Oldal 22 [22]
LIVING THROUGH OR LIVING THROUGH
I will analyse some examples of LTD. Studying the practice of prominent
experts of this approach will benefit the development of my action research.
I will look at cases of Dorothy Heathcote’s work, and then at examples of how
Gavin Bolton, Cecily O’Neill and David Davis developed the living through
form. I will examine the differences between living through and other forms
of drama, going on to define those components that show the strongest
connections to Bondian drama.
LIVING THROUGH OR LIVING THROUGH?
Experiencing is a synonym of living through which is often used in describing
drama. A book that argues for improving schools with drama quotes a student
saying “drama is different from anything else at school because you get to
really experience real life things and problems”;* in a publication arguing for
using drama in teaching literature, history or languages claims it is useful
because “the participants experience a number of scenarios, or ‘episodes’”.*”
Winston and Tandy use living through as a synonym of experiencing when
they state that drama “can offer valuable opportunities to place learning in
real human contexts by making stories and living through them, rather than
hearing them told by the teacher”.** But as an approach LTD comprises much
more than experiencing.
John O’Toole defines the LTD as “experiential role-play”® and states that
it “is the dominant specific convention of form used in drama in education,
the characters are living through the narrative synchronously”.# O’Toole
puts the emphasis on the “it is happening to us here and now"" element of
the living through form. Michael Fleming, in an interview for this research,
describes LTD as “whatever is happening it is unfolding in real time".? Besides
the immediacy of being in the fictional events, which is central in both
definitions, he highlights the progression of the narrative, the importance
of something being in change as participants are in it. Fleming offers a more
detailed account of ‘living through’ improvisations elsewhere:
36 Patrice Baldwin: School Improvement Through Drama: a creative whole class, whole school
approach, London, Continuum, 2009, 8.
37 Erika Piazzoli: Engage or Entertain? The Nature of Teacher/Participant Collaboration in
Process Drama for Additional Language Teaching, Scenario, 6, 2012/2, 30.
38 Joe Winston — Miles Tandy: Beginning Drama 4-7, 3° edn., London, Routledge, 2009, 76.
% John O'Toole: The Process of Drama; Negotiating Art and Meaning, London, Routledge,
1992, 136.
#0 Ibid.
“Ibid.
12 Michael Fleming: Michael Fleming interviewed by Add4m Bethlenfalvy at University of
Theatre and Film Arts Budapest, 29 January 2014, Appendix D.
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