Drama conventions are vital everyday tools that we as teachers must work into our drama lessons. They enable us to improve drama skills such as story telling and character development along with giving children the chance to become involved in their own learning.
There is a list of drama conventions that we can adopt within our drama lessons including: Conscience Alley, Freeze Frame, Hot-seating, Improvisation, Mantle-of-the-expert, Mime, Sculpting, Soundscape, Still Image, Teacher in Role, Thought Tracking and Visualisation. I am going to focus on three.
Miming is a drama convention that has been used for decades. There are many types of mime but the main being when an actor tells a story without the use of voice. When adopting this drama convention actors make use of gestures, movements and facial expressions. There are several games and exercises revolving around miming which we as teachers can include in our drama lessons. An example of one is the game Chain Mime. In order to play this the class must be split into groups of 4 or 5. They will then be numbered and every pupil apart from the number ones will leave the classroom. Whilst they are away the teacher can then give the number ones an action to mime. Once they are happy with the mime they have to act out number twos will be called in to watch and guess what their classmate is doing and then be able to recreate it. The chain will continue as number threes enter the room and watch. Talking is not allowed and each pupil must mime exactly what they have observed. The mime could be anything from riding a horse to eating hot food! There are no limits! This is a great drama convention to use within lessons as it enables pupils to work together without using their voices.
Freeze Frame is another drama convention that can be used within lessons. With freeze frame the action in a play or particular scene is frozen as if it was a still image. This can be done at a specific time within the scene in order to enhance it and draw the audiences attention to the importance of this moment. This also allows the audience time to appreciate what is going on within the play.A freeze frame can be used to portray things like a memory, a dream or a wish in addition to also displaying emotions such as happiness, anger or jealousy.
A final drama convention that teachers can use is Soundscape. This is when a series of sounds are made to enhance an action or a mood within a drama. Children can be split into groups and one person can be assigned the role of a conductor and the rest of the group may act as the orchestra. The group can create a picture of different sounds relating to a specific setting, action or mood for example cooking in a kitchen or being in a jungle. The conductor can control the pace, pitch and how loud the group are by simple arm movements.
