Summary This is the first part of an article on role-play as an instructional medium of relevance to physiotherapy education. As such, it provides a broad background to the technique which is then extended in a more practical and applied way in the second part. More specifically, part 1 locates role-play within the context of experiential learning and the enhancement of the interpersonal competence of students. The concept of role is examined together with the origins of role-play. A rationale is developed for its utilisation in the preparation of physiotherapists by outlining a range of appropriate educational objectives. These have implications for the selection of role-play procedures to implement and some of the major variants of the technique are accordingly described and evaluated.