Be not afraid of greatness

How difficult is it for each of us to admit we are good at something? How often do you take a compliment and really appreciate it or do you become bashful and say, "no it's not true" or "it wasnt much"?

Drama instils confidence through role play and improvisation using different situations and scenarios.

A role play centres on putting your self into different situations, as a different character or as yourself and allows you to  act out the situation and change things. It can prepare you for something such as an interview with your boss or talking to your mum and dad or it can help work through some of the emotions involved in situations.

Using role play you can see yourself through someone else's eyes and you can also see yourself as you want to be, acting as your ideal. Role play can have layer upon layer of complexity and can really uncover how you see yourself as a person and how you want to be. What often happens is that people then find that most of the things they want to be and most of the things they feel they need to be they already have. It is a joy to work with someone as they realise that they are great already.

Working together in a group and taking risks in performance gives you confidence and can enable real compliments to be taken on board. It is up to the person running the workshop or lesson to instil confidence and make the space safe.  People can hold back but if they feel safe will start to get involved and join in, some dont say anything for some time  but gain confidence from being involved in something creative and good. Confidence can also be gained from working with a group of people on ideas in a protected environment where nothing is expected apart from bringing your own unique contribution and where you are not being assessed or critiqued.  Time and again we then see that people will start to put themselves forward and join in once they feel safe and part of something creative.

Improvisation is of course not just about an audience. In a drama club for example we build our skills and create confidence in young people from 11-14 and the audience is the people in the club so that it is safe and secure. We are not practicing for a show or assessment and we are usually being creative for a known audience of people we work with.

As an example of how this works I work with a 14 year old girl who had very little confidence and was struggling with all her academic work and every aspect of her communication with people. Working one to one and at drama club she is becoming a different person with increased confidence and her parents say that she has an opinion which she is now offering up voluntarily and even walks and speaks differently. A lot of what we have done is to incorporate her within a kind and protective group and allow her to be shy and also to join in without commenting on whether or not she is doing the right thing or how many marks she has got oout of ten.

Within the context of a drama club over time emergent themes recur. For example young people will become aware of their sexuality and gender differences between 11 and 14 and drama is a nurturing place for them to explore the world through improvisation and role play. It can stop the posturing and they can become somebody who can forget that and look at other factors and meet people from the other sex in a protected environment.

So be not afraid of greatness and learn to take compliments and understand your personal strengths within a safe environment, that of a drama group.