Larry O'Farrell
Le théâtre en enseignement, ou Theatre-in-Education (TIE), qui a vu le jour au Royaume-Uni au courant des années 1960-1970, est caractérisé par des représentations professionnelles de pièces pour jeune public et par des pièces de théâtre interactives. Les paramètres de cet outil ont été appliqués au contexte canadien, de sorte à ce que des comédiens amateurs puissent faire vivre aux jeunes une expérience pédagogique et artistique et ce, dans des conditions financières et institutionnelles différentes.Nous décrirons un projet classique de TIE qui s'est déroulé au Royaume-Uni, dans le cadre duquel les jeunes participants exploraient des enjeux environnementaux à l'aide de spectacles d'une nature telle qu'ils étaient appelés à participer à l'action, en aidant notamment les personnages à prendre des décisions respectueuses de l'environnement. Nous examinerons ensuite un second projet, mené par des élèves-professeurs au Canada, dans le cadre duquel des élèves du secondaire participaient à l'examen d'un modèle improvisé servant à explorer les enjeux de l'abus d'alcool.
Throughout the second half of the twentieth century, theatre practitioners and educators found increasingly greater opportunities to collaborate, as they discovered ever more common ground. There are, today, outstanding examples of theatre education throughout the world. In many countries, theatre art has found a home within the formal school system, be it in the form of extracurricular stage presentation, as a course of study within the approved curriculum, or as a teaching strategy that is used in a variety of subject areas. One of the most successful innovations to arise since the second world war is Theatre in Education (TIE), characterized by a blend of theatre performance and process drama in which young students first encounter characters portrayed by adult actors and then go on to explore the issues raised through improvised dramas of their own. Although TIE emerged in England in a context that permitted the employment of professional actor-teachers as performers and workshop leaders, it has been possible to expand the parameters of the form in the Canadian context so that non-professional groups can provide a similar educational experience to young people under different financial and institutional conditions.
The expression "Theatre in Education" was first used in England in the 1960s and 1970s. It was applied to many of the partnerships that were developed between theatre companies and school authorities to establish programs of theatre-based education on social and developmental issues. Funds were available primarily to enable this kind of program to take place in publicly funded schools. Typically, the theatre companies operated with some degree of autonomy from school authorities, but the artists collaborated with teachers in creating particular programs to meet needs identified by the schools. The artists, themselves, often had experience as teachers and were sometimes referred to as actorteachers. The kind of program that these companies brought to schools employed a range of theatre conventions and teaching methods. Writing during the period of its greatest popularity in the United Kingdom, John O'Toole described TIE as having three identifying characteristics:
Firstly, the material is usually specially devised, tailor made to the needs of the children and the strengths of the team. Secondly, the children are often asked to participate; endowed with roles, they learn skills, make decisions, and solve problems, so the programmes' structures have to be flexible. [...] Thirdly, teams are usually aware of the importance of the teaching context, and try to prepare suggestions for follow-up work, or to hold preliminary workshops for the class teachers; programmes are frequently split into two or three parts, to allow the teacher to build a large-scale project on the stimulus of the drama. (O'Toole vii)
To appreciate the importance of role-playing as a distinguishing component of this form, it is necessary to acknowledge the simultaneous growth of improvisational drama in schools. This movement appears to have had a direct impact on the form that TIE would gradually acquire. According to O'Toole,"The development of educational drama has added a further possibility: the involvement of the audience, to a greater or lesser degree, in the action—their participation" (O'Toole 17).
While some theatre artists were beginning to develop plays for performance in schools, others were introducing a new form of participatory work that they designated as drama (later as dramain- education or process drama). Innovators such as Brian Way, who called his approach development through drama, and Dorothy Heathcote, who preferred to talk about drama as a learning medium, generally insisted that young people engaged in these processes were not practicing theatre. For them, theatre art consisted of the performance of literary scripts on a stage with all the trappings of conventional Western theatre. They took pains to point out that the primary component of their work was improvised role-playing by the students, themselves, and that this roleplaying had a specific educational goal. In Way's case, it was to enhance the development of the total child. Heathcote's intention was the acquisition of knowledge in a designated aspect of the school curriculum. Even though both Way and Heathcote occasionally developed works that their students could present before an audience, such as Heathcote's work with a youth group documented in the film Three Looms Waiting (BBC), their intended outcome was not so much a fine production as a site for dramatic learning.
To give a concrete impression of conventional TIE and to illustrate some of the possible ways in which the parameters of the form can be expanded, I will describe two TIE projects, one which closely follows the conventions described by O'Toole and one which stretches the form in a number of ways. Because the descriptor "Theatre in Education" originated in England in a very specific context, my first example will come from that country. It involves actor-teachers who prepared a series of plays to engage school children in a dialogue about a current environmental issue. The second example will be derived from my own experience in Canada, working with student teachers on a theatre project planned to confront at-risk youth with the potentially tragic consequences of drug and alcohol abuse. These contrasting examples of the productive interaction of theatre and education will demonstrate that TIE is a flexible approach, one that can provide high quality theatre experiences with effective education in a variety of presentational models.
An interesting variation of the original model of TIE is reported in an IDEA (International Drama/Theatre and Education Association) publication entitled Drama, Culture and Empowerment (1996). Eric Prince, of the University College Scarborough, describes a series of four theatre projects designed to serve educational goals related to a serious ecological issue. Using methods developed by professional TIE practitioners, Prince and a team of graduate drama students (working as actorteachers) spent three years developing and performing four theatre projects on the same theme, three of which toured elementary schools in a TIE pattern closely paralleling that described by O'Toole. They were funded by the National Park system in England to address the need to conserve the Heritage Coast, 45 beautiful but fragile coastal preserves in the United Kingdom.
A significant component of the work was the performing of specially devised plays for child audiences. In one play, mythical characters living under the ocean found that their lives were threatened by an oil drum containing radioactive waste. In another, the format of a television game show was used to highlight human encroachment on the natural environment. In a third play, the child audience was taken time-travelling so that they could see the effects of a careless attitude on the environment. These plays incorporated a variety of dramatic and theatrical elements to engage young people in the issues being addressed. Underwater effects, parodies of television programs, interesting characters, strange settings, amusing incidental action, emotional events, puppets, and other strategies all contributed to the effectiveness of the theatrical presentations.
Prince and his team of actor-teachers developed a program that clearly met the definition of TIE proposed by O'Toole. For one thing, they made a point of providing opportunities for the children to participate in the drama; in particular, they encouraged the spectators to reflect on the issues and to discuss possible solutions to the problems involved. For example, in the second play, a character representing a cairn (stone monument) drew the children into a participatory experience through which they were able to imagine preventing an environmental catastrophe from happening in the future. Another example of this kind of involvement can be found in the time-travel project. Here is how Prince describes the conclusion of this performance:
At the close of the play a character called Miss Management arrives in Brechtian fashion to confront the audience with some political dilemmas. She is being presented with all manner of options for the development of the coast—property developers, sewage works, wildlife reserves, fairgrounds and leisure centres—and she has no option but to turn to the children for advice. [...] There is a forum and Miss Management's decisions are influenced by the collective wisdom of the children. (Prince 43)
Other elements that allow this project to fit the conventional TIE format are the process by which the actor-teachers developed each project in collaboration with teachers, and the inclusion of preparatory visits to each school by one or more members of the performance team. Prince explains the importance of addressing the needs of teachers:
As well as the performers presenting information and knowledge in an accessible and entertaining way, teachers increasingly want such work to relate directly to their own curriculum concerns. If this is not the case, the work may not prosper or cross the skepticism threshold.With this in mind, the TIE team researched and compiled a teacher's resource handbook detailing how the content of the programme matched and complemented national curriculum attainment targets, and how the cross-curricular potential of the work could be developed and realized. (41 - 42)
Although the projects described by Prince were developed and produced by post-graduate students rather than by professional actor-teachers, the work they did corresponded with the conventional format of TIE.However, it is important to remember that even at the height of its popularity, TIE allowed for some variation. O'Toole places theatre and education on a continuum, with children's play at one end and a stage play at the other (O'Toole 19). On this scale, TIE includes all activities that fall between the categories of educational drama and the presentation of a play— including aspects of both. I would argue, therefore, that the defining elements of TIE are the inclusion of theatre performance (either by visiting performers or by the children, themselves), the conscious attempt to meet educational goals by the developers of the project, and some involvement by the youthful audience in assuming roles that are assigned to them by the performers.
My first example was selected with a view to presenting a TIE project in the form that has become familiar to educators in the United Kingdom, where it originated. A number of Canadian theatre companies have experimented with TIE. Wayne Fairhead has catalogued a wide range of Canadian achievement in theatre for young audiences, including work by Green Thumb in British Columbia, Théâtre de la Marmaille in Quebec, and the Prairie Theatre Exchange in Manitoba, all of which have presented plays that deal with serious social issues, and all of which have worked directly with young people, either in the development of their plays or in supplementary workshops. In his contribution to a collection of essays on TIE, Fairhead gives particular attention to two Ontario companies: Young People's Theatre (recently re-named the Lorraine Kimsa Theatre for Young People) and Theatre Direct Canada (Somers 1993). I find significant Fairhead's concession that "neither group is a TIE company in the British sense" (163), although they represent, for him, "evolving approaches to learning by providing interactive theatre experiences for young people and permanent opportunities for artists within a unique genre of theatre for young audiences."
I believe that an important factor that has precluded the establishment, in Canada, of permanent TIE companies "in the British sense" is that the kind of funding that once permitted British actor-teachers to provide extensive programming for small groups of students (O'Toole calls for audiences of no more than one or two classes) has not found a consistent parallel within our cultural and educational systems. While Canadian artists may apply for Arts Council funding in much the same way that their British counterparts do, they have not had access to educational funding at the same level that was available during the most active period of British TIE. The importance of financial support from the education sector in the UK became painfully evident in the mid-1990s when it was abruptly withdrawn as a result of restructuring within the school system. David Oddie describes the effect of these changes on the field of TIE:
All over Britain, well established TIE companies are closing down, being cut, or their function [is] being subsumed into the wider brief of regional theatres. The causes are connected with educational reform, changes to Local Education Authorities (LEAs), pressure on local government, cuts to and attitudes within the Arts Council, a hard line intransigence within the movement itself and the general right wing cultural drift in Britain of the past 15 years. A well orchestrated campaign has failed to halt the devastation. (245)
Through the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, a complex set of conditions prevailed in the United Kingdom that permitted the growth and maintenance of professional TIE. Even after systematic changes led to the dissolution of so many TIE companies, some artists who were prepared to apply their skills and talents within a new (more commercial) economic structure were able to keep the form alive. For example, Oddie's own TIE company, Rent a Role, continues to operate within the context of a regional performing arts centre housed in a theatre facility gifted to the company by the Plymouth City Council in 1989, well before the economic changes that eliminated other groups. The conditions that originally led to the development of TIE in the UK have not been matched in Canada, although there has long been an interest in the form and, as Fairhead has illustrated, Canadian contributions in the related field of theatre for young audiences have included superior work. As well, there have been corresponding achievements in drama education in Canadian schools.
As a consequence of the differences between Canadian and British models of funding and educational structure, the conditions under which my own project took place were significantly different from the circumstances within which Prince developed his program. Our work was performed by university students working on a voluntary basis.These performers were generally not experienced in TIE, but they did bring with them a teacher's perspective, in that they were all enrolled in a teacher-education program. One important difference was the use of a performing environment other than the students' own classroom or school gymnasium. Another was a departure from the scripted component normally associated with TIE, which was replaced by improvisation. Yet another difference was the introduction of a non-acting, non-teaching professional in the performance.
In 1988, I was approached by a social agency (the Kingston and Region Council on Drugs and Alcohol) with a request that I participate in a project designed to educate young people about the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse. The Council was concerned about the growing rate of alcohol consumption among teenagers in our community and was looking for a way to educate groups of students who were identified as being particularly atrisk of abusing alcohol (although in selecting groups to attend the performance, they recognized that virtually all young people were at-risk). The agency wanted to use theatre art to promote their educational goals and had commissioned a local stage director to develop a scenario for use in the project.
At the time, I was teaching a university course in drama education for student teachers who were qualifying as secondary school dramatic arts specialists. I had planned to engage my students in a different kind of theatre project late in the spring term, and proposed that we substitute this as yet rather undefined but intriguing exercise in its place.With the encouragement of my students, I agreed to lead the project.
The scenario that we were presented with was based on a recent, real-life incident. A large group of adolescents had gathered on a warm summer evening at the edge of an unused, water- filled quarry just outside town. Fed by an underground spring, this deep pool had been a favourite swimming spot for young people for many years. The quarry had also become a secure place where youngsters could consume alcohol, far from the notice of parents and neighbours. Although it was possible for some young people to reach the site on foot or bicycle, many arrived in automobiles and, after an evening of swimming, socializing, and drinking, the young drivers left the quarry in no appropriate state to operate a motor vehicle. In the episode described in our scenario, a young man, having become visibly intoxicated, decided to show off his skill at the steering wheel by driving his car back and forth along the edge of the quarry, swerving and accelerating to impress his friends. He lost control of the vehicle and drove over the edge into the water. The car plunged to the bottom of the quarry. The driver was drowned.
Although this incident had all the elements necessary for an effective narrative drama, what we were given was not a playscript but, rather, an assortment of brief information sheets—one for each of the key players in the incident itself, and those in the subsequent investigation. These characters were to appear as witnesses in an inquest called to examine the cause of death; they were to recommend measures that might prevent similar occurrences in the future. The inquest was to be dramatized by the actor-teachers, improvising before an audience of teenage students. The role of the Crown Attorney was to be performed by a real lawyer who agreed to volunteer his time to support the educational goal of the project. The attorney had prepared a set of questions to ask each witness, but these questions were to be withheld from the actorteachers until they were asked in front of the audience.
I felt that the scenario and the legal structure of the inquest provided ample opportunity for us to present an effective improvised theatre piece. Through a series of fortuitous coincidences, we were given the use of the county courthouse as a setting for our performance. The courthouse in Kingston is an imposing, historic site—a grey limestone structure in Georgian style with massive pillars framing the entrance. Each of the two courtrooms is distinguished in appearance, featuring oak paneled walls and formally designated facilities for judge and jury. It is difficult to image a more appropriate or dramatically effective location for our performance. In order to accommodate a maximum number of spectators, we agreed to use both courtrooms simultaneously and acquired the services of a second lawyer to challenge a second set of witnesses.
Students attending one of these performances were addressed by a court official (one of my students performing the role) who explained the purpose and procedures of the inquest they were about to observe. Then the witnesses (also my students) were questioned individually by the attorney, who made a point of bringing out the emotional aspect of the tragedy in the course of asking details of the young people who were present at the accident, the attending physician, and the property owner. Following this questioning, the coroner directed the jury to make a finding on the basis of the evidence presented.
In preparation for the performance, each actor-teacher prepared a detailed character sketch to support the information provided in the scenario. As a group, we made an excursion to the quarry to gather visual details and to establish for ourselves a sense of immediate association with the incident. This preparation proved to be extremely useful and, as it turned out, the performance in each of the courtrooms was enhanced by the performers' familiarity with the locale. The unrelenting questions of the Crown Attorney added a compelling quality that brought out spontaneous emotional responses in the actors. The audience members were clearly awed by their surroundings and quickly became engaged in the immediacy of the inquest. This impression was confirmed by the sponsoring agency through a formal evaluation process.The young people were given an opportunity to participate more directly in the event when we invited a cross-section of observers to sit in the jury box and to formulate the coroner's recommendations. In subsequent years, when, with other groups of actor-teachers, I have repeated this dramatization, we have tried to find effective ways to include the entire audience in a decisionmaking process. For example, we have distributed jury ballots that invite all present to add to the decisions of the jury.
I would argue that this project met the principal criteria for designation as TIE because it incorporated most of the usual components of a professional TIE program as it was originally developed in England. It included a performance element; it addressed an important social issue; and, by identifying them as jury members, it engaged audience members in role-playing and decisionmaking, particularly when they withdrew to the jury room to vote on their recommendations. However, it also went beyond the traditional model of TIE in a number of important ways. Whereas TIE performances are typically presented in schools and, occasionally, theatres, our performances were given in a real courthouse. TIE normally includes a scripted play, but our performance was entirely improvised. Our use of a real lawyer in the role of the Crown Attorney was another divergence from the norm. Each of our audiences consisted of approximately one hundred students, exceeding the normal expectation in TIE that the size of the audience will be limited to one or two classes. Also, our audiences contained a mixture of students from a number of different schools. In this way, we adapted the original British model to serve our own, unique needs.
There is a temptation when comparing educational practices of different cultures and nations to adopt appealing practices, like TIE, in their entirety, in the effort to import the best of another culture to enhance one's own. However, this kind of educational consumption is often disappointing because the conditions that gave birth to the foreign practice in the first place may be absent in the adoptive culture. The goals of education may not be articulated in the same way, the funding arrangements and school structures may be radically different, etc. Specialists in comparative education have been aware of the dangers of whole-scale crosscultural adaptation for a long time. A century ago, Michael Sadler warned of the dangers of this kind of intellectual appropriation. In a conference presentation in 1900 he asserted, "We cannot wander at pleasure among the educational systems of the world, like a child strolling through a garden, and pick off a flower from one bush and some leaves from another, and then expect that if we stick what we have gathered into the soil at home we shall have a living plant" (Sadler 49).
Of course, this does not mean that we cannot learn from other countries and cultures. However, it does mean that we have to be prepared to seek out the fundamentals of the practice we are trying to adopt and to modify them to fit our own particular circumstances. For this researcher-practitioner, the foundation of TIE is the intersection of two great fields of human endeavour: to bring theatre into an educational enterprise in a way that capitalizes on the strengths of the adopting culture, and to introduce an educational purpose to high quality theatre art. These are the elements of TIE that I believe can cross borders. The mission of TIE is exactly this: to bridge the gap between theatre art and education in ways that are satisfying to open-minded theatre artists and educators and that benefit learners of any age. I feel that in adapting the essential elements of TIE to suit the particular needs and conditions of our Canadian setting, we succeeded in making this connection.
WORKS CITED
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Three Looms Waiting. Omnibus Series, 1968.
Fairhead, W. "Establishment or Alternative: Two Canadian Models." Learning Through Theatre: New Perspectives on Theatre in Education. Ed. T. Jackson. London: Routledge, 1993. 151-164.
Johnson L. and O'Neill C., eds. Dorothy Heathcote: Collected Writings on Education and Drama. London: Hutchinson, 1984.
Oddie, D. "What Future for Theatre in Education (TIE)?" Drama and Theatre in Education: Contemporary Research. Ed. J. Somers. Toronto: Captus University Publications, 1996. 244-245.
O'Farrell, L. "Theatre as Education: A Distinctively Canadian Approach to Secondary School Drama." Theatre Research in Canada 19.2 (1998): 116-124.
O'Toole, John, Theatre in Education: New Objectives for Theatre - New Techniques in Education. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1976.
Prince, Eric."The 'Heritage Coast'Project." Drama Culture and Empowerment. Eds. John O'Toole and Kate Donelan. Brisbane: IDEA Publications, 1996. 40-43.
Sadler, Michael. "How Far Can We Learn Anything of Practical Value from the Study of Foreign Systems of Education?" An Address given at the Gilford Educational Conference on Saturday 20 October 1900. Selections from Michael Sadler: Studies in World Citizenship, Ed. J.H.Higginson. Cambridge: University of Cambridge Press, 1979 (1900). 48-51.
Somers, J. Drama and Theatre in Education: Contemporary Research. Toronto: Captus University Publications, 1996.
Way, Brian. Development Through Drama. London: Longman, 1967.