Drama Strategies
Drama strategies – also known as drama techniques or drama conventions – are the everyday tools of the drama teacher. They help to develop enquiry skills, to encourage negotiation, understanding and creativity. They can enhance performance skills such as character development and storytelling and be used across the curriculum to actively involve students in their own learning.
3D Living Pictures
Bring pictures to life through freeze frames, thought tracking and improvisation.
Action Clip
Action Clip is a quick way to bring a freeze frame to life – with no preparation!
Conscience Alley
One person walks down an alleyway made by the group and listens to thoughts or advice.
Cross-Cutting
What is Cross Cutting? The dramatic action switches quickly between two scenes in the same space. Cross-cutting (also called split-screen)
Developing Freeze Frames
Exciting ways to use freeze frames across the curriculum and in performance.
Flashbacks and Flash Forwards
What are Flashbacks and Flash Forwards? Expand on a freeze-frame to create the before and after. Performers in a scene
Forum Theatre
Why use it? The strategy breaks through the barrier between performers and audience, putting them on an equal footing. It
Freeze Frames
Freeze frames (also known as still images and tableaux) are a fast and effective method to use with any age.
Hot Seating
A character is questioned by the group about his or her background, behaviour and motivation.
Hot Spotting
An amazingly fun and easy way to mix up hot-seating and freeze frames to develop characters
Image Theatre
Image Theatre is the use of still images (freeze-frames) to explore abstract concepts such as relationships and emotions, as well
Mantle of the Expert
Mantle of the Expert involves the creation of a fictional world where students assume the roles of experts in a
Marking the Moment
Marking the Moment is a dramatic technique used to highlight a key moment in a scene or improvisation. This can
Role on the Wall
Role on the wall is a collaborative activity for developing thoughts and ideas about a character.
Soundscapes
The group is conducted to create a sound picture or “soundscape” using their voices and bodies.
Storytelling
Storytelling is one of the simplest and perhaps most compelling forms of dramatic and imaginative activity. A good place to
Teacher in Role
Teacher in role (TiR) is an invaluable technique for shaping the dramatic process and developing students’ learning. Simply put, the
Thought Tracking
A way to speak aloud the thoughts or feelings of a character in a freeze-frame.
Whoosh! Bringing Stories Alive through Drama
An interactive technique in which participants become characters and objects in a story as it is told.
Browse all the Drama Strategies!
3D Living Pictures
Bring pictures to life through freeze frames, thought tracking and improvisation.
Action Clip
Action Clip is a quick way to bring a freeze frame to life – with no preparation!
Conscience Alley
One person walks down an alleyway made by the group and listens to thoughts or advice.
Cross-Cutting
What is Cross Cutting? The dramatic action switches quickly between two scenes in the same space. Cross-cutting (also called split-screen)
Developing Freeze Frames
Exciting ways to use freeze frames across the curriculum and in performance.
Flashbacks and Flash Forwards
What are Flashbacks and Flash Forwards? Expand on a freeze-frame to create the before and after. Performers in a scene
Forum Theatre
Why use it? The strategy breaks through the barrier between performers and audience, putting them on an equal footing. It
Freeze Frames
Freeze frames (also known as still images and tableaux) are a fast and effective method to use with any age.
Hot Seating
A character is questioned by the group about his or her background, behaviour and motivation.
Hot Spotting
An amazingly fun and easy way to mix up hot-seating and freeze frames to develop characters
Image Theatre
Image Theatre is the use of still images (freeze-frames) to explore abstract concepts such as relationships and emotions, as well
Mantle of the Expert
Mantle of the Expert involves the creation of a fictional world where students assume the roles of experts in a
Marking the Moment
Marking the Moment is a dramatic technique used to highlight a key moment in a scene or improvisation. This can
Role on the Wall
Role on the wall is a collaborative activity for developing thoughts and ideas about a character.
Soundscapes
The group is conducted to create a sound picture or “soundscape” using their voices and bodies.
Storytelling
Storytelling is one of the simplest and perhaps most compelling forms of dramatic and imaginative activity. A good place to
Teacher in Role
Teacher in role (TiR) is an invaluable technique for shaping the dramatic process and developing students’ learning. Simply put, the
Thought Tracking
A way to speak aloud the thoughts or feelings of a character in a freeze-frame.
Whoosh! Bringing Stories Alive through Drama
An interactive technique in which participants become characters and objects in a story as it is told.
3D Living Pictures
Bring pictures to life through freeze frames, thought tracking and improvisation.
Action Clip
Action Clip is a quick way to bring a freeze frame to life – with no preparation!
Conscience Alley
One person walks down an alleyway made by the group and listens to thoughts or advice.
Cross-Cutting
What is Cross Cutting? The dramatic action switches quickly between two scenes in the same space. Cross-cutting (also called split-screen)
Developing Freeze Frames
Exciting ways to use freeze frames across the curriculum and in performance.
Flashbacks and Flash Forwards
What are Flashbacks and Flash Forwards? Expand on a freeze-frame to create the before and after. Performers in a scene
Forum Theatre
Why use it? The strategy breaks through the barrier between performers and audience, putting them on an equal footing. It
Freeze Frames
Freeze frames (also known as still images and tableaux) are a fast and effective method to use with any age.
Hot Seating
A character is questioned by the group about his or her background, behaviour and motivation.
Hot Spotting
An amazingly fun and easy way to mix up hot-seating and freeze frames to develop characters
Image Theatre
Image Theatre is the use of still images (freeze-frames) to explore abstract concepts such as relationships and emotions, as well
Mantle of the Expert
Mantle of the Expert involves the creation of a fictional world where students assume the roles of experts in a
Marking the Moment
Marking the Moment is a dramatic technique used to highlight a key moment in a scene or improvisation. This can
Role on the Wall
Role on the wall is a collaborative activity for developing thoughts and ideas about a character.
Soundscapes
The group is conducted to create a sound picture or “soundscape” using their voices and bodies.
Storytelling
Storytelling is one of the simplest and perhaps most compelling forms of dramatic and imaginative activity. A good place to
Teacher in Role
Teacher in role (TiR) is an invaluable technique for shaping the dramatic process and developing students’ learning. Simply put, the
Thought Tracking
A way to speak aloud the thoughts or feelings of a character in a freeze-frame.
Whoosh! Bringing Stories Alive through Drama
An interactive technique in which participants become characters and objects in a story as it is told.
