Themes
Androcles and the Lion presents several universal themes to its audience. Here we will focus in on several of these (friendship and loyalty, freedom, farce and trust) and look at how they are used in the play.
Friendship and Loyalty
Freedom
Farce
Trust
Friendship and Loyalty
This theme is projected throughout the play. Friendship is promoted as a necessity to survive in the real world. Without friends, none of the characters would have any motives, wants, desires, and hence these characters would not be able to develop, and the play would not progress. Each of the characters in Androcles and the Lion has some form of friendship with one another. For example, Androcles, Lelio and Isabella are friends because they help each other out of difficult situations, hence not having their best interests at heart. The Captain and Pantalone also have a close friendship because Pantalone trusts The Captain immensely and he projects this by giving him the great responsibility of protecting his niece. The strongest friendship that exists in this play is between Androcles and the Lion, because they both overcome their natural instincts to harm one another. As the Lion comments during their first meeting "A new twist in history! Man and beast will feast together."
Activities
Primary
Ask the students in the class to write a paragraph or two on which characters in the play they would like to be friends with. Students must include a written explanation as to why this is so and could also draw a picture of themselves with the character.
Upper Primary
Divide the class into groups of three or four. Ask one student from each group to sit in a chair and to take on the role of one of the characters. The other students sit on the ground in a semi circle around the chair, and ask the character about the friendships that they have in the play.
High School
Ask students to work individually on this exercise and identify the different friendships that occur in Androcles and the Lion. See if students can define each of these friendships (ie lovers, alliance, partners etc) and see if they can identify similar relationships found in sitcoms and films.
Learning Areas
Freedom
Freedom is a strong, reoccurring theme projected via three characters; Androcles, the Lion and Isabella. Each of these characters obtain freedom at the end of the play, however they must go through a difficult journey to achieve this civil right. Androcles is held prisoner not only by his master Pantalone but also by social class expectations. He is imprisoned not only as a slave but also through a loss of self-identity. Androcles:
If I were free, who would I be? Maybe … maybe … a doctor with a degree, a poet, a priest, a sculptor, a scholar, a senator – emperor with a golden collar! I want to be free so I can find – me.
The Lion is a prisoner of humanity because he is simply captured for entertainment. He is also a prisoner with regards to stereotypes. If lions were not stereotyped as aggressive animals then he probably would never have been captured in the first place. Isabella is a prisoner of a capitalist, patriarchal society that dictates the future of females. This is due to the control her uncle has over her. These characters all manage to over come these obstacles to obtain freedom.
Activities
Primary
Read the story of Hansel and Gretel to the class but do not reveal how the story ends. So stop reading the story when the witch captures the two children. Ask the students to write how they would feel if they were in the witch's custody, how they managed to escape, and how they felt when they were once freed.
Primary: Tell students that they have just been captured by an evil principal and they cannot escape from the school. Get students to improvise a short scene on how they managed to escape and be free again.
Secondary
Divide students into groups of two and assign them a famous convicted (but innocent) prisoner over the past century or so (eg Nelson Mandella, Rubin ‘The Hurricane' Carter etc). Ask students to discover why these people were imprisoned and how they were freed. This activity should be completed in report style.
Learning Areas
Farce
Farce is physical comedy, for example when someone slips over on a banana peel. The farce in Androcles and the Lion is projected through the Commedia dell Arte style via mime, slapstick, exaggeration and so forth. In Commedia, it is the servants who usually play jokes on their masters in a farcical manner. An example of this is when Isabella and Androcles managed to trick The Captain and escape, leaving him looking rather foolish.
Activities
Primary
Ask students to create a list of comedians, such as Robin Williams. Then ask them to name some of the characters from the play and to write down why they were amusing and to draw a caricature to support this.
Primary
Divide the class into three equal groups. Each group gets a chair and places all of their shoes on that chair. Students must steal shoes from other groups and put these on their own chair. Students must obtain shoes in a certain manner. When the class begins, they must pretend that they are astronauts on the moon. They must move around slowly, but while doing so, keeping the movement large and abstract. The teacher then yells freeze and the class stops where they are. The class must then move around the space continuing to steal shoes but this time they have nausea and if they move too quickly then they will be physically ill. After a moment, the teacher then tells the students to freeze and to pretend that they are walking on a tight rope to steal the shoes. Only one shoe can be stolen at a time and anyone who moves quickly around the space shall be eliminated. The winner is the group with the most shoes on their chair.
Learning Areas
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Reflection on play
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Critical awareness of characters and play as a whole
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Literacy skills
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Help develop of the basic conventions of farce, mime
Trust
Trust is evident throughout the play. The Lion and Androcles promote trust to a greater extent than any of the other characters. They do this by interacting freely with one another. Trust takes courage and both of these characters have a large amount of this. The Lion put a great amount of trust in Androcles when he allowed him to pull the thorn from his paw, and Androcles put a lot of trust in the Lion while he completed this act. Both of these characters have faith in one another and this allows them to trust each other.
Activities
Primary
Students get into pairs. One student opts to be ‘A' the other ‘B'. ‘A' places their hands on 'B's shoulders and ‘B' closes their eyes while ‘A' guides them gently around the room by putting pressure on their shoulders indicating which way to move. Pairs must not run into each other, so to stop, the ‘A's must gently squeeze the ‘B's on their shoulders. After a few minutes, ‘A' and ‘B' swap roles. This exercise promotes trust between performers - a vital skill to have while in any drama class.
Secondary
This game requires a solid black block approximately 50cm from the ground. Students are required to line up in pairs facing each other creating a long line. The beginning of the line stands right next to the solid block. All of the pairs link hands via a monkey grip. One person is required to stand at the other end of the line (ie as far away from the block itself). One person at a time stands on the block and falls backwards into the sea of arms. This is a trust exercise. To introduce this game the teacher could quote Androcles himself "… someone must take the first step – greet each other, or we will never meet each other."
Learning Areas
Recommended Online Resources
For further drama games: