Giovanni Dolori: A Guided Narrative Exercise
- Mirko Rizzi
- Aug 11
- 6 min read
Updated: Aug 16
A guided narrative is an activity in which participants are led through a story—both verbal and nonverbal—that they do not yet know.
Participants must act within the space while remaining focused on how the story develops, which may unfold in unexpected ways from their point of view.
They must not add events or characters, because that would take them outside the shared narrative. They are free, however, to experiment with how they interpret each action.
Their focus is therefore on how rather than what.
Over the years, I have created a great many original guided narratives using words, gestures, music, images, object animation, and other forms of expression. At times, I have created specific sequences to begin exploring characters while preparing a production.
Giovanni Dolori has become a classic among the introductory guided narratives I use in preschools and elementary schools.
I present it here in a particular form: as a sequence of actions.
When I tell it to children, I use my voice, rhythm, and gestures to make it engaging, without overdoing it: they must not stop acting in order to listen to me.
Every workshop leader should tell it in their own way. For that reason, I provide only the actions that make up the sequence, leaving each workshop leader free to find their own words and way of telling it.
A NOTE ON TONE AND SAFETY
The escalation must remain deliberately grotesque and cartoon-like.
Every action is mimed: no real alarm clocks, food, toothpaste, medicine, or other objects are used. No one may collide with obstacles, actually fall, or kick, hit, or step on another participant.
Exaggeration is what makes the sequence work. Realism would make it needlessly dangerous and distressing.
THE SETUP
Giovanni Dolori is a good boy, but he has one big problem: he is very absentminded.
And do you know what happens to absentminded people? They get hurt.
The story begins with Giovanni asleep in his bed, waiting for it to be time to get up and go to school.
WAKING UP
He rolls over in bed, then scratches his head, one knee, and his bottom.
The first alarm clock rings. He grabs it, throws it against the wall, and goes back to sleep.
He rolls over again, then scratches his nose, one elbow, and his bottom.
The second alarm clock, hidden under his pillow, rings. He grabs it, throws it out the window, and goes back to sleep.
He rolls over once more, then scratches his stomach, one ear, and his bottom.
The third alarm clock, hidden under the bed, rings. He grabs it, bites it, and throws it away. He remains sitting on the bed.
He yawns and stretches.
He stands up, yawns, and stretches again.
IN THE BATHROOM
Shuffling his feet, he goes to the bathroom. Participants must move to a different place in the room.
He turns on the faucet and wets his hands. The water is scalding, so he adjusts it. Now it is ice-cold, so he adjusts it again. At last, it is just right.
He washes his face, ears, neck, armpits, stomach, and buttocks.
He turns off the water and feels cold.
He dries his face, ears, neck, armpits, stomach, and buttocks.
GETTING DRESSED
He returns to the bedroom. Participants must return to the position they occupied before.
He puts on a clean T-shirt, his pants, and only then his underwear.
He notices his mistake. He takes off his underwear and pants, then puts on his underwear first and his pants over it.
He puts on a shirt with a great many buttons.
He puts on his socks and a zip-up sweatshirt.
BREAKFAST
He goes to the kitchen. He must choose a new position, different from both the bedroom and the bathroom.
He sits at the table, where he finds his usual breakfast: a large mug of chocolate milk, served hot.
He takes a brioche and cuts it in half. The children must mime a horizontal cut: show them the correct movement.
He spreads Nutella on it, closes it back up, dips it in the milk, and eats it.
He takes a second brioche and cuts it in half.
He spreads strawberry jam on it, closes it back up, dips it in the milk, and eats it.
He takes a third brioche and cuts it in half.
He fills it with toothpaste because he thinks this means he will not have to brush his teeth. He closes it back up, dips it in the milk, and eats it.
He takes a piece of toast, carefully spreads it with Nutella, dips it in the milk, and eats it.
He takes another piece of toast, carefully spreads it with strawberry jam, dips it in the milk, and eats it.
He takes a third piece of toast and pours cough syrup over it—after all, he has to take the medicine anyway. He dips it in the milk and eats it.
He grabs the gigantic mug and drinks noisily.
He wipes his mouth with his arm and burps.
LEAVING HOME
He returns to the bedroom and puts on his shoes, jacket, scarf, hat, and gloves. Finally, he picks up his backpack.
He suddenly needs to pee. He quickly undresses, repeating the gestures and clothing items from the dressing sequence in reverse order, and runs to the bathroom.
He pees and flushes the toilet.
He quickly washes his hands. He turns on the faucet and the water scalds him, so he adjusts it. Now it is ice-cold, so he adjusts it again. At last, it is just right.
He rushes back to the bedroom and quickly gets dressed again, because by now he is late.
He says goodbye to his mother on his right and his father on his left.
He pets the cat.
He greets his little brother with a cartoon-style pretend kick.
He opens the door and leaves the house, because he walks to school alone.
ON THE WAY TO SCHOOL
He walks while obeying the traffic lights and using the crosswalks.
His feet begin to hurt. He checks his shoes and realizes that he has put them on the wrong feet.
He feels embarrassed and decides to switch them once he reaches school. He continues walking with a slight limp.
Distracted by his shoes, he fails to see a pole and bangs his nose against it.
Now he is limping and his nose hurts. His eyes fill with tears, so he fails to see a low wall and bangs one knee against it.
From this point on, each injury and ache is added to the ones before it. Giovanni must keep walking throughout, carrying all of them in his body.
He has put his scarf on badly, so he gets cold and sneezes.
He develops a stomachache from eating the toothpaste.
He gets a toothache.
He gets an earache.
His back begins to hurt.
His eyes turn red.
He gets a headache.
He begins to cough.
He develops a stiff neck.
He bites his tongue.
His hair begins to hurt.
He develops a fever.
He bangs one elbow.
He gets a sore throat.
He vomits.
He needs to pee again, but cannot find a bathroom.
He slips and breaks one arm.
He still wants to reach school and ask for help: he is almost there. He slips again and breaks one leg as well.
He drags himself up the school steps.
The school bell rings, and hundreds of classmates stream over him, trampling his back.
The school custodian comes outside to check whether anyone is still there. She does not see him, trips, and falls on top of him, crushing him.
Complete stillness.
Giovanni is dead.
If the story ended like this, it would not be a very good story.
And in fact…
THE GREAT BIG FAIRY
Along comes a Great Big Fairy.
Her heart goes out to Giovanni, because she realizes that he is not bad: he is simply terribly absentminded. She therefore decides to bring him back to life, putting him back together one little piece at a time.
At this point, I explain to the children that they may move only the parts of their bodies that the Great Big Fairy has already healed.
A gradual physical awakening begins, starting with one finger and progressively spreading to involve the entire body.
At the end, I usually ask them to try standing up without placing their hands on the floor, so that I can assess their coordination.
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