Purpose – In an era of social and ecological crises new ways of teaching are being called for. This paper aims to explore applied drama as a teaching resource in learning about sustainability and future scenarios. The imaginative aspects of drama are explored as a possibility to find hopefulness and support transformative learning.

Design/methodology/approach – Drama workshops were carried out in a higher education course and with young adults in a youth project. The participants were interviewed after the drama interventions and the transcripts were analysed from the perspective of transformative learning, to understand how drama methods can contribute to the field.

Findings – The results show drama to be a supportive resource in the first stage of transformative learning, in this material in relation to learning about sustainability issues and the emotions that this generates. Drama is also shown to be a possible spark to transformative learning in that the teaching method is unfamiliar to many participants and can initially be uncomfortable and disorienting. Additionally, drama is shown to have relevance to embodied cognition. Finally, the idea of drama enabling role cognition is introduced. Role cognition is suggested to be a part of drama that reaches beyond the embodied aspects and comes out of the specific element of taking on another role in drama.

Research limitations/implications – The study is limited to the experiences of drama as expressed by participants in interviews. To further understand the implications of drama in higher education and in environment and sustainability teaching, research that observes what is happening in the interactions should be carried out.

Practical implications – This study points to the possibility of drama to support transformative learning processes and be a practical resource in working with embodied cognition and role cognition.

Originality/value – This study meets the need of developing teaching methods that are explorative and give room to embodied and emotional dimensions of environment and sustainability teaching.