Theatre Techniques

Student in role 01:12

Student in role - or SIRs for short - are students engaged in the drama as characters.  

Teacher in role  should view the SIRs as the characters themselves rather than students in the class.

Teacher in role 01:37

The teacher in role, or TIR works side by side with the SIRs.  The TIR shapes the story and develops the students’ learning process throughout the drama.  The teacher is not a director of the enacted story.  Rather,  the teacher becomes a character in that story in order to facilitate the story development with the SIRs and scaffold their understanding. 

The TIR may be that of a leader, an equal status role or a low-status role. The TIR is looking to take on the most appropriate character to best support the students’ learning.  

Hot Seating 02:25

A character is selected to sit in a chair and to answer questions posed by the class about his background, behaviour, intentions and motivation.  This can help the hot seated person to understand their own character better.  Conversely,  this can also help the students to understand the hot seated character better. 

More than one character can be hotseated.  Two or three characters could be hotseated and the students may ask questions about the relationships between the characters. Questions can explore more deeply the dynamics among the characters.

The method is often used to develop a role in the drama lesson or rehearsals.  It can also be a tool to understand the context of the play, the dilemma to be solved or background information to the story itself.

Mantle of the Expert 03:52

Teachers or students assume a fictional role that allows them to become “experts” about what is happening in the story.  For instance,  if Little Red Hen knows how to make bread in The Little Red Hen story,  an expert on sourdough bread making could be brought in to show the steps in making bread.  The expert doesn’t have to be a character but can be, depending on the story or available resources. 

Also, a group of  actors could become an expert team having to research a particular topic. 

The remaining actors can ask them questions about what they know about the topic. In our example the ‘expert’ students can respond to questions about bread-making.

The information becomes the schema and provides the context for the story to be enacted.

Tableau 05:11

A tableau is a frozen scene comprised of actors in character who are in positions that reflect their understanding of a particular action, event, or concept.  

If the concept is abstract,  the tableau attempts to make the concept concrete.  The tableau seeks to reveal story meanings.

The teacher can help to focus the observations of a tableau by asking students probing questions about the tableau scene -   “What do we see?” or “to whom shall we speak?” or even,  “what question shall we ask?”

Developing tableaux allows the students to develop their skills in presenting performances and watching dramatic performances.  

This is a low risk activity for teachers and students.

Note:  The tableau activity needs to be modified for deaf persons.  Once the tableau has been created,  a snapshot could be made and the students could study the snapshot and proceed to ask questions about the frozen scene. 

Thought Tracking 07:00

When the tableau is created and the students are frozen into their position,  the teacher taps a student actor and asks them to give a word, phrase, or sound describing how they are feeling in the particular moment or situation. 

Questions should be directed at each of the tableau’s SIRs to get a 360-degree perspective. Questions include:  “Tell me what you are thinking”,  “What are your concerns?” 

One tip:  teachers should rest their hand on the student until the student is finished speaking.  This is a technique more suitable for hearing persons.  Thought tracking for deaf persons should follow the instructions provided by the tableau section (see previous section).