Hot-seating is a drama strategy where a student takes on the role of a character and answers questions from others, who act as an audience or interviewers. It’s a simple but powerful way to explore motivation, backstory, and personality in the safety of a fictional context. The technique encourages quick thinking, empathy, and deeper understanding of character while also developing performance and improvisation skills.
What it is
In hot-seating, one student sits in the ‘hot-seat’ as a chosen character while the rest of the group prepare to ask questions. The student answers in role, staying true to the character’s background, relationships, and circumstances. This encourages deeper thinking about motivation, choices, and how the character might react in different situations. It’s also great for helping with characterisation, such as how the character talks, sits and moves.
It can be used in drama lessons, English classes, or even across the curriculum when exploring texts and historical figures. Hot-seating works with individuals, pairs, or small groups and helps students reflect on themes, events, and character dynamics while practising communication and teamwork.
How it works
Seat the group in a semi-circle with one chair placed a little apart; this is the hot-seat. Choose or assign one student to sit in the seat and become a character from a play, novel, or devised piece. The student then answers questions only in role, drawing on evidence from the text or their own imagination.
The rest of the group take turns asking open questions, either as themselves or in role as other characters. To support younger or less experienced groups, the teacher can model the first question or provide a list of prompts to guide the discussion.
- Questions can cover the character’s past, relationships, dilemmas, secrets, or future plans
- For younger or less experienced groups, the teacher can model questions or provide prompts
- Hot-seating can be used before starting a text, during exploration, or after performance to compare how understanding of the character has developed
- Formats can vary from individual interviews to panels or pairs
Example prompts:
“Lady Macbeth, what went through your mind when Duncan arrived at the castle?”
“Romeo, do you really believe in fate?”
“Inspector, why did you target the Birlings in An Inspector Calls?”
When to use it
Hot-seating is flexible and can be used in:
- Exploring new characters in a play, story, or novel to make them more relatable
- Devising original scenes and fleshing out backstories
- Building confidence before improvisation or performance
- Examining turning points or dilemmas in a script
- Supporting characterisation – facial expressions, movement, voice and accent
- Generating group dialogue and analysis, particularly in preparation for written work
It also works well as a cross-curricular strategy, particularly in English for deepening text analysis or in History for exploring perspectives of real people.
Teaching tips
- Set clear ground rules about listening and taking turns
- Encourage students to stay in character and answer as honestly as possible from that perspective
- Model sample questions to get things started
- Create a supportive atmosphere – remind the student it’s fine to say “I don’t know” or to ask for help
- Vary the format – rotate students quickly, or hot-seat one character with the whole group questioning them
- Follow up with a reflection so students can articulate what they learned about the character or story
Extension ideas
- Run a press conference, with several characters being questioned at once
- Hot-seat the playwright or author, e.g. Arthur Miller on his intentions in The Crucible
- Explore a character at a different point in time – before the play begins, or many years later
- Create a rolling hot-seat, where each student answers one or two questions before handing over to another
- Record the hot-seating activity for students to review and use as part of revision or assessment
Free download: Hot-seating technique sheet
If you want a handy guide for your classroom, I’ve put together a free printable technique sheet.
Download my FREE printable: Drama Techniques 4: Hot-seating
This A4 resource is colourful and packed with advice on making the most of hot-seating, whether you’re just starting out or wanting to add extra layers to your lessons.
More drama techniques worth exploring:
Drama techniques 3: Role on the wall
