In a year when we are thinking about Coronavirus COVID-19 Pandemic, we have become conscious of social distancing and of teaching in virtual space. Audiences are not yet able to be in the same physical space of theatres. Classrooms have been shut down or moved on line. Yet we still think of space as one of the Elements of Drama. For example, the Australian Curriculum the Arts (ACARA) includes Space and Time in the elements of Drama:

The elements of drama work dynamically together to create and focus dramatic action and dramatic meaning. Drama is conceived, organised, and shaped by aspects of and combinations of role, character and relationships, situation, voice and movement, space and time, focus, tension, language, ideas and dramatic meaning, mood and atmosphere and symbol.
https://australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/the-arts/drama/structure/

But, trying to pin down how we use the term space in drama can be tricky. At one level, it’s obvious that when we talk about space we mean the physical immersions of areas in which we work, the height, width, depth within which we move. This is physical space in which drama happens.

Within this physical performance space we can make choices about how we use space to create dramatic action and show relationships between characters.

In this scene from a drama performance in Nanjing, November 2020, students show the action of a group of soldiers, tied together in a forest during the Sino-Japanese War. The action of being physically and symbolically tied together amplifies the relationships between the individual soldiers.

You can see how this is developed in the video of the unfolding dramatic action.

This is embodied space – using our bodies to show space.

In drama we can also show social space between characters to tell the story. Placing actors close to each other, or far apart can provide audiences with ways of reading the social relationships. (the term used is proxemics)

We can also talk about emotional space between characters. When characters are intensely involved with each other sharing dependency and status – who has high status and importance and who is subservient.

In this example also from students in China, the relative heights of the actors, and the eyeliner focus of the actors, tells us as audience about the interconnections between these characters.

Space is also a factor in movement. Laban identified that movement is a combination of Weight, Space, Time and Energy in movement. How we move through space shows character and dramatic action. In the video example from Nanjing, the struggle of the actors is shown how they are constrained in this moment in the story. In drama actors are able to move through space, directly or indirectly; quickly or slowly; with increasing or decreasing tempo; they can be still in the space. There can be contrast between how characters move through space to show the differences between them – an aged or older character moving more slowly, with effort and deliberation contrasted with a younger character moving with freedom and flow.

One aspect of being in lockdown COVID-19 spaces of learning is how we include and explore the element of space in our lessons.

How do we think about space in drama in our changed worlds?

Screen Shot 2020-11-19 at 12.46.28 PM.png

It is one thing to talk or write about space but that is not the same as experiencing the use of space in drama. Drama learning must be physical and practical and embodied. Our challenge in these times is to make space the focus of the student learning.