Oldal 52 [52]
BEING IN THE SITUATION — THREE RE-INTERPRETATIONS OF LTD
hopefully employed in the improvisation as well, where the facilitator offers
similar tools — defining the space, the objects, including constraints, thinking
through the levels of meaning.
In the short drama about leaving the suitcase at the neighbour’s Davis
starts with another improvisation of neighbours discussing things earlier,
offering specific ideas what they could talk about. He then asks them to find
new pairs and narrates the situation around the meeting. While one member
of the pair is setting up the space the other member gets information from
the teacher that is about why he/she wants to leave the suitcase there. In this
case Davis relies on the existing cultural/political context of the Palestinian
participants to raise important questions and look at elements of drama with
a simple improvisation task.
In both examples ‘being’ in the situation is facilitated by building or using
specific contexts, playing a role is enhanced by offering elements or objects
that can be used in the playing. These examples are by no way exhaustive,
another example discussed later employs a lengthy process of building role,
and in another example Davis begins the drama with groups designing
a space. Our actions have meaning in relation to the context they are done
in, and the context influences what we do. The examples discussed here from
Davis aim to contextualise being in the fiction, so actions can be understood
in their complexity.
Two things stand out for me in Davis’s drama, one is the emphasis on
coding the socio-cultural elements into the fictional situation practically so
they can be examined further, and the other is offering the aim of making
meaning as the basis of theatre work and also some tools and concepts to
rework the scenes and use the same tools in improvisations too. These ideas
are experimented with in the empirical research I conduct.
Metaxis and Seeing Ideology
In the examples discussed above the participants create an awareness of
the art form, Davis puts emphasis on learning about using theatre as well.
Beside this aspect of ‘making’ there is also an element of creating the story
in the open-ended improvisations of the neighbours and in the stable.
The detail put into creating the fictitious spaces makes the participants aware
of being in the fictional world. These elements help in creating the sense of
being in two worlds at the same time, the metaxis Davis explicitly aims for.©
In the examples participants engage in situations where values clash within
the fictional roles, but they also remain roles, so participants can freely
explore representing values others than their own. In the fiction they see how
168 Tbid., 53.
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