The Lockdown Survival Kit: Role Play It!

The Lockdown Survival Kit: Role Play It!

We all play many roles in everyday life outside the home. Roles like boss, employee, client, football player, entertainer, farmer, librarian, waiter, travel agent and lots more. Many of us are now unable to play those roles in everyday life anymore as we are stuck inside trying to keep it all together. What to do?

What if you’re a clean  and tidy freak and you live with someone who persists in leaving their mess all over the place. You wouldn’t tolerate this in the workplace. How will you tolerate this at home? Simple. Create a third character. If you pick up their mess but don’t blame the person who actually did it you are not building up resentment. If they keep doing it you can inform them that this third person is a total pain and you will have to all work together to help this person learn to clean up their own mess. You can create a super sleuth who uses deductive reasoning and writes down clues to find out who is on the case and who isn’t pulling their weight. Your travel agent can work out which parts of the house or flat have been visited by this third character and where they are likely to travel next. Where is the next messy pile going to be? You could create a little passport for each room and stamp it each time the mess is cleaned up. Whoever gets the most stamps wins a delicious home cooked meal in your kitchen/restaurant and you are the waiter complete with waiter moves, and tea towel tossed over the wrist. The third person is invited too and you and your housemates can lecture the empty chair on the error of his or her ways. You can also be a ‘Mess Cop’ on instagram. Pointing out the mess, naming names (imaginary) and explaining why it is an offence.

What about creating a whole imaginary world like in Avatar, Lord Of The Rings or Game Of Thrones.

Create your own costumes, allocate characters you have dreamed up, create your own props. This could be a board game or you could do it as a stage play which can then be turned into a screenplay and live streamed on a Youtube channel. Make it a series that people can tune into.

Creating an imaginary world requires alot of work. You need place names, infrastructure, laws, customs and an overall image of how it will all look. Here’s a good one to get you going. Imagine you belong to the ‘TeeHee Tribe’ where happiness is the norm and crime is a tribal offence. If found guilty of a crime the culprit is sent to a ‘Mirth Maker’, the local shaman of silliness. Sentenced to jumping up and down, making gurgling sounds while waving hands in the air, the idea is they  regain the spirit of joy so they are too happy to commit a crime again.  Use the mantra. ‘Laugh until you weep, Weep until you laugh.’

To create a character profile outline important events that have shaped a person’s life. Create a family background for them, create obstacles for them and ways in which they can overcome them. How do they affect others and how do others affect them? Present your characters on Instagram. Roleplay and problem solve at the same time. Make others laugh. The world needs more laughter. Maybe you could rap about your character and create a rap challenge online.

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