In hot seating, one performer sits in a chair as a character — from a story, a devised scene, a photograph, history — and the rest of the group interviews them. The seated actor answers in role, inventing whatever the source material does not supply, but never contradicting what it does.
It looks like a spotlight on one person. It is not. Hot seating is really a whole-class exercise in role play, because the questions do as much of the work as the answers.
How to run it
- Choose the character and the moment — when in the story are we speaking to them? Before the decision, or after it has changed everything?
- Give the class two minutes to prepare questions, alone or in pairs.
- Seat the actor. From the first question, everyone is inside the fiction.
- Keep it short — five or six minutes. Stop while it is still alive.
- Debrief out of role: what did we learn that the story never told us?
Interviewer skills matter as much as the actor
A flat question lets the character hide. A digging question makes them decide who they are, in front of everyone.
| Flat | Digging |
|---|---|
| How old are you? | What were you like at my age? |
| Are you sad about what happened? | What do you wish you had said that day? |
| Do you like your sister? | Why did you let her take the blame? |
| What happens next? | What are you most afraid happens next? |
Digging questions are built on the story’s evidence, which makes preparing them close reading in disguise — the same skill you bring to Scene Study from a Story. Watch for Status while you listen, too: who speaks carefully to the seated character, and who challenges them?
Answering as someone else, at speed, without a script, is the most direct empathy practice drama offers. You cannot answer well without working out how the character sees the world — and that working-out tends to follow you back out of the chair.
The pitfall: playing it for laughs
The moment the seated actor winks at the audience, the fiction dies, and it is very hard to restart. Protect the actor by staying in role as questioners — this convention only works inside the agreement we made about taking each other’s work seriously.
Hot seating pairs naturally with Thought Tracking — track the thoughts first, then seat the character and ask about the gap you heard.
Curriculum connection
A1.3
use role play to explore, develop, and represent themes, ideas, characters, feelings, and beliefs in producing drama works (e.g., use improvisation exercises to explore how they might think, feel, and act in specific real-life situations; write in role as a character who is reflecting on the people, events, and relationships affected by a personal, social, or environmental issue)
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B2.2
explain how dramatic exploration can contribute to personal growth and self-understanding (e.g., explain how attributes such as self-awareness, empathy, confidence, and a willingness to take risks are developed and strengthened through drama activities; discuss the importance of the spoken word and rap to give voice to some cultures)
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