Teaching Drama teachers through stories
/One of the powerful ways we have of learning about teaching drama is through the stories that are told about our field. From the first drama teacher education reader I compiled I included examples from young adult fiction that included descriptions of what happens in a drama workshop or class. Thanks to long-time friend John Foreman, a chapter from King of Shadows (Cooper, 1999) provides a useful description of a drama workshop in a time slip story that links the contemporary Shakespeare Globe Southbank with Shakespeare’s time and theatre. Earlier this year we gave John a copy of Sweet Sorrow (Nicholls, 2019) which features the reluctant participation of Charlie in a summer production of Romeo and Juliet as he pursues a romantic interest in a girl. What’s interesting is the tongue in cheek and jaded adolescent view of drama workshop activities that somehow seduce Charlie into participating in drama when he has scoffed at it. As insiders in the drama education bubble, it is useful to be reminded of the ways that our world is viewed by outsider/insiders. In the chapter called The Name Game Charlie recounts:
We played Catchy-Come-Catch and the Parrot Game. We played Follow My Nose and Scuttlefish and Fruit Bowl. We played Anyone Who? And Orange Orang-utan and Zip, Zap, Zop and Keeper of the Keys, then Chase the Chain and Panic Attack, That’s Not My Hat and Hello Little Doggy and while the others laughed and jerked and threw themselves around, I strived for an air of world-weary detachment, like the older brother at a children’s party.…
But it’s hard to remain cool through a game of Yes, No, Banana and all too soon we were shaking it out again, shake, shake, shake, and then getting into pairs and pretending to be mirrors. (p. 77)
Academic descriptions of drama workshops are mostly procedural. Stories, on the other hand, allow us to imagine possible versions of ourselves and are powerful role modelling.
We are always looking for more examples of shared stories of drama teaching and learning.
What are your favourite stories about drama workshop experiences?
We would love to hear them when you share them.
Cooper, S. (1999). King of Shadows. New York: Margaret K. McElderry Books.
Nicholls, D. (2019). Sweet Sorrow. London, UK: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd.
