Play Is the Thing: Why Games Are So Much More Than Fun in Youth Theatre

If you’ve ever walked into a youth theatre rehearsal and found a group of children pretending to be jellyfish, shouting nonsensical words at one another or collapsing into fits of laughter, you might be forgiven for wondering what on earth is going on.

After all, there are lines to memorise, songs to rehearse, choreography to perfect and performances to prepare for. Surely spending twenty minutes playing games is taking valuable time away from the actual work?

Except, here’s the thing.

The games are the work.

After fifteen years of working with young performers across theatrical and educational settings, I’ve learned that some of the most valuable teaching happens before anyone opens a script.

Something that has always struck me is what former students remember about their time in youth theatre. They might recall the character they played, the costume they wore or the excitement of taking their final bow, but ask them to recite their lines ten years later and chances are they’ll struggle.

What they do remember are the games.

They remember the ridiculous things they were encouraged to do, the laughter, the friendships formed during warm-ups and the moments they discovered they were capable of something they never thought possible.

They remember being given permission to play.

As practitioners, it’s easy to become consumed by the demands of a production. Rehearsal time is limited, expectations are high and there’s always something that needs polishing. The temptation to skip the games and get straight into the script can be enormous, particularly as opening night approaches.

Yet those activities develop the very skills we expect young performers to demonstrate onstage.

Take Zip, Zap, Boing, for example. To an outsider, it might look like children standing in a circle making strange noises. To a drama practitioner, it’s an exercise in concentration, reaction time, eye contact, communication and listening.

Every participant must remain alert, recognise when the focus shifts towards them and respond appropriately. These are precisely the skills required when performing. An actor who isn’t listening will miss cues, while one who is too focused on remembering their next line may forget to engage with the scene around them.

Tell children they’re going to spend fifteen minutes developing their concentration and communication skills, and you might be met with groans. Tell them they’re going to play a game and suddenly they’re desperate to begin.

The learning objectives haven’t changed. The approach has.

Games also teach young people something that can be surprisingly difficult to learn: how to make mistakes.

Children face considerable pressure to get things right, whether academically or socially. By their teenage years, the fear of looking foolish can become a significant barrier to participation.

Then they enter a rehearsal room where they’re encouraged to pretend to be a washing machine, invent a ridiculous character or improvise a scene without knowing what happens next.

Of course they’re going to feel self-conscious!

But when everyone participates, including the practitioner, that fear begins to diminish. The confident children make mistakes, quieter members discover unexpected talents and teenagers who initially refuse to join in because it’s embarrassing gradually find themselves volunteering.

They discover that getting something wrong doesn’t have to be humiliating. Sometimes it’s the funniest part of the session.

That willingness to experiment translates directly into performance. A forgotten line or missed cue becomes far less frightening when you’ve learned to improvise, respond to others and recover from the unexpected.

Quite possibly, those skills were first developed while pretending to be a chicken.

Beyond performance, games are also remarkable social tools. Young people from different schools, backgrounds and age groups find common ground through shared experiences, often forming friendships that continue long after they leave youth theatre.

It’s difficult to remain strangers after spending ten minutes trying to untangle yourselves from a human knot or inventing an absurd improvisation together.

These activities also teach the foundations of ensemble work. Children learn to cooperate, compromise, listen and recognise that everyone has something to contribute. They discover when to lead, when to follow and when to give somebody else an opportunity.

For children who struggle with conventional social interactions, structured games can offer a more comfortable way to connect. Of course, not every activity suits every participant. Good practice means adapting games to accommodate different physical, sensory and communication needs rather than expecting every child to participate in exactly the same way.

The objective is to create an environment where young people feel comfortable contributing, not pressured into performing confidence they haven’t yet developed.

It’s also worth remembering that most children who attend youth theatre won’t become professional actors, and that’s absolutely fine.

Our responsibility isn’t simply to prepare young people for the stage. It’s to equip them with skills they can carry into adulthood. Improvisation encourages adaptability, ensemble work develops cooperation and creative challenges build confidence in unfamiliar situations.

Those skills remain useful long after the costumes have been packed away.

None of this means games should become an excuse for unstructured sessions. As practitioners, we should understand why we’re introducing an activity and what we hope participants will gain from it. A concentration game might prepare a distracted group for rehearsal, while improvisation might help performers explore character relationships.

Sometimes, however, the purpose is simply enjoyment.

Children already spend much of their lives navigating timetables, assessments and expectations. Youth theatre can offer something increasingly valuable: an opportunity to explore their imaginations without worrying about getting everything right.

We shouldn’t underestimate that, nor should we lose our own willingness to participate. Young people respond to practitioners who are enthusiastic, approachable and prepared to look just as ridiculous as everyone else.

After fifteen years, some of my fondest memories of working in youth theatre have nothing to do with the finished productions. They’re the spectacularly unsuccessful improvisations, the games that became traditions and the laughter that filled rehearsal rooms.

Of course, I take pride in polished performances, confident actors and audiences who leave the theatre smiling. But the success of youth theatre cannot be measured by the final production alone.

It also lies in the friendships formed, the confidence gained and the experiences that stay with young people long after they’ve forgotten their lines.

Shakespeare famously wrote, “The play’s the thing,” in Hamlet. Admittedly, he was talking about something rather different, but the phrase feels particularly appropriate here.

So the next time you’re tempted to skip the warm-up because there’s too much rehearsing to do, consider what your young performers might be missing.

The lines will eventually be forgotten. The blocking will fade, the costumes will be packed away and the set will be dismantled.

But the friendships, laughter and lessons learned through play may last a lifetime.

The play’s the thing, after all.

Sometimes the most valuable thing we can give a young person isn’t a script, a spotlight or a standing ovation. It’s permission to play.

Millie Hardy-Ashton
Creator of Drama Skills for Real Life; Drama Practitioner and Youth Theatre Educator