Recommended Reading
‘THE PLAY’S THE THING’ : THE BENEFITS OF DRAMA FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH
Camilla Otaki November 18, 2011
Plays are written to be performed, and it’s hard to convey the excitement and importance of drama to a class that’s always seated behind desks.
YOUNG PEOPLE NEED TO SEE PLAYS
Pupils should be taken to see professional productions of plays, and not exclusively the plays that they are studying at school. Theatre is a uniquely direct and stimulating art-form, and all young people should have the chance to experience and appreciate it. A young person who has never been to see a play (as opposed to a musical) cannot be expected to feel a keen interest in plays.
Theatre is a vitally important form of expression of national and international culture. Plays explore what it means to be a human being, they raise questions about society, motivations and morality, they help us to share experiences, whether of joy or of pain. Plays express the ideas, dilemmas and conflicts of their times, whether through tragedy or comedy. At the same time, they unite all of humanity, past and present, rich and poor. Plays entertain like no film can.
WHAT IF THE PRODUCTION ISN’T VERY GOOD?
Begin by taking students to see a fail-safe production, a well-known comedy or a thriller like ‘The Woman in Black’. You can’t guarantee that every production you take students to see will be a success; take them to enough productions, and the positive experiences will soon outnumber the negative, and your students will start to develop the discrimination of seasoned theatre-goers. You will be giving them access to a wonderful resource that they can share and enjoy for the rest of their lives.
ACTING OUT A SCENE
Teachers often find that students respond positively to the chance to act out parts of the play they’re studying. Suddenly, they can see the point; they can enter into characters’ feelings and appreciate situations and relationships. Acting out a scene helps the student to understand it.
For instance, acting and directing raises interesting questions that may not occur to us during academic study. As a straight-forward example of this, Cordelia is on stage while her ambitious sisters flatter their elderly father, King Lear, but she says little and there are no stage directions: students will have to ask ‘What is she doing, where is she standing, in what direction is she facing? What makes sense? What feels right for the actor? How would you direct her?’ To answer these questions, students will have to consider the dynamics within Lear’s family and the royal court, and to take into account everything they can find out about the character of Cordelia. Thus, acting the part of Cordelia will give the student much insight into her circumstances and experience.
HOW TO START
Inexperienced actors can be introduced to this type of activity in the following way:
‘You have to make a choice. Whenever you or somebody else speaks, or something new happens, decide whether to remain still, turn towards the speaker, turn away from the speaker, approach the speaker or move away from the speaker.’
This simple exercise is very effective as a starting point; it immediately puts the onus on the young actor to react in character to everything that happens, however much or little their character has to say. It also removes the fear of showing emotion or making a fool of oneself. It makes students listen, watch and think, rather than worrying about what they look like. If you narrow the choices, you free the student to express himself, and it can have amazingly interesting results which can then be discussed.
If working on a scene or section of a play, dictate the composition of groups but then allow the pupils to decide on roles. It’s a good idea to have a spare person in each group who can be the director.
IMPROVISATION
An exercise used to liberate students for whom the language is a barrier, is to ask them to act out a scene, in their own words, that re-creates the situation they have just been reading about. Again, the student will be enabled to engage with the play and feel a connection with it.
Moving plays into the present day is often a productive method; it helps students to understand that plays, even the old ones, deal with issues that are still relevant today.
DRAMA AND TUTORS
One-to-one tutors can, to a lesser extent, use this practical approach to plays, but there is still much to be gained from working on dialogues and monologues in various ways. Tutors often have time-constraints, sometimes because their brief is to prepare a pupil for an exam or to get through a certain amount before the hour is up. However, ten minutes spent on practical work can raise the pupil’s level of interest and save a great deal of time in the end.
Of course, simply reading a carefully-chosen play together can be enormous fun and very productive, especially if the pupil lacks confidence in reading, comprehension or self-assertion in their usual classroom situation.
DE-MYSTIFYING SHAKESPEARE: OTHER ENJOYABLE APPROACHES
Further engagement with a Shakespeare text can be obtained via other practical and worthwhile approaches. Drawing set-designs and making decisions about costume, lighting and music involve pupils creatively, encouraging them to consider all aspects of a play and to develop a sense of ownership. Shakespeare’s works are the perfect focus for such approaches, whereas George Bernard Shaw’s, for instance, would not be, because, like most later playwrights, he stipulates exactly what he wants to see on stage. Groups of pupils can work together, finally giving a presentation to the class.
Teachers can put a dialogue or monologue in the middle of a sheet of A3 paper and, by stages, ask pupils to do things such as the following:
- BREATH - mark in where the actors should breathe
- VOLUME - mark where the actors should speak loudly or softly
- TONE / EMOTION – use coloured pencils to shade over the lines. E.g. red for anger, blue for detachment, green for happiness. They could insert smiling or frowning faces.
- IMAGES – make simple drawings to represent some of the imagery. More artistic students might spend some time on a creative response, covering the whole sheet of paper.
After a class has read and/or studied a speech, a teacher can present it to them cut into sections. Working as racing teams, they re-assemble the speech in the correct order. This has worked very well with Henry V’s speeches.
SHAKESPEARE’S PLAYS
I have been fortunate to direct a number of plays with young people aged 13 to 18. These have included four by Shakespeare (A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo and Juliet, Henry V, The Merchant of Venice), and my experiences have shown me that, far from alienating and stupefying young people, these plays fascinate and invigorate them, whatever their age or ability. The blank verse is anything but a barrier to their understanding and enjoyment; in fact, the rhythms of the verse aid learning. Moreover, the enticing plots and rich variety of characters motivate students to embrace the challenges of the language readily, and they relish the imagery. The result is an exciting and enriching experience for all.
Teachers working with less able students can easily cut down and simplify scenes, to make them accessible.
Young people who have acted in all or part of a Shakespeare play, whether on stage or in the classroom, have significant advantages, in my opinion, over those who have not.
NON-ACTORS
Those who don’t act can gain a tremendous amount by other forms of involvement: makeup, lighting, stage-crew, set-painting etc. These pupils will witness rehearsals and performances, study the play from their own angle, experience the buzz of performance and bring their own creative input to a production.
ACTING IN GENERAL: THE BENEFITS
More generally, acting stimulates young people’s intellectual and emotional development, frees them from the printed page, releases pent-up energies that can become a challenge to the classroom teacher, encourages friendships, team work and hard work, and gives confidence and fulfilment. Collaboration with teachers and others improves working relationships and has knock-on benefits for academic work.
ACTING, DYSLEXIA AND DYSPRAXIA
Even an occasional opportunity to act can be of enormous benefit to young people with a range of problems. Dyslexics who have difficulty expressing themselves on paper can truly reveal themselves and their creative intelligence while acting. Dyspraxic students can become more physically confident, with an increased focus on the significance and importance of movement. Acting can also help them to breathe well, sustain their speech and improve their diction.
