I'm writing about this because, in my current Mantle, something has been going surprisingly and pleasingly well. That something is how deeply the children were already into the story, before I even introduced the client and commission.
It's been quite an experimental Mantle, with a lot of 'have I lost them?' type thoughts, but yesterday I decided it was actually working, most of the time.
My previous blog post said this:
.... the children are not yet invested in their lives as villagers. I'm going to spend some time with them building this investment, so that when the Queen appears with her invitation, they will have more to think about.
To my slight suprise, it happened.
The children as villagers.
A while ago I spoke to Luke Abbott about a Mantle I was in the middle of that wasn't working well. He identified the problem - the children were not part of the story; instead they were viewing it from the outside and had no agency in it. He suggested they become part of the story by taking on roles in London 1666. You can read more about that here.
It worked so well that I used an almost identical method for my current Mantle. While my first 'King Brannagan' castle mantle had the children meeting the king and saying 'yes' immediately before becoming 'The Castle Crew', this time around the children had more to consider; it was a harder decision.
The reason for this was their place in the story. Over the past few weeks (perhaps nine Mantle episodes) I have slowly, slowly been drawing the children into the story. First, we made a medieval village. The children chose a building to represent and placed it whever they wanted to in the village. Then we looked at medieval roles in the village and the children chose a role to take on. Over the next couple of sessions the children built upon their roles: we used images to find out more about the different roles and what equipment would look like and we made them using junk modelling and pictures. My favourite prop* created by at rat catcher was a long stick, found outside, with five paper rats attached to it.
The more we played at being villagers in the story (I used quite a lot of narrative voice to help with this) the more children became their roles, leading to...
Meeting the client and being desperate to help her.
I started the session by inviting the children to place themselves in the village. They used carpet squares to represent their homes or places of work ('Where shall I put my pigs?' was a question from one swine herd).
We stepped into the story and the children carried on with their days. Then evening came, the villagers were heading home for dinner when someone spotted a stranger on the village green. Side note: I'd signed a space at the front of the room with a square of green carpet and our village sign - we'd agreed this was the village green.
I stepped into role as the client - at this point an effigy. My TA took over facilitating the session. The children did a good job of wondering who I was. When my TA placed a battered crown on my head, they gasped. At that point, they were invited to interact with me.
My plan had been to give them the commission immediately. However, the children were so invested in their roles as villagers that they offered to help me, as villagers helping a stranger. The barbers asked if I needed a haircut, the spinsters wanted to make me clothes, the innkeepers wanted to feed me and the millers wanted to make me some bread.
I hadn't expected this, really. I'd expected the children to want to go with the Queen, when she gave them the commission, but I hadn't expected this interim step of them being villagers, helping a stranger in their midst.
It was a few good steps forward from the first time they decided who they'd like to be in the village (with several confused Reception children) and I liked it.
Accepting the Commission
The next morning - after the Queen had been cared for and had a good night's rest at the inn - the villagers met her once again at the village green. She offered them the commission - to leave their village and lives and to become her new band of knights. They would help her to establish a new kingdom, with a new castle.
The villagers held a meeting (see image) to discuss this and they didn't all immediately agree. They were so happy with their village and their lives there, that not all wanted to go with her.
This was in stark contrast to Then, when the video of a king running from a battle and calling for 'a team to help me' meant that the class excitedly, enthusiastically, but without consideration or investment, became 'The Castle Crew.'
My plan, and the slow drawing of children into their places in the story, had worked.
* Props are not always needed for Mantle... however I find with younger children it helps them both to visualise themselves and their role and to become more invested in the story. The more of the story they co-create, the more they own it and the more they are invested.
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