When I (Dave) was really young, I used to fly in my dreams. I’d run along the ground, take a leap, and soar into the air, arms spread wide, gliding effortlessly over the land. It was exhilarating. Upon waking, I would feel content and pleased that I’d flown— it always seemed so real. This world of fantasy was within my reach, and it didn’t matter that it was only a dream because, for me, I had flown.

I don’t fly any more— more’s the pity— but doing drama, teaching drama, and writing drama activities have a similar effect on me. Everything to do with drama is a happy place— for Jules too. 

Both Jules and I find an escape in drama— for us, it’s a way of leaving the stresses, strains, and worries of everyday life behind.  We’ve talked about drama and joy in a previous blog (and we are always singing the praises of drama’s educational benefits), but there is more… drama can be an antidote to anxiety, a balm for low mood, a salve for worry.

Drama allows children to metaphorically escape the classroom, leaving their angst behind, a temporary reprieve from daily stresses. They can momentarily become someone else, visit an imaginary place, interact with illusory scenarios, engage with their limitless imagination, and drench themselves in fantasy. And when they are fully immersed, having abandoned the restrictions of the ‘real world’, the drama has a calming, healing, and uplifting effect. It can be completely freeing. 

After experiencing this sensory escape through role play and the like, we return to the ‘real world’, refreshed and perhaps more likely to be able to face whatever is coming our way.

We have little academic research to support our claims here. Just a lifetime of participating in drama ourselves, of observing children during drama activities, and writing activities with drama at the centre. We have seen what it does for the children, for us, and for colleagues. Drama, if used well, can be an elixir and a place of solace.