Drama Games for Classrooms and Workshops

101 great drama games for use in any classroom or workshop setting. Part of the Nick Hern Books Drama Games series.

A dip-in, flick-through, quick-fire resource book, packed with 101 lively drama games suitable for players of all ages, with many appropriate for children from age 6 upwards. Whilst aimed primarily at school, youth theatre and community groups, they are equally fun – and instructional – for adults to play in workshop or rehearsal settings.

‘An extraordinarily helpful compendium… a valuable help to directors, teachers and workshop leaders’ Max Stafford-Clark, from his Foreword

‘Small but perfectly formed, this is an essential purchase for classroom teachers and workshop leaders alike‘ — Total Theatre Magazine

‘A truly amazing little book. Don’t let its size fool you; it’s packed full of good things. Whether you work with adults, tinies or those in between, buy this book and banish those awful moments when you know you know a game to use but just can’t think of it. It’ll be in here, or one very like it‘ — ReviewsGate.com

‘An impressive collection of drama games that theatre teachers and directors will find useful in class as well as in rehearsal… innovative, engaging and fun‘ — Creative Drama

Author Biography

Jessica Swale is a writer and director, and the Artistic Director of Red Handed Theatre Company.

Her first play, Blue Stockings, premiered at Shakespeare’s Globe and won her a nomination for Most Promising Playwright in the Evening Standard Awards 2013. Other plays include Nell Gwynn and Thomas Tallis (both Shakespeare’s Globe); All’s Will That Ends Will (Bremer Shakespeare Company); adaptations of Far from the Madding Crowd, Sense and Sensibility (Watermill Theatre), The Secret Garden (Grosvenor Park) and The Jungle Book (UK tour 2017 & 2018); and an original play, The Mission, about illegal adoptions in the 1920s.

She has directed a number of award-winning productions for Red Handed, which is dedicated to creating new work and rediscovering forgotten plays. Recent productions include The Rivals starring Celia Imrie, the London premiere of Palace of the End by Judith Thompson, and the first major revival of Hannah Cowley’s The Belle’s Stratagem, which won her a nomination for Best Director at the Evening Standard Awards.

Other direction includes Bedlam (Shakespeare’s Globe); Sleuth (Watermill); Fallen Angels (Salisbury Playhouse); Winter (TNL, Canada); The Busy Body, Someone to Watch Over Me (Southwark), The School for Scandal (Park Theatre); and productions at RADA and LAMDA. She was Max Stafford-Clark’s Associate Director at Out of Joint from 2007–2010.

She is an associate artist with Youth Bridge Global, an international NGO which uses theatre as a tool for promoting social change in war-torn and developing nations.

She is the author of A Year of Creative Thinking: 366 Daily Inspirations for Writers and Artists (Nick Hern Books, 2025) and has written three titles in Nick Hern Books’ popular Drama Games series: Drama Games for Classrooms and Workshops, Drama Games for Devising, and Drama Games for Rehearsals.

Author photo by Michael Wharley