How To Use Maths In A Drama Class

As a drama educator, people often make assumptions about the skills we have: they may think that we are extroverted or ‘dramatic’, full of our own importance, or constantly pretending to be an orange! Now that may be true for many of us (oranges are great after all), but not many would associate drama with mathematics. And yet as a teacher whose spent many years teaching both drama AND maths, I’m here to show you how to use maths in a drama class, to the benefit of you and your students.

We often champion creativity, emotional expression, and collaborative spirit within our classrooms. and sometimes this can be at the expense of the other ‘core’ subjects that we may feel have all the attention in schools and policy making. Certainly, if you read my article about “Why drama should be included in school curricula” you will know my view on this.

But we know that drama fits with many subjects: English, history and art are just some that are obvious. But there is also a surprising synergy between the seemingly disparate worlds of drama and mathematics. While it might sound unconventional, integrating mathematical concepts into your drama curriculum can unlock new levels of understanding, precision, and even creativity in your students’ theatrical endeavours. And using drama in your maths class can have lots of benefits, but that will be the subject of another post!

This article aims to provide practical advice and tips on how to weave mathematical thinking into your drama lessons, demonstrating that numbers and narratives can be powerful partners.

But first, here’s a bit of fun – a meme I created about this subject!

Why maths and drama? The unexpected benefits

Before diving into the “how,” let’s explore the “why”. Here are some reasons that maths can be useful in a drama class:

• Developing spatial awareness and blocking: Maths provides the foundation for understanding stage geography. Concepts like distance, angles, and symmetry become tangible when students are tasked with blocking scenes effectively. Stage directions are based upon a maths concept of a compass replacing north, south, east and west, with downstage, stage right, upstage and stage left.
• Understanding rhythm and timing: Musicality is inherent in drama. Counting beats, understanding tempo changes, and analysing rhythmic patterns in dialogue or movement sequences are fundamentally mathematical in nature. Our calls to the stage are based on our understanding of time, and the cues we use for lighting and sound need to have timings associated with them.
• Enhancing ensemble work: Dividing stage space equally, timing entrances and exits precisely, and coordinating group movements require mathematical thinking and foster a sense of shared responsibility.
• Analysing text and structure: Play scripts often have underlying structures. Understanding the structure of a 3-act play versus a 5-act play, act and scene divisions, the pacing of dialogue, and the duration of specific moments can be approached through a mathematical lens.
• Problem-solving: Applying mathematical logic to stage management challenges, prop management, or even character analysis encourages problem-solving skills. Trying to fit the set you hired onto the area of stage you actually have often needs a mathematical solution.
• Real-world connections: Theatre production involves budgeting, scheduling, and technical design – all areas heavily reliant on mathematical principles. Introducing these concepts in the classroom provides valuable real-world connections.

Practical tips and activities for integration:

Here are some concrete ways to bring maths into your drama classroom:

1. Blocking and stage geometry:

• “Measure the moment”: Give students a scene and ask them to block it using specific measurements. For example, “Actor A must be 3 meters downstage centre, and Actor B must be 2 meters to their left.” This encourages precise spatial awareness.
• Geometric blocking: Explore different geometric shapes (triangles, circles, lines) for group formations and discuss how these shapes can convey different emotions or relationships. What do the patterns made suggest to an audience and why?
• Angles in proprioception: Discuss how the angle of an actor’s body relative to the audience or another character affects their impact. Use mathematical terms (such as right angles, 60 degrees, parallel, perpendicular) to explore different angles and their effects.
• Scale models: Have students create scale models of stage sets and plan their blocking using accurate measurements. This reinforces understanding of scale and proportion and is crucial for students who major in stage design or use puppets.

The production of “War Horse” at the National Theatre, London, used life-sized puppet horses (and other animals). Photo by Eva Rinaldi – War Horse, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=27616343

2. Rhythm, timing, and movement:

• Choreographed sequences: Incorporate simple choreographed movements where students count steps and beats, like in a dance. Explore different time signatures and how they influence the feel of the movement and how the addition of the music or beats creates a stylised movement that can display meaning.
• Dialogue rhythms: Analyse the rhythm and pace of dialogue. Count syllables or words per line to understand how the playwright creates tension or humour. This is important in understanding specifics of poetry, such as iambic pentameter.
• Timing entrances and exits: Practice precise entrances and exits by counting down from a specific number. This emphasises the importance of timing in performance and is often critical for special effects of dramatic moments in the play. It also has a safety aspect when working with quick set changes, where large pieces of set are being moved to precise timings.
• Sound design: Discuss how the duration and frequency of sound effects can impact a scene. Explore concepts like intervals and patterns in sound. Use the correct scientific and maths terms here.

3. Ensemble work and division:

• Dividing stage space: When working with large groups, task students with dividing the stage into equal or proportional sections for different groups or actions. What happens if the space is not divided equally? What is the impact on the audience of different space divisions?
• Shared lines and ratios: If a group has shared lines, such as standing on a diagonal when using theatre in the round, explore different ways to divide the lines based on the number of actors or the desired emphasis. Consider the impact of having actors stand in different patterns and lines. What does that mean?
• Resource allocation: This is crucial for the management of theatre and productions – funding, budgeting and a mathematical business approach is needed.
• Use simulated production scenarios: Have students budget imaginary resources (time, props, etc.) and make decisions based on mathematical constraints and real-life examples – e.g. how much funding do we actually have?

4. Text analysis and structure:

• Act and scene breakdown: Visually represent the structure of a play using charts or graphs to understand the progression of the narrative.
• Dialogue length analysis: Compare the length of different characters’ speeches and discuss how this might reflect their power or importance in the scene. How many times have we argued that it’s not about the number of lines they have, but the impact these lines have in the play?!
• Pacing graphs: Have students create graphs to represent the emotional intensity or pace of a scene over time. Ask them to consider this on a physical level and try to represent this with their bodies or match their vocal dynamic to the graph.

5. Technical theatre connections:

• Lighting angles and coverage: Discuss the angles and spread of lighting fixtures and how they illuminate the stage. Look at the differences created when a figure is lit from different angles, such as top lighting, up-lighting or side-lighting. Why is this so?
• Sound levels and decibels: Introduce the concept of sound levels and how they can be adjusted to create different effects. Talk about the timings needed for fade-ins and fade-outs.
• Costume measurements and proportions: Discuss how measurements and proportions are crucial in costume design and that it is important to get the correct fit for costumes, which require accurate measurements.

Tips for Successful Integration:

• Start small and be playful: Don’t try to overhaul your entire curriculum at once. We still want to offer a drama class, but with maths elements within it. Begin with simple activities that naturally lend themselves to mathematical thinking. Make it fun and engaging!
• Connect to the narrative: Always link the mathematical concepts back to the dramatic context. How does understanding angles help the audience understand the character’s intention? How does precise timing build tension?
• Emphasise collaboration and experimentation: Encourage students to work together to solve mathematical challenges within a dramatic context and not to be afraid to try things out to see what works best.
• Use visual aids: Diagrams, charts, and physical demonstrations can make abstract mathematical concepts more accessible. In the same way that I would suggest using drama to sometimes make maths concepts more understandable or memorable, the two are complementary and can work together.
• Be flexible and adaptable: Not every play or activity will lend itself equally to mathematical integration, and you shouldn’t try to force something that doesn’t naturally fit. But try to think outside the box for the opportunities that do present themselves. Be prepared to adapt your approach based on the specific needs of your students and the material.
• Highlight real-world relevance: Emphasise how these mathematical skills are transferable to various aspects of theatre production and even everyday life. We often advocate drama as a real-world skill, but maths is one too! (Or one, two…!!)

By embracing the unexpected partnership between maths and drama, we can equip our students with a more holistic understanding of theatrical practice and encourage valuable critical thinking and problem-solving skills to provide a holistic approach to education.

So, the next time you’re blocking a scene or analysing a script, consider how the power of numbers can add a new dimension to your students’ dramatic journey. You might be surprised by the creative and insightful results!

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