Issues

Welcome to the page that lets you - my faithful web-viewers - share in the issues that really, REALLY bug me. Through this page I hope you will find some small way of helping remove these inflictions from the body of humanity.

This week's issue....

Drama is for EVERYONE

A slightly less political issue this time (we'll get onto New Labour, the ultimate right-wing party another time...) but an important one all the same.

It has reccently become an vocation of mine to spead this gospel, so I figure if I'm gonna spend my whole yr out doing it, I might as well start here on my very own (albeit humble) site.
I my years of state schooling, I've found a common misconception - that drama is the reserved right for all-singing, all-dancing, child-acting geniuses and those who want a doss subject (oh, and as a post script to the last issue - concearning the slamming of subjects such as phsycology as 'easy' at A-level, there's no such thing as an easy subject). This is not the way it should be. Drama can help everyone, no matter what their natural acting talent and intelligence.
It is almost unique amongst school subject as it requires little writing skills (see eng, hist, modern languages, etc), physical prowess, like P.E (AKA torture for self-conscious teenagers). Everyone can do it, and do reasonably well (at least up till GCSE, when academic study of the disipline begins) and yet it is seen as a cop-out, a bit of fun for one afternoon a week - when what it sould be is a central part of a persons development (especially in a school system that values exam results over all else, often at personal cost to childhood, in my humble opinion).
Drama develops skills such as teamwork, much more so than physical education where the emphasis is on copetition and physical ability. Working together to produce something, rather than working together to beat someone else is an ideal more important than ever in view of the reccent war.
In addition to this, drama develops a person's confidence in public speaking. I'll admit not everyone has to sing, dance and act in front of a large audience, but the majority of people at some time in there lives will have to give a persentation or speak in front of others for whatever reason. Being used to moving and talking with people's full atention on you is a useful skill to have, in this particular area being an audence during a lesson is just as educational as being the performer - no one could argue with teaching children the importance of listening.
Drama also helps bring out people's creative side. After lesson after lesson where 'yes/no' answers are required (eg, maths, science etc), where there are strict formlas and rules for producing work, I can't help but see drama as a godsend - where every last aspect of what you are doing is up to. Yes there are rules and disiplines in drama - some of them incredably strict, but with the age group I'm talking about (4-14) things like Stanislazski's ten rules for method acting don't really apply, and it's more about creative thinking (or if you prefer - lateral thinking, something people like Edward de Bono believe is essencal to a child's education). In my early drama lessons (which didn't begin untill year 7) we were never encoraged to think things such as 'why not put the end of the plot at the beginning of the performance?' or 'what effect would mime have in building an image of this family's life?'. Infact, as far as I can remember (but it was a long time ago) drama lesson's were mainly about making people laugh, and while I firmly believe comedy is the key to almost any performance I also feel this crude, slapstick humour left no space for us to explore the more subtle effects of performance. Of course, this was to be expected - we were all slightly nervous at being infront of an audience and making them laugh is a very effective way to overcome this feeling, especially at an age were 'sentimental' issues can seem naff. But my very point is, if children were taught to be comfortable infront of an audience, and explored different genres in a more sytamatic way, then there wouldn't be this need to resort to farce.
So, to conclude - drama has for too long been seen as a cop-out, a subject that requires no effort. it is time to see it for what it is - a vital and hopefully enjoyable part of EVERY child's education.

If you have a comment - Whether you agree whole-heartly, or think I'm a crazy dissatisfied teenager in need of a cause - then send it to me at [email protected]