Drama Tuesday - A Muse of Fire … 1991
/How our schools are being transformed by "the brightest heaven of invention"
Not so long ago,. there was little room in the school curriculum for drama and theatre studies apart from the occasional enthusiastic rendering of the "school play". In rosy hazy memory, the "school play” was a major occasion on the school calendar - triumphs of chaos and art wrought from the temperament of the teacher/ director. the nervous energy of young performers, the long suffering patience of school administrators and the fond forbearance of parents. Whatever the critical response to these occasions might have been, it is worth noting that often for those involved, the experience was remembered long after other subject content has been forgotten.
As the educational framework of our schools has expanded, drama and theatre studies have found a place as a subject discipline in their own right. Students in our schools have on offer a range of drama and theatre experiences.
In the early years of schooling, when students take part in creative play, they are using part of the language of drama. Through their experiences of make believe and pretending they are exploring different roles. A group of pre-school students at the dress up box or pretending to be a dragon with roaring noise and faces contorted are acting out roles beyond their own lives. Sometimes such games and creative play is formalised into a performance for someone else, an audience, but mostly the focus of this play is on the enjoyment of the moment for the particular students involved. The importance of these early experiences in creative play is now widely recognised; capacity for risk taking, for lateral thinking, for imaginative exploration are just some of the important life skills that are developed in these early games.
As students in our schools progress, there are increasing opportunities for them to develop a broader understanding of drama. Other areas of the curriculum such as understanding society can be explored through role playing and simulation games. Language can be developed through a love of words, exploring their textures and character. An understanding of changing physical development can be explored through movement, mime and characterisation work. The are few bounds for imaginative teachers using drama as a tool for learning content material, and as a means of developing student awareness of themselves and their own development. Increasingly, students in primary school have the opportunity of performing for an audience: sometimes a small performance to another group of students in the class, or an assembly item or an end of year concert or a performance for the people at the local Senior Citizens Centre are all ways of developing in students a sense of self confidence, of working in a group, and enjoying acting in roles.
In the secondary school, courses in drama and theatre are offered at a more formal level. In the Unit Curriculum students can explore improvised drama (plays without pre-written scripts). mime and movement. developing self-devised performance pieces. Gradually the focus of their studies takes them beyond drama as a tool for self development and exploration of the aspects of theatre and performance. The technical aspects of theatre, developing the voice, understanding something of the history of theatre and its place in society. In the post compulsory years of schooling students can take a more specialised course in theatre which broadens their understanding of the place of theatre and drama in the cultural life of our society. Further opportunities for performance develop self-confidence, commitment. self-image and group interaction skills. In the Senior Secondary we have both ATAR and General courses in Drama for the WACE the Western Australian Certificate of Education. (ATAR. An Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) represents your rank amongst all the other year 12s in Western Australia.)
Naturally, there are links to life beyond school. Some students take further studies at a tertiary level or enter the professional theatre; some develop a love for theatre as a form of entertainment and argument; some others use the techniques of rehearsal and visualisation developed in drama and theatre studies in a wide variety of other careers. It is safe to claim that ( although they mightn’t always realise it ) all students who have been involved in drama and theatre are enriched in ways that they barely dream of.
In all recorded societies there have been forms of drama and theatre. Some people argue that the health of a society is reflected in its capacity for reflecting and exploring the values and concerns through this imaginative world. As Hamlet in the play by Shakespeare reminds us
" ... the purpose of playing ... is to hold ...
the mirror up to nature ..."
Scenes from around the state
South Hedland
In one end of a teaching block, cocooned from the searing heat outside, a class of Year 5 students are telling their version of the story of the dragon and the damsel in distress. An aboriginal boy with an infectious smile has dressed as the dragon's mother and is berating the dragon for being " ... so mean to the poor girl. .. " and for" … getting dragons a bad name ... " He concludes" ... is it any wonder that we are almost:-extinct ... ". Toe rest of the students in the class are laughing and teacher Rhonda Brentnall is enjoying his performance. These students are one step beyond playing "dress ups" and "pretending" ¢ they are learning to shape a performance for the enjoyment of others listening.
Belmay Primary School
A circus is in progress - not a traditional circus under tent with lions and high flying aerialists under the Sole Brothers' banner, but a group of students from a primary school are making their own circus. Working for five weeks with Reg Bolton from Suitcase Circus this group of students have discovered in themselves a wealth of talent that they barely suspected existed. Stilt walkers, acrobats, clowns, unicyclists and performers of all kinds have shaped a circus where before there was nothing but the idea. Under the guidance of teacher, Graham Baxter and with the help of tutors such as Reg, these students have worked as a team to make a satisfying and enjoyable performance.
Geraldton
At the local shopping centre students from Standing Room Only the performing group from John Willcock Senior High, have drawn a crowd of shoppers to them with their short impact drama with a road safety message. Later that same group of students will take their play oto a receptive audience at the Senior Citizen's village. Here drama is being used to communicate a health message and is part of a joint project undertaken with the local office of the Department of Health.
Fremantle
For many years now, John Curtin Senior High School has had a reputation as centre for students specially gifted in theatre. Students from this program have distinguished themselves through making memorable theatre. 1991 is an important year - a breakthrough
