Restoring the dialogue: Aesthetic Images
A Workshop
A Background to the workshop
The reading I have been immersed in over the past weeks has highlighted a range of learning theories. I have become very aware of the links between the claims made by theorists in relation to the learning that occurs in drama and the claims of the advocates of constructivism and enactivism. How do these theories link with the work of Boal and what he calls "the Arsenal of Theatre of the Oppressed? A statement made by Boal in a keynote address at the 1995 IDEA Conference in Queensland has always remained with me. "When a dialogue becomes a monologue, there is oppression" It is his belief that through theatre and drama we have the tools which will help to 'restore the dialogue'
Through this workshop I intend to attempt to bring together these areas which are of great interest to me; the constructivist view point to learning, Errington's socially critical drama pedagogy and Boal's theatre of the oppressed. I would also like to explore the theory behind 'metaxis' ( a Greek word used by Aristotle and Plato which means 'between and in'). In addition I want to underline that aesthetic learning processes represent elements of a didactic which offers a way of understanding and perceiving a world.
There will be in this workshop a strong emphasis on still image. This strategy in itself is not a new dimension in drama or theatre. What possibly might be new, in relation to drama in education, might be the strong emphasis on the function of the
still image as a language of its own, and the possibility of developing still image in the direction of a working method, which I will characterise as art production. I am strongly influenced by the work of Boal and his use of Image theatre. At its simplest his belief is that a 'picture paints a thousand words’ and that our over reliance on words can confuse issues rather than clarifying them. Boal (1994) believes that images are closer to our true feelings, even our subconscious feelings, than words, 'the process of thinking with our hands can short circuit the censorship of the brain, the 'cops in the head' placed there by society and personal experience'(Pxx).
Boal puts forward the view that images can work across language and culture barriers and frequently can reveal unexpected universalities. Also working with images and sculpting rather than talking can be more democratic in that it does not privilege the more verbally articulate people. Images can open up new understandings where often words have forced us to think in grooves. Often the spoken language mirrors and reflects the social contexts out of which we arise. What I would like to stress is that images or pictures are very concrete and
sometimes rather revealing. When asked to make the meaning of a word by creating an image, different comprehensions of its meanings appear immediately, and the possibilities of arriving at agreement and consensus 'on the surface' have harder conditions.
The first principle that Boal articulates is that the human being is a unity, an indivisible whole. Ideas, emotions, sensations and actions are interwoven. Boal (1998) claims that a body movement is a thought and a thought expresses itself through the body. All ideas, all mental images, all emotions reveal themselves through the body.
The second principle is that all the five senses are linked. We breathe with our whole body, we sing with our whole body. Living in today's world with all of the overwhelming stimuli, our senses tend to suffer. We start to feel little of what we touch, listen to little of what we hear, and really see little of what we look at. Boal advocates that in order to be 'in the moment' which theatre requires we need to re-sensitise, we need to awaken the memory of our senses.
Within Boal's theories there are many questions about the ownership of the power and knowledge. There are also strong messages in relation to society, equity, values and prejudices.
In his influential paper "Orientations towards drama in the nineties", Errington(1993) discusses three main theoretical orientations towards education and society which he states act as constraints on the curriculum. These are the neo-classical, liberal progressive and socially critical positions. Garth Boomer adds a further position which he labels Radical. Errington (1993) discusses these orientations in the light of educational purposes, the role of the teacher and the student, the construction of knowledge and the concept of power within the drama .
The beliefs of Boal in relation to the creation of images and the Theatre of the Oppressed resonate with Errington's orientation labeled 'a socially critical drama pedagogy'. This critical pedagogy is a way of teaching that serves to interrogate how knowledge itself comes to be determined, the ownership of the knowledge, and the siting of the knowledge.
Socially critical supporters believe that society is constructed in inequitable and unjust ways and in order to create change it is necessary to scaffold students into the development of critical enquiry. This method of working requires self reflection in relation to the ownership of the power or perhaps the sharing of the power. Errington (1993) claims that critical drama can provide a means of social enquiry and at the same time an agenda for possibility. He states that within this orientation students can examine their own values and beliefs. They can reveal their own part in the construction and sustainment of specific values and prejudices while being both the subject of enquiry and the investigator. Negotiation and collaboration appears to underpin the socially critical approach. All of these claims sit well with ideas espoused by Boal. "When a dialogue becomes a monologue there is oppression'
The "Socially Critical pedagogy” appears also to resonate with the constructivist view of learning. This view of learning advocates the belief that learning is not acquired passively, instead learners construct learning. Wagner (1997) claims that learners who are actively engaged in the learning process construct models to make sense of the experience. She states further that the way they think is transformed by their experience and by their attempts to make sense of it. ( p61) The core tenet of constructivism is that learners actively construct knowledge to make sense of the world, interpreting new information in terms of existing cognitive structures.
This theory reflects the views of Lev Vygotsky (Simons, 1991 p26). He theorised that, under certain conditions, learners could be led to skills and understanding beyond what might normally be expected of them when working alone. The driving force of Vygoysky's theory is the metaphor of 'scaffolding'. These theories relate to the socially critical pedagogy put forward by Errington in that within this pedagogy the teaching serves to interrogate how knowledge itself comes to be determined, the ownership of the knowledge, and the siting of the knowledge. The socially critical orientation also claims that it is necessary to scaffold students into the development of critical enquiry. Vygotsky's theory connects with the writings of Gavin Bolton, Dorothy Heathcote and Cecily O'Neill. Bolton states that, "The meaning in drama lies in the interplay between two worlds." (1985 p 155). Bolton describes this state as 'metaxis', which is a Greek word. It has been interpreted by Augusto Boal as a way of identifying two worlds, the real and the fictitious, both of which are held by the participant simultaneously, when working within the drama frame. Morgan and Saxton (1987) also refer to two frames of drama, the expressive frame and the meaning frame. They refer to the meaning frame as the inner understanding, and the expressive frame as the outer manifestation of this inner understanding. Saxton and Morgan (1987, p21) state that the full power of the drama can only be realised when the inner world of meaning is harnessed to the outer world of expressive action.
Through the process of metaxis, drama becomes the interplay between the imagined and the actual, the tangible and the ephemeral.
The final link is the view of the enactivist. This theory of cognition claims that cognition does not occur in brains or minds but in the possibility for shared action. Enactivism refuses to privilege the individual but sees knowledge not as a substance, but something that is developed collectively through joint and shared action and collaboration.
The strong link between all four areas appears to be that all relate to the making of meaning, the ownership of knowledge and the development of critical enquiry. I believe that all of these areas can be addressed through the implementation of the strategies used in Boal's Theatre of the oppressed.
The Workshop
I shall try to give an account of the workshop as I intend it to happen, however in drama it is important to remember the meaning is being created and therefore there is always an element of uncertainty in relation to outcomes.
1 The Game of Power
A table, 5 chairs and a bottle. The group is asked to come one at a time and arrange the objects to make sure that one chair becomes the most powerful object in relation to the other chair, the table and the bottle. The objects may be moved anywhere, on top of each other, on their sides but cannot be removed from the space. When an arrangement has been arrived at each member of the group is asked to enter and take up the most powerful position. The power can be taken away from the first person.
2 Turn-around-statues
Explain that this is a still image created by the individual participants in response to a cue or a theme.
Participants are asked to turn their back to the centre of the circle. When given a cue they are to shape themselves into statues illustrating the cue and then slowly as statues, turn around until they are facing the circle. Through the corner of their eyes each person can get an impression of the subjective opinions of the given cue held at this moment. Even though these cues may be cliches they represent ideas of a social reality and as such can be seen as an objective image of reality.
The cues
Teacher
Man (male)
Pupil
Woman
Hunger
AIDS
Divide the group and use these images to create a scene of social oppression through silent negotiation. Read the images
Reflection
3 Pilots and Co pilots
A Boal strategy which enables the individual to identify the oppression that they feel. The group then interprets the oppression through silent negotiation
Conclusion
Learning in drama is essentially reframing. It is the reframing of present knowledge to create new knowledge and perspective. Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed offers a new depth to the learning and the nature of the learning and understanding that can occur in drama. Boal (1994) claims that drama should help us to learn about our times and ourselves. Theatre is a form of knowledge; it should and can be a means of transforming society. 'Theatre can help us to build our future, rather than just waiting for it" (p,xxxi)
Evaluation of the workshop
As the afternoon progressed I became aware of changes in the levels of engagement and began to rework the workshop in my mind. I was very aware of the need to empower the participants and through this empowerment gain greater layers of meaning. As a result I began with the more active sections of the plan.
My aim was to stress that the language of images and pictures contains some other dimensions than spoken language does. Such pictures quite often become symbolic or expressionistic.
The images that emerged from the Turn around statues were very strong and they displayed many different views. I was particularly interested in the images relating to the cue, male/man and woman. Mother and maternal was attached to the view of woman yet father did not come through in the male images. If in a classroom this would have alerted me to the need for exploration of gender roles. The idea of the turn a round statues can identify areas that suggest the need for further socially critical investigation. When I began working with the turn around statues I felt that some members of the group felt uncertain and ill at ease with the process. I persevered and felt the strength of the images begin to evolve. The group images were very strong in lowliness and isolation and yet when asked to construct the counter image to change the ‘course of the action’ and solve the problems, there was immediately a linking and supporting image created.
Given the time this activity could have been analysed in more depth to analyse which person was the most oppressed. This work could also have been developed further by yet another method, which Boal has named Forum theatre. Forum theatre is a more theatrical (acting based) form of analysing and debating a situation of oppression. This is the method, which was viewed on the short section of video used to introduce the workshop.
My aim in this workshop was to introduce to the participants a different way of communicating, viewing, exploring and presenting through an artistic medium.
A further aim was to demonstrate a different view of learning, in relation to the ownership of meanings and power, giving the participants greater power to determine their own meaning. Finally I hoped to demonstrate a method of theatre that can be used in the classroom to enable students to develop a critical awareness and understanding of oppression on a micro and macro level. I should also make the point that in a classroom it is necessary to begin from where children are. I would therefore begin at the pilots and co-pilots level to build understanding of the concepts at the micro level.
In conclusion it was obvious to me that I had attempted what should have been a two to three hour workshop in a very limited time frame. It would have been interesting to explore the dramatic action and the layers of meaning, whether the dramatic action begins with the individual statue or in the collectively created image.
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