ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses Dorothy Heathcote's observation that 'emotion is at the heart of drama experience but it is tempered with thought and planning'. Here she appears to suggest quite emphatically that any drama worth doing must provide some kind of emotional engagement and development for the participating students. Recognising that the acquisition of high levels of social and emotional skills can have a critical impact on student performance, future responsible citizenship, as well as business and work ethics, throws the efficacy of drama in this respect into even sharper relief. Drama is first and foremost a social art form which can provide not only endless opportunities for social interaction, but which can also lead to deeper understanding through working with a broad range of finely nuanced emotional experiences made manifest during interpersonal dramatic encounters. Context, role and frame represent a kind of 'gearbox' for the teacher, which she can use to make all kinds of adjustments to the drama.
