Drama and Art in education

1. Drama in
Education
Techniques
Julie Meighan

2. Action Narration
 A scene is performed with participants using narration
to describe their actions around individual spoken lines
of dialogue.

3. Mantle of the expert
 A specific form of role play in which the leader
endows the group with special knowledge thus
increasing the participants’ involvement and
providing them with power and responsibility.

4. Conscience Alley
 Structured like a Gauntlet, but the group plays the
character’s thoughts, and voices are lower in volume.
Word or phrase is spoken as the character passes by
individuals in the group.

5. Creating a place
 With only bodies and movement, and sometimes sound,
participants create a setting (like a stormy ocean, a
participant’s bedroom, etc.).

6. Dreamscape
 Like a soundscape, but the sounds and words are
focused on dream images, sounds, words, word phrases.
Statements and sounds are orchestrated and will
overlap at times. Teacher or one/two group members
may orchestrate the Dreamscape.

7. Enactment
 Small group creation of a scenario on any subject
usually improvisational and based on a specific theme or
conflict. The scene might also reveal an event in the
past, as a flashback or depict future consequences of
choices or action from the drama (flash-forward).
Scenes may be given a specific form, as in selection of
media format such as talk shows, straight news
programmes, and live interviews.

8. Gauntlet
 Two rows of people facing each other. Make sure there
is space between the two rows for someone to walk. As
one character walks, the characters in the line do an
action; speak a word, sentence, or phrase to the
character walking by. There will be some overlapping of
spoken words.

9. Group sculpture
 An individual or members of the group model volunteers
into a shape using as many members of the group
and/or objects necessary, to reflect and encapsulate a
particular aspect of the theme or issue under scrutiny.

10. Forum theatre
 A situation is enacted. Participants were given the
opportunity to jump and change the action thus
exploring different attitudes towards the event and
promoting discussion and negotiation.

11. Hot-seating
 Three seats are set out, and three individuals play the same
character, the rest of the participants question the character to get
to know them better, their point of view, background, and views on
the other characters and/or problems in the story.

12. Interview
 One party is given a response from another (usually in
role) through appropriate questioning, in order to reveal
information, attitudes or motives.

13. Narration
 This can be done in or out of the dramatic context. A
way to provide a narrative link, atmosphere, initiate a
drama, move the action on, create tension.

14. Narrative Pantomime
 Teacher narrates a scene while the group
pantomime/mimes the action/story.

15. Pantomime/Mime
 Action and story telling without words. May be done in
normal speed, slow motion, fast, and with one or more
people.

16. Perceive and reflect
 Group discussion and share about what was seen, what was learned
and what did we like

17. Role Play
 The entire group takes on specific roles, designed by
the leader, in order to explore the situation of drama.
These roles can be defined through occupation (family
counsellors), relationships (members of a family crisis)
or attitude (political protestors). The group can assume
roles of the same definition or a combination of roles
may be used, depending on the needs of the workshops.

18. Role on the Wall
 Participants are writing on a paper outline figure of
character first impressions and information they learn
about the character as they discover the character in
the story or play. Participants are seeing that the better
we know someone, the better we understand them, and
they are seeing a character transformed.

19. Soundscape
 Sound, song, words, and phrases, either pre-recorded or
performed live, are used to create the mood and
atmosphere of a character’s lived experience. The
group are encouraged to think of the Soundscape as
having a musical shape to it and to weave the various
words, statements and sounds together, orchestrating
them as precisely as possible. Teacher may be the
conductor or a participant.

20. Tableau/Still image
 Frozen action, a picture, book illustration, frozen time
image.

21. Teacher-in-Role
 Teacher takes on a role as part of the story for
participants to interact with them inside the drama.

22. Thought tracking
 Usually used in conjunction with still image work where
the leader steps into the image to ask the characters
their innermost thoughts and feelings.