Literature Review 2

Literature review: Drama to Inspire; A London Drama Guide to Excellent Practice in Drama for Young People – ed. John Coventon.

My next literature review takes me to the now. My previous review looked at the historical path of Drama and education, so it made sense for my next literature to inform me of the current knowledge within my inquiry. What do people already know about my research? I was drawn to this next book, because rather than the ideas of one person, it is complied of the voices and ideas of a number of drama practitioners. All of which are currently practicing and some I have even met. I found it important to look within my community of practice and see if there are any ideas that could compliment my area of inquiry.  Almost instantly, what I find interesting is that the references and bibliographies of all my literature I am reviewing, have some point of cross over.  It pinpointed that all practitioners know what they know because they also have researched the ideas of others. Acting as like a recipe book, the bibliography tells the story of how people gather their methods of practice.

The book begins with Practitioner and teacher trainer Cecily O’Neill. She opens the book with some sound advice, “An effective teacher in any classroom and perhaps especially the arts, is always an agent of change… The teachers in this book are unlikely to turn their classrooms into a graveyard of the imagination… Instead they place participation and collaboration at the heart of their work”. Then exposing Andy Kemp’s theory of the link between ethics and drama, explaining that, “drama may be used to represent both how we live and by what standards”.  This opening brings could suggest a change in concept of the drama practitioner that I have been trying to explore. While the actor’s primordial focus is to entertain, here these practitioners state that the drama teacher, through collaboration can effect the very shaping of students ethical principals. Taking me from entertain to life trainer. Daniel Shindler then shares a workshop he calls, who am I? It’s something I have since tried. It’s about mind mapping and breaking down the student to realise the emotional memory they have access to. Again Shindler’s ideas support the notion of this isn’t the practice of an n entertainment anymore, it’s an art that reaches and draws out who you are. However, can I say that an actor is purely for entertainment? Many would argue that the theatre arts in the spectator’s sense could be therapeutic and educational. What I do learn here, that there is a definite link between the subject of drama and the student’s interpretation of the world.

Drama to Inspire then brings me to the work of Lucy Cutherson. On my journey of research there have been many ‘buzz names’ that I have heard and Cuthertson’s method is something I have explored in many workshops over London. Her revolutionary approach to text is to put it down and improvise the themes within it. The key being that as the actor, “plays around freely and unselfconsciously… The best casting tends to emerge”.  I found Cuthbertson’s ideas current and contemporaneous, rather than seeing her student’s in East London as naughtily little school children. She refers to them as actors, giving them room to grow and explore and ultimately produces award winning children’s theatre productions.  She seems to be paving the way for a new approach to teaching drama and this approach is important to my inquiry. Is it about treating students less like students and more like actors? There is a definite line for inquiry here.

The book next shines the spotlight on Amanda Kipling. Somebody I have met and observed, Kipling runs the drama PGCE course at Goldsmith’s University. As it is my next ambition as a student, it was interesting to read the ideas of the person about to interview me. This excites me, as not only is the literature review process informing my inquiry within this course, but also supports my next direction as a student.  Kipling exposes the theory of drama as play, claiming that philologists have categorised the idea of learning through pretend. This idea highlights the importance of drama in education; linking drama to something that embraces a child’s primordial learning pattern gives me a sense of the creative benefits the subject can bring. It supports this idea of drama games, universally played by actors and school students, using play to embrace what the human being does naturally.

In conclusion, drama to Inspire is a book supported by an organisation called, London Drama. Dedicated to training, supports and collaborating drama teachers, its primary focus is to continue spreading the dramatic arts as a creative school subject.  There seems to be a sense of enhancement for drama as a process here, not leaving much room for the product of drama it could create the argument of Bolton’s idea (my last review) that it’s about the balance. The book tends to lean on the side of the creative dramatic process and even when a production is discussed, the script and the casting all point towards an on-going development approach as appose to a final product. 

References:

Coverton et al, 2011. Drama to Inspire: A London Drama Guide to Excellent Practice in Drama for Young People. Trentham Books Ltd, London.