Notes on teaching drama and improvisation — scripts, scenes, assessment and the practicalities of the room.https://spontar.com/enhttps://spontar.com/en/blog/off-book-without-the-dread/https://spontar.com/en/blog/off-book-without-the-dread/The off-book date is where many rehearsal processes stall. Taking the script away in stages, and learning cues as well as lines, makes it a step instead of a cliff.Tue, 13 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://spontar.com/en/blog/prompting-without-shaming/https://spontar.com/en/blog/prompting-without-shaming/How a line is asked for and given shapes how a cast feels about drying. A short protocol, agreed in advance, takes the embarrassment out of it.Tue, 13 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://spontar.com/en/blog/running-a-class-show-night/https://spontar.com/en/blog/running-a-class-show-night/A class show is a small production with a running order, time calls and a host. The practical parts — the order, the calls, the jam and the end time — decide whether the evening feels like theatre.Tue, 13 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://spontar.com/en/blog/yes-and-as-habit/https://spontar.com/en/blog/yes-and-as-habit/The most-quoted principle in improvisation is also the most misapplied. What it is actually describing, and how to build it without ever saying it.Sun, 30 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://spontar.com/en/blog/why-students-never-see-their-scores/https://spontar.com/en/blog/why-students-never-see-their-scores/A feature we will not build, and the reasoning — which is about what improvisation trains, not about data protection.Wed, 26 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://spontar.com/en/blog/running-a-session-with-no-internet/https://spontar.com/en/blog/running-a-session-with-no-internet/Rehearsal rooms have bad wifi. What that actually breaks, what it does not, and how to plan a lesson that does not depend on it.Sat, 22 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://spontar.com/en/blog/warm-ups-that-are-not-warm-ups/https://spontar.com/en/blog/warm-ups-that-are-not-warm-ups/Most drama warm-ups train something specific and are taught as though they train enthusiasm. What each of the common ones is actually for.Tue, 18 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://spontar.com/en/blog/mixed-age-groups/https://spontar.com/en/blog/mixed-age-groups/A thirteen-year-old and a seventeen-year-old in the same scene are not doing the same exercise. What actually differs, and how to cast around it.Fri, 14 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://spontar.com/en/blog/endings/https://spontar.com/en/blog/endings/Most improvised scenes die rather than end. Where the ending actually lives, and four ways to give a class one without taking the scene away from them.Mon, 10 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://spontar.com/en/blog/ncas-four-processes/https://spontar.com/en/blog/ncas-four-processes/Creating, Performing, Responding, Connecting. What each one means for a teacher planning an improvisation unit, and the one that usually gets skipped.Thu, 06 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://spontar.com/en/blog/ao1-and-ao4-in-devising/https://spontar.com/en/blog/ao1-and-ao4-in-devising/The assessment objectives are short, and the mark schemes built on them are not. What examiners are looking for in the devising component, in plain terms.Sun, 02 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://spontar.com/en/blog/epa-anforderungsbereiche/https://spontar.com/en/blog/epa-anforderungsbereiche/The KMK's three achievement levels were written for every subject, which makes them abstract in ours. What each one looks like in a practical drama lesson.Wed, 29 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://spontar.com/en/blog/recording-without-ranking/https://spontar.com/en/blog/recording-without-ranking/Notes that help you next Tuesday look nothing like notes that produce a grade. What to write down during a session, and what to leave out.Sat, 25 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://spontar.com/en/blog/the-devising-log/https://spontar.com/en/blog/the-devising-log/Most devising logs are written the night before and read like it. What the document is actually assessing, and what makes one worth reading.Tue, 21 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://spontar.com/en/blog/what-you-can-honestly-assess/https://spontar.com/en/blog/what-you-can-honestly-assess/Some things in an improvised scene are observable and defensible. Others are guesses wearing a mark scheme. Knowing which is which makes moderation survivable.Fri, 17 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://spontar.com/en/blog/phones-in-the-drama-room/https://spontar.com/en/blog/phones-in-the-drama-room/The argument for keeping them out is a good one. What changes when a phone stops being a distraction and becomes an instrument, and how to tell which you have.Mon, 13 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://spontar.com/en/blog/the-student-who-will-not-go-on/https://spontar.com/en/blog/the-student-who-will-not-go-on/Refusal in a drama room is usually about being watched, not about the exercise. Four things that help, and two that make it permanent.Thu, 09 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://spontar.com/en/blog/first-three-lessons/https://spontar.com/en/blog/first-three-lessons/What to do before you ask anyone to make something up in front of their classmates, and why the order matters more than the exercises.Sun, 05 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://spontar.com/en/blog/the-joker-position/https://spontar.com/en/blog/the-joker-position/Boal invented a role that is neither performer nor audience. It is also the most accurate description of what a drama teacher does during an exercise.Wed, 01 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://spontar.com/en/blog/point-of-concentration/https://spontar.com/en/blog/point-of-concentration/Spolin's central idea is that a student focused on a game acts naturally. The hard part is choosing the one thing, and resisting the urge to add a second.Sat, 27 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://spontar.com/en/blog/blocking-is-information/https://spontar.com/en/blog/blocking-is-information/A student who refuses an offer is telling you something about the exercise, not about themselves. What the refusal usually means, and what to change.Tue, 23 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://spontar.com/en/blog/status-teaching-the-flip/https://spontar.com/en/blog/status-teaching-the-flip/Students asked to 'play high status' produce a caricature. Students asked to change status halfway through produce a scene. The difference is where you put the instruction.Fri, 19 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://spontar.com/en/blog/side-coaching-without-interrupting/https://spontar.com/en/blog/side-coaching-without-interrupting/Spolin's most useful technique is also the hardest to deliver: a note to one player, mid-scene, that nobody else hears. What works in a room, and what does not.Mon, 15 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT