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 ..."

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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

What would we report from around the state in 2021?

Drama Thinking - Part 6

Finding the stories for drama

The town of Littlight and its people live in a grey and lifeless community, dictated to by the Mayor, an autocratic man who fears change and difference. Mysteriously, the brick walls surrounding the town start to disappear and as they do so, light, colour, sound and eventually people start to appear through the every enlarging holes.

This is a story about one person setting of a change reaction - about celebrating difference, tolerance and not just being open-minded to those who live different lives, but being open enough to embrace and enjoy their differences.

The illustrations are simple and stylistic - quite childlike. Stark shades of grey depict the township except for one bright, colourful girl and a ladder. As the bricks disappear psychedelic colours leech through along with small differences to start with - as brightly coloured birds start to emerge. As the holes in the wall grow larger we get glimpses of different people doing different things - cooking, dancing etc with different senses being awoken but the Littlelight townsfolk. The Mayor is angry, and at first the people are frightened of something new and different but as the colours take over their community they become happy and cheerful. The vivid endpapers are filled with bright and colourful houses side by side and provide a good talking point.

Goodreads

A frequent  question I am asked is about the stories I use in drama workshops: where do you find the stories?

I find stories for drama literally everywhere.

I am always looking for stories for drama.

You might find me in the children’s picture book section of the book store. Or, I might see something in a newspaper clipping. Or, a friend might tell me a story from local history. 

For example, in the children’s section of a bookshop and found a new book by a Western Australian author, Kelly Canby, called Littlelight (2020). Immediately, I could see the situation – a town that is walled in  – and the roles – the pompous mayor and the fun-loving stealer of the bricks in the wall. I could use the Drama Thinking processes described in earlier posts to generate dramatic action that can help students understand important life issues.

Another time the same bookstore I saw The Wanderer by Peter Van den Ende (2020). 

At once I could see a starting activity of making paper boats and talking about them – an activity outside the frame that enables us to edge into the drama where we take on roles.

A little boat sets out to sea and begins its voyage toward home. To get there it must travel across many strange, beautiful oceanscapes, full of fantastic creatures and deadly monsters, swept by terrifying storms and sailed by mysterious ships. Can the Wanderer pick a path through all these perils to a safe harbour?

Murdoch Books

The story itself  is so open ended. We could springboard from images in the book itself.  Each of the images could provide an episode for a drama activity. 

Or, we could invent our own adventures and places for the little paper boats to be  travelling.

These sorts of picture books are so great for generating drama thinking ideas. 

Generative stories are rich with potential drama.

They enable us as drama teachers to work between the

narrative threads to find the drama.

They focus on human experience that can be shared in embodied ways.

Similarly, a friend told me the story of the shipwreck off the coast of Western Australia – quite infamous for the bloody insurrection and mutiny and the terrible justice imposed on the mutineers. 

what her was fascinated about was that in the party of several ships in the convey making the journey from Amsterdam to the Dutch East Indies, there were many children. 

I thought about the potential for drama in this story from our shared history. 

Stories don’t have to be written down or published in books.

Just as Drama reflects life, so too, all of our lives can be the source for good drama lessons.

They open doors to Process Drama activities. 

With my teacher education students we worked through the Process Drama of the Batavia Children, to learn about Process Drama. 

An associated question I am sometimes asked: Why do I use stories for drama?

My job as a drama teacher is to help students learn about drama - using the Elements of Drama to express and communicate ideas and feelings as well as to understand and respond to drama.

Stories are ways of embedding these important elements into packages that. Help students learn.

Of course, there are times when I plan a drama based on a concept – such as using voice dynamically to create character. Or, teaching about the important ideas of Brecht as a playwright and director that have influenced contemporary drama. So there are drama lessons that don’t necessarily start with a story. I can start with a specific lesson concept in mind. But even then, I try to find a way of bringing it to life through including part of a story. 

But there is nothing to match the power of a generative story to hook and engage students. Into that story, I can embed important conceptual and practical learning.

In overview, this series of posts have focused on the ways that we as drama teachers move from a starting point – often a story – through processes of drama thinking linked with my portfolio of Drama Teaching and Learning Strategies. Through these processes, I am in a position to create a specific drama lesson plan.

My planning often looks something like this:

Excerpt from Batavia Children Process Drama Planning

Bibliography

Canby, K. (2020). Littlelight. Fremantle, Western Australia: Fremantle Press.

Peter Van den Ende. (2020). The Wanderer. San Francisco: Chronicle Books.

Drama Tuesday - We learn drama by making drama – a Process Drama example

We learn Drama by making Drama. By using the Elements of Drama such as role, situation, voice, movement and tension, we learn how drama tells stories in our bodies.

In this short video I share with you some drama making from a workshop I ran in Baoding, China, in November 2019. 

We used drama to bring to life the story of the Magic Lotus Lantern, a traditional story. We used drama strategies to build a series of dramatic action episodes exploring key moments in the story. This is a Process Drama.

In the traditional story of the Magic Lotus Lantern, on  the  Huashan Mountain there lived a guardian, the beautiful goddess Sanshenmu who had a brother Erlang who wanted to control his sister. 

We visualised the scene on the mountain. We created the mountain in the drama space using lengths of coloured fabric and sounds using our voices and recordings.

Our Process Drama explored the relationship between brother and sister in role and out of role. We edged into the drama using physical activities of gatekeepers. We improvised scenes between siblings in everyday life.

We moved back into the story narrating how Sanshenmu had a magical treasure – a lotus lantern whose light could scare away all evil. We embodied using symbol as a fundamental building block of drama.

In the story, one winter, a scholar Liu Yanchang, a human, visited the temple and saw the image of Shenmu and was struck by her beauty. He thought that she was so beautiful he would ask her to be my wife. Shenmu was also struck by the authentic love of the young scholar. But she knew that it a deity like her could never fall in love with a mortal. Liu Yanchang left Shenmu not knowing she was pregnant.

Skipping ahead in this account, Erlang angered by this love story, stole the Magic Lotus Lantern and banished Shenmu to live inside a dark cave buried under a mountain. There she gave birth to a child.

We created the dark cave and the birth of the child. 

Liu Yanchang returned after his success in the examinations but when he came to the Shenmudian temple he found it deserted. Just as he turned to leave, he heard a baby crying.

He was puzzled at finding a baby in the temple. Bu t then he found Shenmu’s letter written on the silk and knew that the baby was Chenxiang. He took the child and raised it, teaching him to read and write as any mortal would. But he kept the secret of Shenmu from Chenxiang. 

However, one day, the boy discovered the silk letter. He went searching for his mother.

The child grew and fought his uncle Erlang and won the Magic Lotus Lantern an d used it to break open the mountain and rescue his mother. 

I will let the drama speak for itself.

We learn drama by making drama.

Acknowledgment: The workshop was run for Cambridge Education, Baoding with Early Childhood educators and organised by IDEC, Berijing. 

Bibliography

The following resources unpack Process Drama

Bowell, P., & Heap, B. S. (2013). Planning Process Drama: Enriching teaching and learning (2nd Edition). Abingdon, Oxon.: Routledge.

Bowell, P., & Heap, B. S. (2017). Putting Process Drama into Action: The Dynamics of Practice. Abingdon, Oxon.: Routledge.

O'Neill, C. (1995). Drama Worlds A Framework for Process Drama. Portsmouth: Heinemann.

O'Toole, J. (1992). The Process of Drama: Negotiating Art and Meaning. London: Routledge.

Taylor, P. (Ed.) (1995). Pre-Text and StoryDrama: The Artistry of Cecily O'Neill and David Booth. Brisbane: NADIE The National Association for Drama in Education.