Drama: Roleplay

Role playing is a common drama activity which of course falls under the element of role/character. Role plays can be both rehearsed and improvised. Improvised role play involves very little preparation where students are given only a few basic facts about the setting or the characters. A rehearsed role-play involves careful planning where they rehearse a scene in role but is created without a script. This is likely the most commonly used in schools.

Improvised role-play should be centered around a conflict and resolving that conflict. This gives the role-play a focus so the students don't get too off track. The characters in this scene should want something but can't achieve it without engaging in a conflict usually with another character. One of the golden rules of improvisation is to always go along with whatever new information the other actor is offer you and your character. Avoid saying no to a character or changing an already established fact. If you do say no never just say no instead try using "no, but."

During my time in our drama class I was able to present a lesson on role-playing as a cross curricular activity. You can find the slides to it below. One thing that I want to emphasize from the presentation is the difference between role-play games and simulation games. Both are often used in classes but simulation games are more commonly used outside of drama classes. For this reason many teachers would be more comfortable running simulation games as there are more resources across curriculum for it. In this though I argue that there are common traits in role-playing games and simulation games and that both types have things the other does not do. I therefore think that for cross curricular approaches combining aspects of both role-play and simulation works best.