Hot Seating

Azrina
Khavi
Nini
Alif
Iqraam

What is Hot
Seating?
A character is questioned by the
group about his or her background,
behaviour and motivation.
The method may be used for
developing a role in the drama
lesson or rehearsals, or analysing
a play post-performance.
Even done without preparation, it
is an excellent way of fleshing out
a character. Characters may be
hot-seated individually, in pairs or
small groups.
The technique is additionally
useful for developing questioning

How To Do It?
The traditional approach is for the
pupil playing the character to sit on
a chair in front of the group
(arranged in a semi-circle),
although characters may be hotseated in pairs or groups.
It is helpful if the teacher takes on
the role of facilitator to guide the
questioning in constructive
directions.
To help students begin you can try
hot-seating children in pairs (e.g. a
pair of street urchins) or in groups
(e.g. environmental protesters,
refugees).

 If the background of the character is

familiar to the pupils, then it may not
be necessary for those playing the
characters to do much preparation.
Although some roles obviously require
research you may be surprised at how
much detail students can add from
their own imaginations.
It is important that the rest of the group
are primed to ask pertinent questions.
Dont get bogged down in facts during
hot seating, but concentrate on
personal feelings and observations
instead.

Examples
Characters to hot seat include
famous people such as
Florence Nightingale, President
Kennedy or Tutankhamen as
well as ordinary people like a
chimney sweep, a Roman
soldier or a Saxon farmer.
Students can be asked to
research historical characters
with opposing points of view
and then be hot-seated by the
class as part of a debate

Video

Tableau
Azrina
Khavi
Nini
Alif
Iqraam

What is Tableau?
In a tableau, participants makestill
imageswith their bodies to represent
a scene.
A tableau can be used to quickly
establish a scene that involves a
large number of characters.
Because there is no movement, a
tableau is easier to manage than a
whole-group improvisation yet can
easily lead into extended drama
activities.
It can be used to explore a particular
moment in a story or drama, or to
replicate a photograph or artwork for

How
DoYou
You Do
Do It?
How
Do
It?
Students stand in a circle, or around the performance
area and a theme is given.
One by one, they step into the space and establish
still images in relation to one another until the
tableau is complete.
At this point,thought trackingcan be used to find out
more about each of the characters.
The scene can also be brought to life through
improvisation, with the teacher clapping her hands to
signal the beginning and end of the action.

 Once students are familiar with the technique,

they can also work in small groups on different
aspects of a theme.
The class can discuss each groups tableau in turn,
mentioning what they can see happening, what
they would like to know more about and what they
think could happen next.
Afterwards, each group can comment on how
these viewpoints compared with their initial
intentions.

Examples
Examples
Pupils look at a
painting or
illustration of a
historical scene that
shows a selection of
different characters.
They bring it to life
by representing the
characters with their
bodies.

Examples
Examples
Current Affairs/History:
Small groups are given
different newspaper reports
of the same incident (or
differing accounts of an
historical event) and asked
to produce as accurate a
tableau as possible.
This can be used to
examine how events may
be communicated
differently according to the
observers point of view.

Examples
Examples
For a more light-hearted
activity, groups can
devise a tableau on a
specific theme, such as
epic books or movies,
famous locations or
well-known historical
events.
The other students then
try and guess what the
tableau represents.

Video

Video