Acting and Dramatic Games Stage Coach
( Acting and Dramatic, Call and Response, Literature, Memory )A leader is chosen who has a faculty for telling a story. This leader gives to each of the players the name of some part of a stage coach or of its contents. Thus one may be the whip one the wheels one the cushions one the windows others the brake driver harness horses passengers including specifically the fat old gentleman the woman with the bandbox etc.
Where there are many players several may be given the same name though it is desirable that these should not all be seated near together. The leader then tells a story in which the various parts of a stage coach are mentioned and whenever he names one of these parts or articles the player or players bearing that name must get up instantly whirl around once and sit down again. Any player failing to do this must pay a forfeit. Whenever the story teller says “Stage Coach ” all of the players must get up and turn around. At the end of this story he will manage to have the stage coach meet with a catastrophe and as soon as he says “The stage coach upset ” all of the players must change seats. The leader takes this opportunity to secure one for himself and the player who is left without a seat becomes leader for the next game or must distribute the forfeits. For large numbers there should be several more players than chairs.
The leader may say for example “It being a beautiful spring day the old lady with the bandbox here the old lady must get up and turn around decided to visit her daughter and so took a seat in the stage coach everybody turns around she found the cushions cushions turn around very comfortable until the fat old gentleman fat old gentleman turns around got in when the place seemed to her very crowded and she was glad to open the windows the driver cracked his whip the wheels creaked the horses strained at the harness and away they started on their journey ” etc.
The interest of the game may be enhanced by connecting the stage coach its passengers and journey with some well-known story as of Mr. Pickwick and Sam Weller or Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm.