F A Qs

Will I have to do any acting?

No. That is why the professional role player is there. In role play, you are yourself, with your genuine responses to the situation you have either been given in advance, or brief the role player about. You never have to be a tomato or be someone you aren’t. You are you in a new (or possibly recurring) situation. So far as the scenarios are concerned, you will watch them and discuss the issues and responses arising; then have an opportunity to take part in exercises arising from the scenario which may involve taking on a role (as you) with your own responses. The role player is there to put you at your ease and facilitate the drama-centred session so that it is natural and enjoyable, as well as a strong learning experience.

What’s the difference between role play and scenarios?

We define role play as the one-to-one interaction between a professional role player on the one hand, and our participant or learner on the other. Our scenarios, on the other hand, are all carefully scripted pieces based on research into our client organisation and written, rehearsed and delivered by our professional teams for a specific purpose and to cover specific issues in a human and direct way. The issues that are thrown up by the scenario then become part of the learning process.

Are role plays scripted? Who writes them?

No. Role plays have a brief, sometimes written, sometimes delivered verbally. A brief is a template or guidance to both the professional role player and the participant, giving character information and history, the reason for the meeting and the wants of each party, and possible areas of conflict or difficulty. Sometimes the role player will have guidance about levels of response to various stimuli from the participant. This kind of brief is usually given out in advance and can be written by the client, a consultancy, or the drama-centred learning organisation. The written brief is used in assessment situations as well as development programmes. There is also role play surgery briefing, which happens on the day and guidance is given by the participant verbally to the role player, and the role player will ask the participant questions about the situation, the character, the background, and then start the conversation or role play with the participant. This is a very good method for rehearsing real conversations that are imminent for the participant and possibly tricky.
(See our articles on role play in Resources).

You’re actors; how do you know anything about my business?

At AIM Associates Drama, all our Associates have a professional acting background which gives them the basic professional skills they need. Then on top of that they are tried and tested role players with a great deal of experience and that gives them the expertise in dealing with behavioural issues. The key to success in our work is the base of acting skills and vast role play experience to provide behavioural insight, depth and skill in helping the participant try out different options of behaviour if the responses they get are not helpful to them. The substantive nature of your business is less important; we deal with how people talk to each other, how they understand (or not) each other’s perspective and how work suffers as a result of poor communication. Our expertise lies in practical behavioural understanding, insight and the ability to offer our participants the chance to try again and to respond truthfully and flexibly for a real learning experience. It just so happens we also have in our team in addition to their professional acting and role play work, the added skills of law, economics, medicine, science, teaching, financial services, for an extra dimension, however, when the client starts talking in medical or legal jargon, it’s a sure sign they’re avoiding the communication issue! Where we need specialist subject-matter facilitators, we bring them in.

Why should we choose AIM Associates Drama?

AIM Associates Drama has been been established for 12 years with a huge client range and issue-range and a wide associate base. We have an award under our belt for the most creative and innovative training programme from The Lawyer magazine. We don’t do off-the-shelf programmes. Using our drama frameworks, everything is tailor-made for each client.