Time. It’s one of the most important tools you’ll have as a facilitator, whether you’re running a whole session or guiding younger students through a game. Time management isn’t just about staying on schedule—it’s about creating a space for everyone to thrive.
1. Understanding Focus and Energy: Finding the Balance
The success of any game in rehearsal depends on finding the balance between focus and energy. Too much energy without focus leads to chaos; too little, and the group disengages. This balance is often referenced by practitioners like Peter Brook, who emphasizes the importance of creating spaces where spontaneity thrives but is still structured.• High energy stimulates creativity, but must be tempered with focus.• Low energy can be a good starting point for focusing attention before raising the stakes.
Tip: different games carry the ability to manipulate the group’s focus & energy level. e.g. Tag builds energy quickly, so may be useful for a group that start the day feeling lethargic. Whereas Big Booty or God both raise the level of focus, and so can be useful to bring focus levels up and energy levels down – good for groups who come in with too much energy.
2. Set Clear Objectives and Time Limits for games
Before starting any game or activity, make sure the group understands both the purpose and the time limits. This helps them engage more effectively, knowing what the task requires and how long they have to achieve it.
• Example: “we’ve got 15 minutes to play fruit bowl, we’re only going to have one round and there will be one winner”
Tip: Announce the time limits at the start of each activity, and use a timer to help keep track. Participants benefit from knowing how much time they have to work with. facilitators benefit from making themselves accountable to their time limits.
3. Break the Activity into Manageable Segments
Longer activities can become overwhelming, especially for younger participants. Breaking them into smaller segments helps manage focus and energy. For instance, divide a 15-minute task into 5-minute increments: the setup, the gameplay, and the reflection.
Tip: Plan a rough timeline for whatever you’re running. whether thats a whole hour or a 5 minute game. Even if you have to go off-track, it’s better to have a track to go off of rather than no track at all.
4. Read the Room: Monitor Engagement and Adapt
You are not just managing the clock, you’re also managing the room. Monitor the group’s energy and engagement levels throughout the session. If a game feels like it’s dragging or if participants become overstimulated, be ready to switch gears.
• Augusto Boal highlights the importance of staying present with the participants and adapting to their energy and needs. Sometimes we have to make adjustments for what’s best for the group. For instance, sometimes the group are ready for a game to be over (you can often tell because the group lose focus and become restless aka chatty, distracted, visually bored). In situations like these, rather than keeping the task going until there’s 1 person remaining as a winner, perhaps its time to cut the task short and have one final round, after which all the remaining players are the winners.
Tip: The more games you run, the more workshops you lead, the more ‘tricks of the trade’ you pick up which make you feel more flexible and adaptable as a facilitator. Nobody starts on day one with all the tricks figured out, but it comes with time and practice.
5. Remember the value of your time.
Often participants will want more of the lead facilitators’s time. This happens most commonly when young participants want to ask many, many, many questions. Trouble is here, that one participant may be asking something for their benefit, but there’s a whole room full of other participants to be thinking about too. When a facilitator spends too much time answering one participants question, it can cause the rest of the group to lost their focus. There are three ways I’d suggest avoiding this sort of situation:
- Keep explanations short, simple and sweet. Try to remove the need for too many clarifying questions.
- Let them learn by doing. Often it is perfectly fine for participants who are unsure of the rules of a game to pick them up as they go and to learn them by playing the game itself.
- Delegate the explaining. On those instances where a participant really does need some further clarity, does it have to be you (the person leading the whole group) who explains it? Or can you tap in a co-facilitator to do this for you while you continue leading the group.
Final Thoughts
Managing time in a rehearsal setting is about balancing the energy in the room, structuring games with purpose, and keeping participants engaged. As a facilitator, your role is to guide the group through activities that balance focus and arousal, ensuring that every game or task hits its intended mark.