The Keys Game

Children sitting in a circle focus on a set of keys during a theater game.

The Keys Game is an exercise I developed after hearing Pierre Byland describe, during a seminar, a training exercise used at the Jacques Lecoq School when he taught there. It was designed to improve concentration.

For such a simple exercise, it has an extraordinary hold on a group, even with six-year-olds and the most exuberant classes.

I ask the group to sit in a circle and make sure that everyone is comfortable.

I explain that, in a moment, I will place a set of keys in the center of the circle and count to three.

From that moment on, they must focus all their attention on the keys. If I notice even the slightest distraction, they are eliminated from the game.

I also warn them that after one minute I will start trying to distract them by talking, but I promise them two things: I will not touch them, and I will not shout.

It is essential to be strict and call out even the smallest lapse in concentration: eyes do not lie, and you can immediately tell when someone’s attention has shifted elsewhere.

On the first attempt, several children usually fail to reach thirty seconds. As soon as it ends, however, they insist on playing again.

Before long, an extraordinary silence and tension take hold—in some classes to a genuinely surprising degree.

Over the years, I have realized how much children and teenagers appreciate this experience of absolute concentration, absolute silence, and rigor, something so rare in everyday life.

It is one of the games they ask for most often and, in some classes, stopwatches in hand, full-fledged championships have developed.