Here are 50 fabulous Epic Theatre drama activities for students and teachers. These activities are designed to pick up and run with on the go. Most of them do not require any pre-planning. Enjoy!
Epic Theatre Drama Activities
Breaking the Fourth Wall
Purpose
To engage students in Brecht’s practice of breaking the fourth wall to remind the audience that they are watching a play, encouraging them to think critically rather than becoming emotionally absorbed.
Activity
Have students perform a short, emotional scene. Mid-performance, one actor will step out of character to address the audience directly with a commentary on the action, a personal anecdote, or a question. Reflect on how this changes the audience’s engagement with the performance.
Exaggeration and Caricature
Purpose
To use exaggeration and caricature to critique societal norms and behaviours, making the familiar strange and prompting audience reflection.
Activity
Students will create characters or scenes that employ exaggerated physical or vocal traits, absurd situations, or caricatured representations of social types, exploring the impact of these elements on the message conveyed.
Historification (Historicisation)
Purpose
To explore the Epic Theatre convention of historification, which places contemporary issues in historical or fictional contexts to allow for critical examination.
Activity
Divide students into groups and assign each a current event or issue. Each group will create a short scene that reimagines their assigned contemporary issue in a historical or fictional setting. Encourage them to use exaggerated costumes, settings, or accents to highlight the “alienation” effect. Share and discuss the scenes, focusing on how the historification process impacts the audience’s understanding and critique of the issue.
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Multi-Roling
Purpose
To demonstrate the fluidity of identity and challenge traditional character development through the technique of multi-roling.
Activity
Assign students to perform a scene where they must rapidly switch between two or more characters, making clear physical and vocal distinctions between each role. Discuss how this technique affects their understanding of character and narrative.
Verfremdungseffekt (Distancing Effect)
Purpose
To help students understand Brecht’s technique of making the familiar strange in order to prompt critical questioning.
Activity
Ask students to enact a simple, everyday scene (e.g., a family dinner) in a conventional, realistic manner. Then, have them re-enact the scene incorporating techniques such as speaking stage directions aloud, directly addressing the audience, or using placards to introduce characters or summarize upcoming action. Discuss the difference in audience engagement and perception between the two performances.
Narration and Direct Address
Purpose
To experiment with narrative techniques that distance the audience from emotional manipulation and encourage a more objective reception of the play.
Activity
Students will create a scene incorporating a narrator who describes the action and characters’ thoughts, occasionally interacting with the actors or directly addressing the audience to offer analysis or commentary.
Gestus (“Guest-oos”)
Purpose
To understand and apply Brecht’s concept of Gestus, a clear expression of social relationships through a character’s gestures, movements, and speech.
Activity
In groups, students will create tableaux vivants (living pictures) that capture a moment of social or political commentary. Each tableau should convey a clear message or critique through the physical positioning and expressions of the actors, without dialogue.
Projection and Titles
Purpose
To use projections and titles as a means of providing context, commentary, or counterpoint to the onstage action, reinforcing the Epic Theatre’s aim of engaging the audience’s critical faculties.
Activity
Students will integrate projections or placards into a scene they have developed, using them to offer background information, present questions, or highlight contradictions within the narrative.
Use of Technology
Purpose
To explore how modern technology can be used in Epic Theatre to create distancing effects or provide commentary.
Activity
Employ technology (e.g., live video feeds, social media platforms, interactive apps) in a performance piece to alter or comment on the action, investigating how these tools can enhance the play’s critical engagement with its themes.
Critical Debates
Purpose
To stimulate critical thinking and discussion about the ethical and philosophical questions raised by a play or performance.
Activity
After a performance, facilitate a debate or discussion among students about the themes, decisions made by characters, or the implications of the play’s message, encouraging diverse perspectives and critical analysis.
Audience Participation
Purpose
To blur the lines between performers and spectators, inviting the audience to influence or become part of the performance.
Activity
Devise a scene or interactive segment where audience members are asked to make decisions that affect the course of the performance, discuss their reactions, or even step into roles within the piece.
Minimalist Scenery
Purpose
To experiment with minimalist scenery to focus the audience’s attention on the message and performance rather than the spectacle.
Activity
Students will design and perform a scene using only essential props and minimal set pieces, discussing how the absence of elaborate scenery influences the audience’s focus and interpretation.
Flashbacks and Montages
Purpose
To utilize non-linear storytelling techniques, such as flashbacks and montages, to dissect and examine events from multiple perspectives, highlighting the complexity of issues.
Activity
In groups, students will create a narrative that is told out of chronological order or through a series of short, juxtaposed scenes that illuminate different facets of a central theme or event.
Exaggeration and Caricature
Purpose
To use exaggeration and caricature to critique societal norms and behaviours, making the familiar strange and prompting audience reflection.
Activity
Students will create characters or scenes that employ exaggerated physical or vocal traits, absurd situations, or caricatured representations of social types, exploring the impact of these elements on the message conveyed.
Role Reversal
Purpose
To challenge stereotypes and explore the complexity of social roles and identities through the technique of role reversal.
Activity
Have students perform a scene where characters switch social roles, genders, or power positions, reflecting afterward on how this reversal affects their understanding of the characters and the societal commentary of the scene.
Physical Theatre
Purpose
To incorporate elements of physical theatre to express social and political concepts through bodily movement and non-verbal communication.
Activity
Create a piece of physical theatre that communicates a political message or social commentary without using dialogue, focusing on movement, space, and physical interaction to convey meaning.
Epic Narration in Solo Performance
Purpose
To explore the use of epic narration within the context of a solo performance, emphasizing the narrator’s role in guiding the audience’s critical perspective.
Activity
Students individually prepare a monologue that incorporates epic narration, directly addressing the audience to offer commentary on the action or themes. This should include shifts in perspective, tone, or style to highlight the narrator’s critical distance from the narrative.
Creating Political Cartoons
Purpose
To engage with visual satire as a means of commentary, mirroring Epic Theatre’s goal of critiquing society through performance.
Activity
Students create political cartoons that encapsulate a theme or message of a play they are studying or creating. These cartoons should then be presented and explained, discussing how visual satire can be integrated into or inspire theatrical performance.
Epic Theatre Scavenger Hunt
Purpose
To encourage active exploration and application of Epic Theatre conventions in a playful, interactive format.
Activity
Create a scavenger hunt where students must find examples of Epic Theatre conventions (e.g., signs, songs, direct addresses) in their surroundings or in media. This could be extended to finding real-life examples of societal issues that could be addressed through Epic Theatre.
Social Media as Epic Theatre
Purpose
To examine how social media platforms can serve as modern venues for Epic Theatre, using their reach to comment on societal issues.
Activity
Students create social media campaigns that use Epic Theatre techniques to raise awareness about a social or political issue. This could involve creating posts that break the fourth wall, use verfremdungseffekt, or employ gestus.
Epic Theatre Costume Swap
Purpose
To explore how costume influences character perception and the storytelling process, particularly in the context of Epic Theatre’s emphasis on social roles.
Activity
During a scene rehearsal, have students swap costumes with another character, then perform the scene. Discuss how costume changes affect the audience’s perception of the character and the scene’s dynamics.
Brechtian Soundscapes
Purpose
To investigate how sound and music can be used non-traditionally to create a Brechtian effect, enhancing the distancing effect and emphasizing the play’s message.
Activity
In groups, students will create soundscapes using instruments, objects, or digital tools that comment on the action or themes of a scene. These soundscapes should interrupt, contrast with, or otherwise highlight the artificiality of the theatrical experience.
Deconstructing Classic Texts
Purpose
To apply Epic Theatre techniques to classic texts, thereby uncovering new meanings and perspectives.
Activity
Students select a classic play and reinterpret a scene or extract using Epic Theatre conventions (such as direct address, historification, or gestus). This activity aims to demonstrate how traditional narratives can be transformed to highlight contemporary issues or critique societal norms.
Tableau Sequences
Purpose
To use the tableau technique to explore and communicate complex social relationships and themes without dialogue.
Activity
Students will create a series of tableaus that tell a story or explore a theme, focusing on the use of body language, facial expressions, and spatial relationships to convey meaning. After presenting, they should discuss the effectiveness of this visual storytelling method in engaging the audience’s critical faculties.
Transforming News into Performance
Purpose
To develop students’ ability to translate current events into Epic Theatre pieces, emphasizing the form’s focus on social critique.
Activity
Students select a current news article and develop a short performance piece inspired by it, using Epic Theatre conventions to highlight and critique the underlying social or political issues.
Character Hot Seating
Purpose
To delve deeper into character motivation and societal implications by placing characters in a “hot seat” for interrogation by the audience or classmates.
Activity
After performing a scene, have one actor remain in character on stage while the audience asks questions. This technique encourages critical engagement with the characters and themes presented in the performance.
Epic Theatre Puppetry
Purpose
To explore the use of puppetry in Epic Theatre as a means of creating distancing effects and highlighting thematic elements.
Activity
Students design and use puppets to perform a short scene, focusing on how puppetry can abstract characters and situations, encouraging the audience to engage more critically with the content.
Epic Theatre Prop Challenge
Purpose
To explore the significance of props in conveying thematic messages or contributing to the alienation effect.
Activity
Students are given a common object and tasked with integrating it into a performance in a way that highlights its symbolic meaning or uses it to create a distancing effect.
The Chorus in Epic Theatre
Purpose
To re-envision the classical Greek chorus within the context of Epic Theatre, using it as a tool for commentary and reflection.
Activity
Students create a chorus that comments on the action of a scene or the themes of a play, either through spoken text, movement, or song. The chorus should serve to interrupt the narrative flow and engage the audience in critical reflection.
Epic Theatre Costume Design
Purpose
To investigate how costume can be used in Epic Theatre to symbolize character traits, social status, or political affiliations, thereby contributing to the play’s critical commentary.
Activity
Students design costumes that exaggerate or abstract elements of the character’s identity, discussing how these choices impact the audience’s perception and the overall message of the piece.
Found Space Performance
Purpose
To examine how non-traditional performance spaces can influence the reception of Epic Theatre pieces and enhance the distancing effect.
Activity
Students devise and perform a short piece of theatre in a non-traditional space (e.g., a hallway, outdoors, in a stairwell), considering how the space’s characteristics and the audience’s relationship to it can be used to highlight the play’s themes.
Reimagining Endings
Purpose
To encourage critical engagement with narrative structure by exploring alternative outcomes to established narratives.
Activity
Students select a well-known story or play and devise an alternative ending that challenges the original message or themes. This activity fosters a deeper understanding of how narrative constructs shape audience expectations and beliefs.
Reverse Role Play
Purpose
To challenge preconceived notions of character and narrative by having students reverse the roles and perspectives within a scene.
Activity
Select a scene where power dynamics are evident. Have students perform the scene in its original form, then switch roles, with each actor taking on the opposite character’s role. Discuss how reversing roles alters the perception of power and character motivation within the narrative.
Distancing Effect in Everyday Contexts
Purpose
To apply the concept of the Verfremdungseffekt or distancing effect to everyday situations, encouraging students to see the familiar in unfamiliar ways.
Activity
Ask students to recreate a mundane activity (e.g., making a cup of tea) but perform it in a way that makes the action strange or alien. This could involve breaking down the action into mechanical steps, narrating the activity in the third person, or using props in unconventional ways.
Mock Trial
Purpose
To critically analyze the motivations and actions of characters within a play through the format of a mock trial.
Activity
Students stage a mock trial for a character from a play they are studying or creating, with other students taking on roles such as defence, prosecution, and witness. This activity encourages deep engagement with character motivations and societal norms.
Political Improvisation
Purpose
To develop students’ ability to think on their feet while embedding political and social commentary into their performances.
Activity
Students participate in improvisation exercises focused on current events or social issues, using Epic Theatre techniques to create distancing effects and prompt audience reflection. This activity highlights the relevance of theatre as a form of social critique.
Directorial Interpretation Challenge
Purpose
To explore the impact of directorial choices on the presentation and interpretation of a text, focusing on Epic Theatre techniques.
Activity
Students are given the same short script but must direct it in different styles, one of which must incorporate Epic Theatre conventions. Compare and discuss how directorial decisions affect the audience’s understanding and engagement with the performance.
Interactive Storyboarding
Purpose
To use storyboarding as a collaborative tool for visualizing and planning scenes, emphasizing the narrative structure and thematic elements of Epic Theatre.
Activity
In groups, students create storyboards for a scene or sequence that incorporates Epic Theatre conventions. This visual planning process encourages consideration of how elements like gestus, projections, and direct address will be integrated into the performance.
Juxtaposition Through Scene Mashups
Purpose
To highlight societal contradictions by juxtaposing scenes with contrasting themes or messages.
Activity
Students select two scenes with opposing themes or messages and mash them together into a single performance, using Epic Theatre techniques to highlight the societal contradictions between them.
Epic Theatre Debate Club
Purpose
To stimulate critical thinking and articulate argumentation on themes and messages within Epic Theatre pieces.
Activity
Form a debate club that focuses on issues raised by Epic Theatre productions. Assign students different perspectives to defend or critique, using scenes or themes from Epic Theatre as debate topics. This encourages engagement with the material on a deep analytical level.
Comparative Scene Study
Purpose
To critically compare the portrayal of similar themes or situations in different plays, including at least one example of Epic Theatre.
Activity
Students analyze and present scenes from different plays that tackle similar themes, discussing how the use of Epic Theatre conventions influences the audience’s understanding and engagement with the theme compared to more traditional narrative approaches.
Epic Theatre Time Capsule
Purpose
To capture the essence of current societal issues through the creation of an Epic Theatre-inspired time capsule.
Activity
Students create a time capsule that includes scripts, props, costumes, and other materials related to a performance focused on a contemporary issue. The capsule should be accompanied by a letter explaining how the contents relate to Epic Theatre and the societal issue it addresses.
Epic Theatre and Digital Media
Purpose
To explore the intersection of Epic Theatre and digital media, examining how modern technologies can enhance the distancing effect and convey political messages.
Activity
Students create a digital media project (e.g., a video, podcast, or interactive website) that incorporates Epic Theatre conventions, focusing on how these digital formats can engage audiences in critical reflection on contemporary issues.
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