The soap opera continues.... 2

Stage 2

Once the characters have been divided into small groups, we can get going on 'constructing' our soap opera. Explain to the class that several of the characters (but not necessarily all of them) live in the same street and that as a group, you are going to decide who lives where (you need an image of the street in question as a visual aid).

Choosing the right street is important, as the setting you choose now will influence the decisions you make and shape the action from here on in. So it's worth mulling over the options. There are a number of possibilities

A really simple drawing, for example:

 

Un dibujo así no da mucho juego a la hora de explorar como se ven reflejados nuestros personajes (sus gustos etc) en su elección de casa pero tiene la ventaja de ser super clara, que ayuda mucho a la hora de 'situar' a los personajes visualmente en sus respectivas casas.

A drawing like this, however, doesn't give much leeway to explore how our characters' personalities, tastes and financial circumstances etc... are projected onto their surroundings.

Another option is to choose (or invent) a street of very different types of houses:

An image like this offers a lot more scope for 'placing' our characters because it gives extra information about them (suddenly we can see that they might be rich... or conventional... or a hippie etc)  - although, we don't yet know how reliable that information is (we may discover in time that the guy living in the castle is only looking after it for friends... or he works as the gardener there... or whatever).

You may decide to have all your characters live together in the same block of flats? The perfect way to heighten tensions and create conflicts (the basis of any soap opera worth it's money, after all) between neighbours. What will it look like?

Like this?

...Or this?  

Bear in mind that our soap opera will unfold in a completely different way if it's set here:

rather than here:

 

You might decide to opt for a bit comedy:

 

And an old, decrepid house-on-the-hill is always good (dramatically speaking) to have in a neighbourhood:

 

Once you've chosen your street, show the group and elicit the clues that can be gleaned from it. What does it tell s about our characters? Remind them you can either own a house or be renting/borrowing/staying in it. You can also just rent a room. You can live alone or with friends or family or you can share. Some houses are divided into flats or run as businesses (bed and breakfasts, pubs, hotels or hostels). Aim for as much variety as possible as it'll make our soap opera more complex and interesting.

Once the group is 'situated' in the physical setting, tell them that each group of characters is going to live in (or relate to) one house. They have to a) decide which house seems the best fit for their characters (and why) and b) who is going to live in it. Explain that not all their characters have to actually live there (they can visit!). Little by little, start assigning houses to the different character. Each group has to explain to the rest which character (or characters) is going to live in the street and they explain their choice of house.If another group has made the same choice, both should present their reasons to the group and a group decision is made. (If your group is too argumentative to problem solve in this way (!), consider offering each a choice of X buildings to each group, get them to select one as their house and construct a street with the houses chosen).  Encourage them to start 'padding out' their characters a little with details about their circumstances (he's on the dole and is 6 months behind on his rent, for example) but don't let them stray away from practical issues (we don't want to know that one of them is a serial killer just yet!).

Once the houses have been allocated, give the groups the chance to negotiate with the rest of the class for any of the leftover characters that they feel are needed in their house - a child for the couple in Number 6, for example. It's always a good idea (in terms of plot!) to have the odd mysterious figure who lives alone... but if none emerges now, don't worry. You can always have them 'move' into the street later on.