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BEING IN THE SITUATION — THREE RE-INTERPRETATIONS OF LTD
The different approaches to creating the self-spectator raised questions about
how verbal and how rational the understanding of the participants needs to
be, Bolton points out that Heathcote strives for an element of detachment
beside the engagement she has built. I finished with Bolton’s analysis of a boy
playing a soldier and his conclusion that spectatorship is present on many
different levels because of his awareness of making fiction as he is playing.
These examples suggest that the aim of distancing is present in Heathcote’s
early work in the notion of self-spectatorship as claimed by Eriksson’
and Heathcote’” herself, but this is based on a powerful element of living
through a crisis. In MoE self-spectatorship is created by being distanced from
experiencing the crisis, while the living through aspect of that drama focuses
on responsibility and sympathy towards others and not questioning of our
own values.
Two aspects of the nature of the crisis in these drama lessons are useful to
carry forward in my research. The crisis developing from actions of the roles in
the fiction and it being connected in elements of their nature to the participant’s
reality are aspects to test in my research lessons. Out of the two different
directions of self-spectatorship the one that builds on creating awareness of
the use of sign, rather than the one that creates a distanced rational reflection
is the one more suited to connect with a Bondian approach. Bond aims for
creating space for understanding from within the situation rather than from
a distance, this is discussed in detail in the next chapter.
The following section looks at examples of three different re-interpretations
of Heathcote’s LTD.
BEING IN THE SITUATION — THREE RE-INTERPRETATIONS OF LTD
Both Bolton" and Davis!" point out that Heathcote turned away from the first¬
hand encounter of the crisis in drama that allowed participants to question
their values, and in her Mantle of the Expert approach offered a frame that
created opportunities of a distanced investigation of critical situations. Bolton
describes his, O’Neill’s and Davis’ work as re-interpretations of Heathcote’s
LTD." In this section I examine a few examples of their practice, looking
at how participants are enhanced into ‘being’ in the fiction, what sorts of
crises they encounter in it, and also the nature of spectatorship that is created
through the drama lessons.
ue Eriksson: Distancing.
Davis: Dorothy Heathcote interviewed.
Bolton: Acting in Classroom Drama.
Davis: Edward Bond and Drama in Education; Davis: Imagining the Real.
Bolton: Acting in Classroom Drama.
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