ABSTRACT

Drama, the art form of social encounters, offers children the chance to engage creatively in fictional-world-making play. Such play, whether in the role-play area or in classroom drama, involves making and shaping worlds, investigating issues within them and returning to the real world with more understanding and insight. The key features of creative literacy practice are evident in improvisational drama: it fosters play, collaborative engagement and reflection, is often based on a powerful text and harnesses children’s curiosity and agency. Neelands (2011), who conceptualises drama as creative learning, explains that improvisation is itself a creative activity, because it requires teachers and learners to imagine themselves and the world differently, making spontaneous decisions and responding to the unexpected.