Telling a story without uttering a single word was the object lesson of the series of drama workshops held last week at the Berkeley Institute, Warwick Academy and Somersfield Academy.Sponsored by the Bermuda Shakespeare Schools Festival, the workshops led by Pivotal Theatre faciliatator Ollie Frith, embraced all six senior schools which took part in the October 2010 Festival on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.A further middle school workshop was held on Friday at the Dellwood Middle School.The UK group have been leading acclaimed drama workshops for students and cutting-edge training for Drama teachers since 2001, and were recommended by Berkeley Institute drama teacher Josie Kattan.On Tuesday the students of Somersfield English teacher Melissa Brough and Saltus Drama teacher Rebecca Dorrington worked together in small groups to learn more about the physicality of theatre.“It was really interesting for my GCSE students, an eye-opener for them to look at the physical side of theatre, to show emotion physically rather than rely only on the lines,” Mrs. Dorrington noted. “In particular they did an exaggeration exercise where the students were in lines and had to follow the actions of the person in front but exaggerate them, so that by the fifth person they were really exaggerated.”This exercise a kind of physical “Chinese Whispers” appealed to Year 11 Saltus student Ashley Greenidge. “I liked being the last person because you got to exaggerate to the fullest, and what the last person was doing was not exactly what the first person was doing.”She also enjoyed learning “not to think about improv”, not to over-analyse the action which would lead her to stumble over her words and not know what to do. Among the activities were “exercises, games to manipulate their bodies,” Ms Brough explained, “to make them aware of their own movements so they can utilise them in performance”.Somersfield Middle Year 5 student Emily Fischer, who has “participated in every play I’ve been able to get my hands on,” felt “the whole thing was kinda fun. I think improv was the best. It kinda gave people a chance to branch out and you could get out of your comfort zone.”Some of the other activities involved learning lifts and falls, and Liam Nash, who also attends Somersfield, particularly enjoyed this aspect of the day.“It’s a really interesting experience to be lifted up by eight sets of hands,” he observed.The day ended with mimed skits devised by the students themselves that incorporated some of the skills and activities explored during the workshop, including mirroring, falls, lifts and exaggerated emotion.The skits were performed in front of an audience of their Somersfield peers, the acting space determined by the actors themselves. The pairing of the schools over the three days allowed for collaborative learning and further interaction and co-operation between the various high schools.The workshop programme which focused on physical theatre and devising, putting plots together, with an emphasis on tragedy and comedy, will no doubt stand the participants in good stead when they begin rehearsals for the next Festival in the fall.