics

When reading comics I like to listen to music which adds to the cinematic feel of the story. Here are my suggestions for albums or artists which I think complement these picks. I've also tweeted about other combos via my twitter page on the hashtag #musicomics







A Tale Of Sand- Bob Dylan: Pat Garret And Billy The Kid OST

The Infinite Loop- Anything by M83

The Rime Of The Modern Mariner- Eluvium: Nightmare Ending

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My ISB twitter group

If you are part of the ISB community, you may find this Twitter group I created useful.

@CarlERobinson/isb 

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Mood Music

These are the playlists I use frequently in my teaching. They're great if you need a particular atmosphere or emotion in the room. Although there are already thousands of these playlists on Youtube, it's always useful to have some of particular moods.

So, check them out below!

Calm 

Scary 

Sad 

Energetic

Tense 

Heroic

Hopeful

I'll be updating these and adding more as I create them. 

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