Students stand and form a circle facing clockwise. The teacher stands inside the circle and gently, randomly touches students on the shoulder. At the touch the student says something that a person whose role they have undertaken would say whilst still moving forward. Everyone else is silent. Next the teacher discusses the strengths and weaknesses of the dialogue.
Students then have about fifteen minutes to create a role play which they show to the other groups.
The teacher talks about commitment and the next stage that needs to be done very thoroughly if the drama is to work. The 'willing suspension of disbelief' is a concept I use here to help and students soon grasp what is meant by the term. Make students aware now of the ramifications of the names they have chosen, for example, if the name has a valley or bay in it then the location has to be in a valley or a bay, the name will indicate also if the place is small or large etc. Take 4 suggestions and record these. If you have two, see if there are common words that can be isolated and an agreement come to.