PIN THE TURBAN ON THE DIVA is just one of three dinner party treats we’ve found for the Hostess with the Mostest who loves their dinner parties camp and fabulous! We’ve listed our top three Theatrical Dinner Party favourites, from downright daft THE FAME GAME to the hopelessly hilarious WHEN VELMA TAKES THE STAND. So put a little more mascara on, invite some friends round for a Wild Party, and Strike up the Band!
PIN THE TURBAN ON THE DIVA
The Jazz Hands equivalent of Pin the Tail on the Donkey, this game requires little further explanation.
We’ve created a page of classic Norma Desmonds here – choose your favourite, download your diva, print off the turban and off you go! If you don’t have a pin-board, blu-tac will do just fine.
Instructions:
The player is blindfolded and has to turn around 3 times clockwise, 3 times counter-clockwise and then walk forward to pin on Norma’s turban (no peeking!). To avoid turban-clash, take a picture of each player with their Norma before removing it ready for the next player.
The winner takes all – whoever’s Turban makes Norma look most fabulous.
THE FAME GAME (aka The Celebrity Game)
We have the wonderful Tiffany Graves to thank for introducing us to this one:
You will need – a bowl, pens, paper, the timer on your phone, friends with a great sense of humour.
Instructions:
- Cut up paper into strips – 10 strips for each player.
- On each strip, every person writes the name of a famous figure. This can be anyone: Celeb, Actor, Historical Figure, Cartoon Character, Musical Theatre Character, Politician etc.
- Fold and place all the names into a bowl (if you have 5 players you should have 50 names)
- Split into teams. You can have any number of teams, big or small and odd numbers is fine.
Round 1
- Fold and place all names in the bowl so that they cannot be seen
- Each team in turn has 60 seconds
- Each team elects one player per round to pull out one name at a time
- Without using any part of the name, describe them for your team to guess.
- You can pass by putting the name back in the bowl and picking another.
- Keep each name guessed correctly by your team – don’t put them back in the bowl!
- Teams play in turn until there are no names left in the bowl
- Add up the number of names your team wins = ROUND ONE TOTAL
Round 2
- Place all names back in the bowl
- Each team in turn has 60 seconds – the team with the lowest round one score goes first
- This time you may ONLY use 2 words to describe the name on each piece of paper.
- Keep each name your team correctly guesses – don’t put them back!
- Teams play in turn until there are no names left in the bowl
- Add up the number of names your team wins = ROUND TWO TOTAL
Round 3
- Place all names back in the bowl
- Each team in turn has 60 seconds – the team with the lowest round two score goes first
- This time you must MIME the name on each piece of paper.
- Keep each name your team correctly guesses – don’t put them back!
- Teams play in turn until there are no names left in the bowl
- Add up the number of names your team wins = ROUND THREE TOTAL
ADD THE SCORES FROM ALL THREE ROUNDS TO FIND THE WINNING TEAM
WHEN VELMA TAKES THE STAND
Instructions:
- Send one person out of the room while everyone else decides who (or what) that person are going to be.
- When they return, you, the jury, take turns to ask that person questions – as creatively as possible – until they guess from your reactions who they are.
For example, you might ask:
How would you describe your relationship with men?
What is your favourite colour?
Are you older than you ever intended to be?
Have you ever reached for a gun?
Have you ever spent time in a women’s prison?
You have to answer as honestly as possible, as if you yourself were answering the questions. By reading the reactions of your interrogators (including their disbelief!) before too long you might realise you are Roxy Hart from Chicago…but if they ask their questions well enough, or throw in a few red herrings, it could take longer than you expect!
The fun part is making the questions as creative as possible without giving the game away too soon.
Don’t feel you’re limited to criminals – you might just as easily choose to make them Gretl from The Sound of Music or Lucy The Slut from Avenue Q!
You can play just one round each, or more if you’re lightning quick!
Know your Theatre inside out? Try one of our Theatre Brainteasers!
