Drama Strategy: Drama for Thinking

While some Drama strategies are clearly connected with thinking, such as thought tracking and conscience alley, all strategies are thinking frames, offering a way of sca olding and sharing thinking during the drama-making process. Teachers can select and adapt any strategy with the specific intention of stimulating different types of thinking.

Types and patterns of thinking

Students often get stuck in repeated patterns of thinking. When teachers change instructions and adapt strategies, they can stimulate different and deeper thinking – always setting up drama strategies the same way is likely to reinforce the same types and patterns of student thinking.

Strategies can help us build, slow down, hold still and/or dismantle significant moments. This gives opportunity and time for analysis and reflection.

Conscience Alley

The teacher could say, ‘You must justify whatever you say to the character as he passes by. Use the word, ‘because’.’ As Macbeth passes on his way to murder Duncan, one student might say, ‘Kill Duncan because he is old and will die soon anyway.’ Another might say, ‘You must not kill Duncan because he is your guest.’

After the murder, the student can be asked to generate some anxious thoughts Macbeth might have, such as ‘What if someone saw me?’ This is generating ‘possibility’ thinking.

Collective role

The class stands in a circle with the character in the centre. In turn they may enter, join the character and speak a thought (as that character). They may be instructed to connect physically with the character or just to stand nearby. This can lead into a thought collage.

Thought collage

Standing close together with eyes closed, students are invited randomly to speak aloud a character's thought (or a fragment of one). They speak the thought, when, how and as often as they wish. The voiced thoughts should reach a crescendo and end in silence. The result can be suggestive of a character's mind, overloaded with thoughts, (some recurring). Hearing others' thoughts triggers further thinking.

Proxemics

The class stand in a circle with a character in the centre. In turn, they may enter and position themselves physically and meaningfully in relation to the character. Space signifies meaning. Their positioning must be justified, for example a World War II conscientious objector is in the centre: someone might stand alongside him and say, ‘I am standing here because I respect the fact that you cannot kill anyone.’ Someone els2019e might turn their back on him and say ‘I am standing here because you are a coward and disgust me.’ Others might take less polarised positions. A range of thoughts are being shared, physically, visually and verbally.

Passing thoughts

The class stands in a circle, with a character in the centre. Anyone can cross the circle, passing the character. As they pass, they say what they are thinking as the character or about the character.

Thought-tracking

We can freeze any moment, ask a character what they are thinking and analyse their responses. Thought-tracking can reveal discrepancies between thoughts and speech, for example when Goneril and Regan speak about their ‘love’ of Lear, what are they truly thinking?

Any scene can be played first with speech and then replayed, with characters' thoughts heard instead. Their thoughts can be spoken by those in the scene or those watching.

Thought-walk

Characters walk solo, speaking their inner thoughts (an unheard monologue). The thoughts can be heard if the teacher freezes the action and walks by them, telling the character to speak their thoughts aloud.

Hot-seating

Asking good questions is a skill. Teachers can explain and require higher order questioning, before students hot-seat characters. Asking pairs of students to come up with one good question presents opportunities for inter-thinking and can improve questions.

Small group play-making

Devising a group scene requires higher order thinking. Content and context must be understood, ideas generated, analysed, evaluated and applied. Devising also requires problem solving, decision making, synthesising, remembering and critically reevaluating. These are important life skills.

Patrice Baldwin is a freelance Drama for Learning specialist, consultant and author. She was a chair of National Drama (2004–2014) and president of the International Drama Theatre and Education Association (2010–13). She was a headteacher, LA Arts Development and School Improvement adviser, Ofsted inspector and a BBC Education scriptwriter and series consultant. She is a national curriculum and Drama editorial expert, consulted with by national agencies and now owns ‘Inspiring Professional Development and School Improvement’.

Website: www.patricebaldwin.com

Drama blog: www.patricebaldwin.me

Email: patrice@patricebaldwin.com