Rôle-play

Adolescents have a basic need to criticise and to rôle-play (especially in peer-group safety) into what can be.

In this way they are able to maintain a psychological distance from their jobs and to rôle-play, thereby preserving the capacity to develop central life interests and personal identities outside rather than within work.

Here, however, the task is looking at pupils using each other as sources or to rôle-play historical figures.

As the courses became more creative, however, the trainer became progressively dissatisfied with these set rôle-plays.

Though he is appalled by what he is doing, Sizwe feels the force of Buntu’s argument, especially when he resorts to rôle-play to image for this reluctant actor the new ‘Robert’ in the line on pay-day at Feltex, or walking into Sales House to buy a new suit, or becoming a respected member of his local church.

In rôle-plays, what really matters is that you communicate the messages so that a French person would understand them.

It follows from this that theatrical improvisation is open-ended. It would be wrong to infer from this, however, that an improvisation is beyond any control. On the contrary, an improvisation (like a rôle-play of children for that matter) needs to be framed very carefully.