The Good Samaritan rap

Lucy Moore

On your marks:

Here we’ll look at how the Good Samaritan Rap could be presented in, for example, an all-age service, and a couple of activities which might help people think about the story

Get set:

You’ll need cards or OHP slides with the italicised responses between verses written on them, large enough for everyone to see, optional props and costumes: football scarves and hats for two local opposing teams, a policeman’s helmet (ELC do one), a balaclava for the mugger, a toy steering wheel, a white coat and stethoscope for the doctor, large cigar for the MP, grapes, local newspaper belonging to rival team.
Also optional is a rap beat on a synth or drum machine or live on a drum/bodhran to be played throughout.

Go!

If you are doing this solo, learn the piece and choose a different voice for each character. You can act out the whole thing solo – it has been done! Adapt it to fit your local rival teams: you’ll need to make changes to verses 1, 2, 3, 7, 10.
If you’re doing it with a team (much preferable), you could give each narrator one verse to learn, and each character their own words. If your group cannot learn lines, let the narrators use scripts and don’t have the characters say any of their own words – they should just act out their part.

Have people hold up the cards between verses and the congregation can shout out what’s on the card. You may need to practise these first.

You may want to introduce it by saying something like: ‘Here’s a story based on one that Jesus told. He didn’t tell it in these words, but if he was telling it today, it might go something like this…’

Here are some simple suggestions for action
Verse 1: player mimes scoring a goal on line 3.
Verse 2: Police stand between opposing fans, arms out, holding them apart, while fans shake fists and act violently
Verse 3: Fan thumbs a lift. Mugger comes up behind, grabs by the hair and holds imaginary knife to her throat. Throws fan to ground, pretends to kick, then jump on her head, then walk away smugly
Verse 4: Narrator(s) point to fan on ground. Doctor ‘drives in and parks in whizzkid style.
Verse 5: Doctor poses in a ‘Aren’t I wonderful’ pose to audience, sneers at fan’s request and turns back on audience with a bend of the knees as if to pee. Drives off.
Verse 6: MP drives in, stands over fan tapping cigar, looking superior, then drives off
Verse 7: Opposing fan drives in (ideally a lot of fans in a crocodile to suggest a bus) and stands over fan looking menacing, cracking knuckles.
Verse 8: Fan kneels, crosses self, wipes sweat off face.
Verse 9: Opposing fans pick up fan and hold her upright.
Verse 10: Opposing fans ‘tuck fan up in bed’, ostentatiously offer gifts, then hold large scarf aloft and cheer.

To follow up the story, you could read the original version straight away in a modern translation, giving it its setting, which is very important.

You could do a choice circus for the priest / doctor (see Getting Going with drama), giving him / her the choice of whether to stay and help or leave the injured person.

You could hotseat the Samaritan / opposing fan, and find out what dangers and internal struggles they faced when deciding whether or not to help.

You could explore the feeling of ‘compassion’ that pushed the Samaritan to help, by devising short scenes with modern situations in which people might choose to show compassion or not, perhaps ‘before’ and ‘after’ scenes, showing the same situation with two different outcomes.

You could look at the story of Bob Geldof in Stories of Everyday Saints (BRF) to see compassion in action.

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