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
Bring freeze frames to life in just a few moments.
Conscience Alley
One person walks down an alleyway made by the group and listens to thoughts or advice.
Cross-Cutting
Cross-cutting (also called split-screen) is a drama technique borrowed from the world of film editing, where two scenes are intercut
Developing Freeze Frames
How to use drama techniques such as freeze frames across the curriculum.
Flashbacks and Flash Forwards
Performers in a scene are asked to improvise scenes which take place seconds, minutes, days or years before or after
Forum Theatre
A technique pioneered by Brazilian radical Augusto Boal. A play or scene, usually indicating some kind of oppression, is shown
Freeze Frames
The use of body-shapes and postures to represent characters or objects.
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
In Image Theatre, still images are used to explore abstract concepts such as relationships and emotions, as well as realistic situations.
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
Teaching Gold Mining in New Zealand through Drama
These five incredibly simple methods for drama teaching inspired a teacher in New Zealand to bring to life her social
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.
