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CHAPTER ONE: LIVING THROUGH DRAMA
He then steps out of role and asks the children what they saw. He asks them
for a scarfthat could sign Mary, which he drapes over the chair and then steps
back into role. As Joseph, he asks the family if they would take them in for
the night and they agree. He then changes roles and comes out of the house to
guestion the family about why they have welcomed these people in and taken
on the responsibility that comes with pregnant women. He tests them about
all their knowledge of taking care of babies, and the children show how to
pick up a baby, or change its nappies and so on, miming the actions, proving
that they are capable of taking care. They then sit in a circle around the scarf,
which they had agreed was Mary, and Bolton asks them to close their eyes and
tells them the story of the birth. He folds the scarf into a baby-shape, and says
that the people had to wait for a long time before the morning came and they
could go in. When the children open their eyes he has the ‘baby’ in his arms
and asks them what it should be called — they all say Jesus — he then starts
a ritual of passing the baby around. Finally, the last child puts the baby back
with his mother and they all sing Silent Night.'”
Bolton explains that the lesson uses “a number oftheatrical devices (symbol,
ritual, narrative, miming simple tasks, etc.)” so that “the central theme of the
ordinariness and extraordinariness of this event is experienced”.'”* Looking
at the structure we see a step by step entry into the use of sign, into behaving
‘as if’ we were in the fiction. Marking the space as a fictional site; the teacher
modelling the ‘as if’ behaviour; the children contributing to establishing
signs by giving the scarf; the children stepping into role as well; the teacher
using another role to test their commitment to the decision made in the role
and towards the ‘as if’ signing. All these steps make it possible for them to
experience being in the fiction and to close their eyes and imagine the birth
and thus make the most of experiencing the extraordinariness. Learning to
use the sign system is not in order to help communicate with an audience,
but so that the participants can engage in ‘fiction-making’ more confidently.
The awareness of the ‘as if’ doesn’t seem to come in the way of experiencing,
contrarily it allows it to be experienced as a played event rather than as reality,
which perhaps allows a greater security in going into it. Bolton’s structure
allows learning to handle the form of making the fiction to be intertwined
with the content of narrative, both elements are simultaneously built into
the process.
The Crucible drama is aimed at a different age-group and the event chosen
is different too, but the awareness of using the dramatic form is structured
into the tasks here as well. Bolton planned the session to offer an example of
preparing students to study a text. He says about the church scene described
25 Bolton: New Perspectives, 82.
26 Ibid.
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