Adversity and Innovation

The pandemic of 2020 put the whole world on a technology-driven online stage like never before. The new stage called for innovation and new forms of creativity. The Theatre-in-Education team at ATA was also caught unprepared, especially the all-pervasive nature of the consequences. The team was confronted by questions of relevance and the role of educators at a time like this. This chapter describes the processes involved in crafting and successfully conducting two types of online workshops using theatre methods as the principal platform. Theatre is a group activity which involves touching, feeling, comprehending, and connecting through close contact with other participants. One must recognize that this essential component of theatre cannot be accomplished through online sessions. Despite this, the workshops had an immense impact on the children's personal development and added the element of fun to their online experience which might otherwise have remained dry and boring.

An Exploration of Pre-Service Student Teachers' Understanding of Social Justice Issues Through Theatre-in-Education

The aim of this qualitative study was to establish how students' understanding of social justice was enhanced through their participation in the theatre-in-education process, and its contribution to their learning. The population of the study comprised all students registered for the third-year education module, Issues and Challenges in Education-PGED 302. The population included Bachelor of Education (Foundation Phase, Intermediate Phase, and FET) students. Of the population of 300 students registered for the module, only 72 Bachelor of Education (Intermediate Phase) students who participated in the theatre-in-education presentations, constituted the sample for the study. Data comprised students' written reflections based on their theatre-in-education experiences, which were coded and analysed thematically. The study indicated that students' understanding of social justi ce in education was enhanced through their participation in their theatre-in-education presentations.

Using Forum Theatre to Develop Various Levels of Thinking Skills among Moral Education Students in Secondary School

Purpose –The power of forum theatre in education and various field is well known by educators. However, the use of forum theatre in Malaysia, particularly in the field of moral education, is still lacking and limited. At the same time, the development of thinking skills is one of the aims of the moral education curriculum in Malaysia. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the use of forum theatre as a pedagogical tool in developing various levels of thinking skills among moral education students. Method –This study adopted a qualitative research design and was underpinned by Bloom’s revised taxonomy as the theoretical and analytical framework. A total of 14 moral education students participated in this study. Data were collected qualitatively using classroom observation, interviews, and journal writing. Thematic analysis was utilized to analyse and present the findings. Findings –The findings of this study reveal that various theatrical activities that underpinned the four elements of forum theatre-(i) writing a script, (ii) delivering a dialogue in an anti-model play, (iii) discussion and decision-making in a forum session, and (iv) improvisation in an intervention play-show the development of students’thinking skill level such as analysing, evaluating, and creating skills. Therefore, this study suggests that forum theatre can be used in moral education pedagogy to enhance higher order thinking skills (HOTS). Significance –Meaningful instructional pedagogy must inspire thinking skills to foster creativity and innovation among students. This is considered an important skill in 21st century learning. Therefore, these findings are beneficial for teachers, lecturers, parents, and instructional designers to plan and implement suitable teaching methods such as forum theatre to empower and improve students’ thinking skill levels.

Watch Out! Theatre Is Anywhere – Redistributing the Ethics of Arts Education and Applied Theatre

The intention with this study is to examine and develop the discourse of arts in education and applied drama/theatre in relation to democracy, in particular the concept of “post-democracy” (Crouch, 2004, 2016; Mouffe, 2009; Rancière, 1999; Swyngedouw, 2011). Post-democracy is a concept that holds a critical view on current societies, describing conditions of economic, ecological and social crisis including boredom, frustration, oppression, apathy, disillusion and violence. We have identified a few key characteristics and challenges within a post-democratic society, such as “consensus”, “fictionalization” and “paradoxicality”. In this chapter, we are interested to see how such characteristics may influence individual democratic life, and how drama/theatre in education can respond to those key characteristics and influences. We argue that such responses concern the working procedures and production formats, as well as the recognition of the social and political role of arts education. This relation of art and society asks for aesthetic platforms that allow young people to explore felt issues of (post-)democracy on the individual and/or the collective level. It furthermore asks for a social responsibility and an ethics which are autonomous to the critical, artistic participant, ethics perhaps different from the ethical expectations distributed by neoliberal society. This is shown by two cases of performance that also solve the potential relation and political role by blurring art and social activism.

THE TEACHER IN THE ROLE OF THE CLASSROOM STAGE

The article offers an attempt to present school theatre as a method for innovative teaching in the parameters of the modern school. Presents the teacher’s approach in a role by preparing students for theatrical performances. The different epoch has its relation to the theatre and its purpose. Every educator engaged in the mission to lead a school theatre; it is good to know the basic normative aesthetics. The school theatre is not a space for professional actors, but a territory for students. Theories of theatre, public performance, roleplaying, theatre in education and stage interpretations will be presented. Theatre and speech techniques are very closely related, so a short oratory manual will be described. Methodological practices and positive experiences are shared.

USING FORUM THEATRE TO DEVELOP VARIOUS LEVELS OF THINKING SKILLS AMONG MORAL EDUCATION STUDENTS IN SECONDARY SCHOOL

Purpose –The power of forum theatre in education and various other fields is well known by educators. However, the use of forum theatre in Malaysia, particularly in the field of moral education, is still limited. At the same time, the development of thinking skills is one of the aims of the Malaysian moral education curriculum. Therefore, this study examined the use of forum theatre as a pedagogical tool in developing various levels of thinking skills among moral education students. Method –The study adopted a qualitative research design and was underpinned by Bloom’s revised taxonomy as the theoretical and analytical framework. A total of 14 moral education students participated in this study. Data were collected qualitatively using classroom observations, interviews, and journal writing. Thematic analysis was utilized to analyse and present the findings. Findings –The findings revealed that various theatrical activities that underpinned the four elements of forum theatre: (i) writing a script, (ii) delivering a dialogue in an anti-model play, (iii) discussion and decision-making in a forum session, and (iv) improvisation in an intervention play, show the development of students’ thinking skills at the level of analysing, evaluating and creating. Therefore, this study suggests that forum theatre can be used in moral education pedagogy to enhance higher order thinking skills. Significance – Meaningful instructional pedagogy must inspire thinking skills to foster creativity and innovation among students. This is considered an important skill in 21st century learning. Hence, these findings are beneficial for teachers, lecturers, parents and instructional designers who wish to plan and implement suitable teaching methods such as forum theatre to empower and improve students’ thinking skill levels.

Brechtian Methodology in Wise’s The Sound of Music: Insights into Theatre in Education

Methods are problem solving devices for the benefit of education in society. When a method assumes regimental fixations, society suffers hackneyed bouts of limitation and contention necessitating flux. This paper examines issues of regimentalism as they affect society in Robert Wise’s The Sound of Music, and the staccato notes of change inevitably mobilizing a Brechtian methodological reading amplifying social change, in a Theatre in Education performance. Bertolt Brecht (1898-1965), accomplished German director, playwright and theorist, mobilized theatre for social change by setting up Marxist dialectics in pursuit of retrenchment of total empathy; giving free reign to critical consciousness in theatrical productions. This paper has investigated analytically, the representations of this Brechtian methodology in The Sound of Music with the manifest result that the experiment in the movie has produced a healthier and better organized society than the German regimental machine. Key Words: Education, Theatre in Education, Brecht, Alienation Effect, Social Change, Family, Critical, Learning and Socialization

A systematic review of applied theatre practice in the Indian context of mental health, resilience and wellbeing

This systematic review seeks to evaluate the documented uses of applied theatre practice within an Indian context. For the purposes of this review, specific applied theatre practices were focused upon, notably community theatre, theatre in education, theatre in health education and Theatre for Development. This article was written in preparation for a collaborative research project (<uri xlink:href="https://mhri-project.org">http://mhri-project.org</uri>) utilizing community theatre practices to investigate mental health and resilience within slum (basti) communities in the city of Pune, in the state of Maharashtra in India. At its most particular level, the review focuses on theatre interventions within migrant slum communities. Of specific interest is the conjunction of applied theatre with research and practice in mental health and wellbeing, and how such collaborations have investigated levels and modes of mental resilience within migrant communities. The review also draws upon related global research to contextualize and inform the Indian context. At present, systematic reviews are not prevalent within the research fields of theatre generally or applied theatre specifically, yet these reviews arguably offer the breadth of objective evidence required to interrogate the efficacy of this practice. This review is therefore intended to rigorously map the existing academic research and the more diffuse online dialogues within India that are pertinent to the subject; to consider the relations, contradictions, absences and inconsistencies within this literature; and, from this, to articulate key findings that may be integrated into the planning and delivery of new initiatives within this field.