Drama

Drama Conventions

FREEZES

An image of a role, moment or an idea is represented. Children use their bodies to create a likeness. This drama convention can also be known as a ‘frozen moment’, ‘still picture’, ‘freeze-frame’ or ‘still image’. This is a very easy convention to use. It encourages children to express their ideas and opinions simply or to show a particular scene from a story or drama they have explored.

TIR (Teacher in Role)

Assuming a role, major or minor, the teacher takes part in a drama so as to lead, build belief or tension, control, ask questions or extend ideas from ‘inside’ the drama. The participation can be high, medium or low status. The children are also often in role in this convention and, for primary aged children, a teacher working alongside them in role can often help them to remain in role themselves.

The teacher may use a representative prop or item of clothing to signify being in or out of role, but this isn’t always essential.

THOUGHT-TRACKING

Individual children, in role, speak their inner thoughts. The teacher freezes the drama and taps a chosen character on the shoulder to indicate that they should speak their thoughts or feelings within the drama. Thought-tracking slows the action down by allowing it to pause, enabling the children to reflect on events and establishes what the characters are thinking or feeling at a specific moment in the drama - which may or may not reflect what they have been saying out loud. This can be quite a difficult convention to do with younger children.

WHOLE-GROUP ROLE-PLAY

All of the class are in role at the same time, as required by a particular dramatic context, such as travellers on an aeroplane or inhabitants of a lost city. This convention can be the most demanding of all the conventions. If the focus is lost, the teacher must pause the developing drama and briefly discuss any difficulties before re-engaging participants.

Mime

The use of only physical movement, gesture and actions to express an idea, role or a dramatized scene. Mime may be accompanied by percussion, sound, nonsense vocabulary or music.

Sound collage

Various sounds created by the children, either vocally or with instruments, performed to create the atmosphere of the place or environment where the drama is happening. The sounds can be voices, spoken words or singing put together, performed live or pre-recorded.

The PPDS have listed the drama conventions under
Drama Strategies for Primary Schools click to have a look.