Living Posters: A Theater Exercise with Frozen Images

Children create a living poster for Little Red Riding Hood using a group tableau.

Objectives: develop ensemble composition and explore the importance of detail

Age: 6 and up

I created this exercise as another way of working collectively with frozen images.

The idea is to create living posters based on stories the participants already know. I usually use classic fairy tales.

Participants sit facing the performance space. After announcing the title of the story, I ask them to volunteer, one at a time, to represent a subject or object of their choice in a frozen pose, without first telling anyone what it is.

Each participant who enters next must recognize what the others are already representing and decide what they can add to make the poster more complete, richer, and more visually effective.

This exercise also encourages reflection on the importance of the elements being represented and their placement within the space.

An Example: Little Red Riding Hood

If we wanted to create a poster for Little Red Riding Hood with a class of twenty-five children, the first participants would probably portray the five main characters:

• Little Red Riding Hood.

• The Wolf.

• Grandmother.

• The Hunter.

• The Mother.

Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf should be placed in the center, while Grandmother, the Hunter, and the Mother could be arranged progressively toward the outer edges according to their importance in the story.

And everyone else?

Once the main and most obvious characters have been assigned, the other participants can add—individually or in groups—the houses, the trees—a forest made of only one tree is not a forest—the animals, streams, rocks, bushes, clouds, and so on.

What matters is the composition as a whole.

I always make a point of reminding participants—especially anyone struggling at that moment to find an idea they like—that there are important but less immediately obvious elements, such as Little Red Riding Hood’s basket, the hood itself, the Hunter’s rifle, or the door to Grandmother’s house.

All of these elements lend themselves to very amusing interpretations.

Naturally, participants are free to interpret them as they wish, but they must aim to make the subject believable and recognizable.

Usually, once the poster is complete, I take a photograph and send it to the teacher, who can use it, if they wish, as a starting point for further drawing or painting activities.

Possible Extensions

Extension 1: use titles from cartoons or contemporary films, provided they are familiar to everyone.

Extension 2: create a living poster based on an imaginary title that no one could possibly know in advance.