Drama Research Volume 12
April 2021
Drama Research
A way of Delivering a Drama Course – Shakespeare’s Hamlet: A Case Study
Teachers of literature, especially drama, most often face the challenge of making their presentation and discussion of a given play accessible to a large proportion of students attending the drama course.
Drama in Education as a tool for enhancing self-efficacy in Primary School children
The action research study presented in this article refers to the connection of drama-in-education and children’s self-efficacy in primary school in Greece
Toward Accessible Actor Training
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Mantle of the Expert 2.0: from drama in education towards education in drama
There has been little research examining the balance between process and product in children’s arts education. In this study, Mantle of the Expert, the ‘drama in education’ approach of Dr. Dorothy Heathcote, MBE (1926-2011), has been explored as a method to create a non-scripted theatre performance with seven children between the ages of eight and ten years old.
Creating Community Resilience: Theatre for Young Audiences and the Mental Health Crisis
The mental health crisis is thought to affect 10-20% of children and young people in the world (World Health Organization, 2019). It is clear that this is something that needs addressing in many ways, but importantly in schools.
‘But I knew better…’ Permeating the Correlationist Membrane in the Drama Classroom.
This article is written about thirty years after a drama lesson which left an indelible mark on the writer. The lesson involved elements of Teacher-in-Role, Man in a Mess and Mantle of the Expert (Heathcote and Bolton 1996).
Using Shakespeare’s Plays to Explore Education Policy Today: Neoliberalism through the lens of Renaissance humanism
The utility of Shakespeare’s plays as a means to explore our present socio-economic system has long been acknowledged. As a Renaissance playwright located at the junction between feudalism and capitalism, Shakespeare was uniquely positioned to reflect upon the nascent market order. As a result, this book utilises six of his plays to assess the impact of neoliberalism on education. Drawing from examples of education policy from the UK and North America, it demonstrates that the alleged innovation of the market order is premised upon ideas that are rejected by Shakespeare, and it advocates Shakespeare’s humanism as a corrective to the failings of neoliberal education policy.
By Sophie Ward. Reviewed by Tom Harrison.
The Routledge Anthology of Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Performance
The Routledge Anthology of Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Performance brings together a selection of particularly memorable performances, beginning with Nell Gwyn in a 1668 staging of Secret Love, and moving chronologically towards the final performance of John Philip Kemble’s controversial adaptation of Thomas Otway’s Venice Presever’d in October 1795.
This volume contains a wealth of contextual materials, including contemporary reviews, portraits, advertisements, and cast lists. By privileging event over publication, this collection aims to encourage an understanding of performance that emphasises the immediacy – and changeability – of the theatrical repertoire during the long eighteenth century.
Edited by Daniel O’Quinn, Kristina Straub and Misty G Anderson. Reviewed by Trevor R. Griffiths.
Incapacity and Theatricality: Politics and Aesthetics in Theatre Involving Actors with Intellectual Disabilities
Incapacity and Theatricality acknowledges the distinctive contribution to contemporary theatrical performance made by actors with intellectual disabilities. It presents a close examination of certain key theatrical performances across a variety of different media, including John Cassavetes’ 1963 social issues film A Child Is Waiting; the performance art collaboration between Robert Wilson and Christopher Knowles; and the provocative pranksterism of Christoph Schlingensief’s talent show mockumentary FreakStars 3000.
Tracing a global path of performances, Incapacity and Theatricality offers an analysis of how actors with intellectual disabilities have emerged onto the main stage, and how their inclusion calls into question long-held assumptions about both theatre and intellectual disability. By Tony McCaffrey. Reviewed by Paul McNamara.