Backstage Drama

What happens when you stage a tragic opera at the same time as a musical farce? Richard Strauss provides one answer in his two-part work Ariadne auf Naxos. The first half of this opera, the Prologue, gives the audience a glimpse of what goes on backstage when it is suddenly announced that two rival groups—in one corner, opera singers; in the other, an Italian comedy troupe—must not only perform on the same night (an affront to both!) but must in fact join forces to improvise a single show.

In this activity, students will dive right into the backstage drama of the Prologue by facing the same challenge as the opera singers and comedy troupe—namely, to adapt to new circumstances by acting out incongruous, and often random, characters and settings. In so doing, they will come to appreciate the central tension at the heart of Strauss’s work while honing their improvisation skills.  

STEP 1. WARM-UP

Before jumping into Ariadne auf Naxos, have students warm up with an improvisation game called “Job Interview Hot Seat.” Follow the instructions below.

• Select one student to be the person being interviewed for a new job (the “candidate”). Ask them to step out of the room so that they cannot hear the remaining students inside the classroom (the “interviewing committee”).
• The interviewing committee must select a specific job for which the candidate is being considered. The wackier the job, the better! The committee will focus on this specific job when interviewing the candidate.
• Bring the candidate back into the room and seat them in a chair facing the interviewing committee. They must use the questions provided by the committee to figure out for what job they are being considered.
• The committee may begin asking the candidate questions to ascertain whether they are qualified for the position.
• After answering a few questions, the candidate may guess for what job they believe they are under consideration. When the job title is correctly guessed, the game is over. Begin again with a new candidate.

STEP 2. REVIEW

Once the warm-up is complete, use the included synopsis to review the basic plot of the Prologue. The plot summary will inform the improvisation exercises later in the lesson.

STEP 3. IMPROVISE

After reviewing the circumstances of the Prologue, students are prepared to do two Ariadne-inspired improvisation games. Each scene has a corresponding framework, which forms the basis for students’ improvisation.

SCENE 1: Two troupes of performers—one a group of comedians, one a group of dramatic actors—have arrived at a fancy party to perform for rich guests. Just before their shows are to begin, they are informed that they must combine both shows together. Chaos ensues! 

• Cut up the two sets of prompts included in this guide. The first indicates the names and intentions of individual characters, and the second indicates environments where the scene might be performed. Students will use the character slips to guide them in the scene by giving them a framework for their intentions, while the environment slips establish the scene and provide interest.
• Put the cut slips in two vessels: one for the characters, one for the environments.
• Ask each participating student to draw one character slip, which they must keep secret. Once each student has drawn a character slip, the group may then select one environment slip to set the scene.
• Once everyone knows whom they will play, they should begin improvising a scene based on the intentions written on their character slip, making sure to set the action in whichever environment has been selected by the group.
• All students not participating in the scene will serve as audience members, who must decide which actor is playing which character and where the action is occurring.

SCENE 2: The performers are guests on a talk show the day after their performance. The host asks them questions about what went wrong, and the performers try to explain themselves as they take questions from the audience.

• Each participating student will sit in a chair facing the audience. The host should sit in the middle chair.
• One student must volunteer to be the host of the talk show. Each remaining actor must select one of the character slips from the bowl used in Scene 1. This time, though, they may notify one another which character they will be playing.
• The host will enter alone and welcome the audience before providing background on the backstage drama that ensued during the Prologue.
• One by one, each actor will enter to be interviewed by the host, improvising on any details that they do not know.
• Once each character has been interviewed individually, they may all join the host in front of the audience. Let the drama begin! Students may improvise in any way that they feel their character would respond in such a scenario, and the audience may participate by clapping, cheering, or booing each of the actors as they make their case for why their version of the story is correct.

For a homework assignment, have students write blog posts detailing the drama that unfolded in both scenes. For the first, they can assume the perspective of a theater critic writing a review of a play they’ve just witnessed. For the second, they can write for a tabloid covering the actors’ reunion in front of a live audience. If they wish, students can also write and produce a recap podcast episode for listeners who weren’t able to attend either the performance or the talk show.