In today's blog, Head of Expressive Arts and Drama Teacher, Nausicaa Giavarra, shares how you can support emotional wellbeing for Mental Health Awareness Week (May 11-17).
'Although class time is limited, I still find another me in drama class. Without the burden of studying, I just concentrate on the performance and discover the pure fun of acting.'
– Drama Student
Students of all ages, and in particular teenagers, may experience depression, stress, anxiety, loneliness, and feel awkward or misunderstood by adults and their peers. Numerous studies show that drama can help students enhance their awareness of their own (and others') emotions, fostering emotional clarity that supports wellbeing and mental health.
If you're looking to help your students face challenges and foster emotional resilience, here are a couple of strategies you could use...
While devising a piece with students, we always stress the importance of sending a message to the audience as a starting point. Students are asked to reflect on what is important to them and what they believe would have a positive impact on their intended audience. This creates a safe space, a filter where they can share real stories and feelings through fictional characters.
Following this process, we had an iGCSE Drama group that wrote a vignette play about toxic masculinity, exploring genre-pressure episodes they had seen. Throughout this process, the group reflected on the topic, enhancing their awareness and developing vital tools to cope with similar situations. Performing the play for their peers had a similarly positive impact: it created an opportunity for reflection and discussion within the larger community.
We found that our students felt more at ease discussing a topic presented through a play, rather than through an assembly or a lesson. It made all the difference to talk about these topics through fictional characters rather than hypothetical or real-life scenarios.
The choice of texts you offer for students to watch and perform can play a crucial role in their growth and wellbeing.
For instance, you can introduce dramatic exercises such as thought tracking, thought tunnels, and hot seating while working on short plays about bullying, feeling different, or body image. These character exercises allow students to distance themselves from their personal problems and worries, while still connecting with them through the characters' emotional journeys.
'With each performance, I learned something totally new, like how to feel vulnerable, how to take risks, and how, through acting as these characters, I'm able to peel back all the layers of myself.'
– Drama Student
Watching meaningful plays can also be an effective strategy for fostering wellbeing. For instance, we went to Shanghai to watch the play Overload by Sotteraneo, which explores how social media affects our ability to focus for long periods. After the performance, we organised a talk with the actors, which made the experience even more memorable, fostering digital literacy and mindful engagement.
Forum Theatre (an interactive acting technique developed by Augusto Boal) is a great way to give your students the opportunity to discuss social issues and to offer various points of view, possible solutions, and interpretations of feelings and problems. Through this technique, you can empower your students to take action and reduce the stigma around specific topics. You may choose to dedicate a unit to this particular form with a spotlight on any related issue (for example, family pressures).
Ask your students to improvise a scene in which a parent complains about their child's academic results. At any time, another student can call 'freeze', replace one of the actors on stage, and take the conversation in a different direction.
Creating and wearing a theatre mask, or using a puppet, can also reduce stress, giving students a creative, hands-on activity to help externalise, visualise, and process any complex emotions. A unit on neutral mask, commedia dell'arte, or puppets can be very beneficial in allowing students to express themselves while feeling safe.
These topics also pair well with improvisation, which, at its heart, is an art of collaboration and position thinking. With its 'Yes, and' approach, what might have been considered a mistake instead becomes a new opportunity. Through your lessons, you can promote this same approach in all areas of your students' lives.
Fun, energetic drama games such as Zombies, Splat, Wuah, Walk-Stop-Clap-Jump, and Frog in the Pond, are all good examples of activities that can distract students from their worries, as they all require them to focus their bodies and minds on something practical, achievable, and fun.
These enjoyable activities trigger the release of dopamine, a neurotransmitter linked to positive mood, motivation, and satisfaction. Such activities can significantly boost wellbeing by improving mood, reducing stress, increasing motivation, fostering social connections, and reinforcing positive behaviours for a positive life.
In my own school, we have noticed through these strategies that students who arrive at their drama lessons tired and demotivated usually leave laughing and chatting with their peers.
Remember: drama is a powerful tool when it comes to supporting your students' mental health. Through activities that promote projection, externalisation, and catharsis, you can enable your class to explore and process complex emotions within a safe environment.
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