The Listies Make a Scene
This resource features renowned children's theatre-makers and authors The Listies (AKA Matt and Rich) as they demonstrate how to put on a show in a lounge room. Viewers get front row seats to watch The Listies' hilarious, collaborative and creative process. Matt and Rich devise a plot through trial and error, develop the suspense in their narrative and add plenty of gross and gory props. Enjoy the ridiculous entertainment, find out about the elements of Drama and follow the creative challenges to create your own gross-tastic scene.
This resource incorporates a kinesthetic approach to learning and uses fun and spontaneous activities to help anyone create, refine and perform theatre.
References to The Listies? Ickypedia and Ickyfoodia books have also been included in this course for more information about The Listies check out their website.
This resource includes creative extension activities that can be shared with parents to support home/school learning links. Click Here to download the resources. Parents can also subscribe to ARTS:LIVE to access the resources directly.
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Teacher Pack
The Teacher Pack below contains all the lesson plans associated with this course as a single downloadable document.
All other activity sheets and course materials can be downloaded through the Lessons Tab.
The Curriculum Alignment document below maps this course against the Australian Curriculum.
Creating a Positive Drama Environment
In Drama, it is important for teachers to set up an atmosphere of unconditional positive regard, allowing students to make creative choices without judgment, fear or criticism. A positive learning environment allows children to learn at their own pace and recognises that all children learn differently. The teacher can work with students individually and in small groups, guiding the creative journey; providing ideas, support, advice and setting new challenges.
Each workshop can finish with a reflection circle, that prompts students to give positive feedback and encouragement to other groups.
Ideas for Extending This Course
Make your own set: you might like to cross over with another learning area such as Visual Arts or Technology to make sets and costumes. These can be created using simple fabrics, cardboard or from props students have brought in from home.
Write your own play script: encourage students to write up a scene or a play based on their improvisations. Perhaps students can host a play reading with a younger class?
Make up your own gross-tastic word list: encourage students to explore language and phonics by making up their own silly, gross word lists like Ickyanimals, Ickycountries, or Ickyaliens.
The Listies
Matthew Kelly and Richard Higgins are The Listies, a Kidult comedy duo who produce LOLS on screen, stage and the page.
Rich and Matt met way back in the dinosaur times (in the early aughties), performing in kids theatre shows by the likes of Andy Griffiths and Roald Dahl in shows like: Just Disgusting, The Day My Bum went Psycho and The Twits. Rich played Mr Twit and Matt played Mrs Twit. They were directed by a kids theatre genius called Lynne Ellis.
Millions of years passed, ices ages came and went. And then one day they thought they should make a comedy show together and put it in the Melbourne Fringe. Rich wrote a title on his hand and registered them for 5 shows.
Influenced by classic comedy duos like Los Trio Ringbarkus, Lano and Woodley, Morecombe and Wise, Terrance and Phillip, Spongebob and Patrick, Tim and Eric, French and Saunders, they made an absurdist, double act show for adults all about lists. It was called The List Operators.
It won them Melbourne Comedy Festival's coveted Golden Gibbo award for best independent show. They toured it for a year and then in 2009 they made a show for KIDULTS (kids and their adults) called The List Operators for Kids: More Fun than a Wii!. Even though it was a very, very long title it was the first kids show ever to be nominated for the Melbourne Comedy Festival "Barry" (best show) award. Rich and Matt toured Wii for two years. And shortened their name, in order to be able to fit it on a rubber stamp, becoming The Listies in 2010.
Since then Matt and Rich have had enormous fun performing to lovely people all over the world. They've played high-flying, glamorous locations like London, Sydney Opera House, Kuala Lumpur, South Korea, Edinburgh and even Woolongong.
And they made a bunch more shows: The Listies Do Compooters, Earworms, 6D (Twice as Good as 3D), The Listies Make U LOL, The Listies Ruin Xmas, Hamlet Prince of Skidmark (co-created with and directed by Declan Greene) recorded two comedy albums, Drive U Crazy! and Go Bananas and have written two books with Penguin, Ickypedia: A Dictionary of Disgusting New Words, and its sequel Ickyfoodia: The Ultimate Guide to Disgusting Food in 2017.
Right now they are based in Melbourne Australia but regularly tour all over the shop. They are recording a new album, working on top-secret TV projects, and writing a new book. They are thinking of having a fart extractor installed in their secret batcave as Matt has been eating too many lentils...
Devising: creating a play collaboratively using improvisations.
Improvisation: making it up as you go along.
Rehearsed improvisation: developing and practicing improvised scenes.
Scene: a small part of a larger play.
Offer: an idea or action presented verbally or non-verbally by one actor to another to help develop an improvisation.
Blocking an offer: when an actor does not accept another actors' idea or action by ignoring it or directly challenging it.
Accepting an offer: when an actor accepts another actors' idea or action by acknowledging or using it to advance a scene.
Character backstory: any information about a character such as their history, likes, dislikes or their dreams and goals. This information can affect or inspire what they do or say in a scene.
This is a valuable resource for the Drama curriculum for middle and upper Primary students. It is relevant to content descriptors in both the Making and Responding strands. Students are presented with a set of creative challenges to explore through group improvisation. The resource will guide students in using the elements of drama to create a performance ready scene.
This resource also has relevance to the English curriculum in the middle and upper primary years. It encourages students to develop language for interaction skills through structured group collaboration and performance tasks. Furthermore, children are given opportunities to engage in literacy learning through a kinaesthetic approach.
Through explicit teaching strategies and practice in the theatrical devising process, this resource promotes critical and creative thinking and provides opportunities for students to develop personal and social capabilities.
Produced by The Song Room and Elisa Williams
Special thanks to The Listies (AKA Matt and Rich)
Learning Focus
Students experiment with mime.
Students develop an improvised scene by applying the elements of Drama.
Learning Focus
Students experiment with advancing a scene by accepting all dramatic "offers".
Students apply their character backstories to develop their scenes.
Learning Focus
Students experiment with advancing a scene by accepting all dramatic "offers".
Students apply their character backstories to develop their scenes.
Learning Focus
Students identify ways to develop tension in their rehearsed scenes.
Students reflect on their scenes and make improvements to heighten their dramatic tension.
Don't forget to get creative with your prop making. Check out the video to learn how to make blood and guts or follow the recipe below to make vomit.
Fake Vomit Recipe
Ingredients
1 litre of custard
3-5 drops of green food dye
Consider adding food chunks of your choice such as pineapple, carrot or corn pieces.
Method
Mix custard and food dye and any other food chunks together in a bowl.
