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CHAPTER Two: WHAT Is A DRAMA EVENT
far from being prescriptive about the creation of DEs, hence exploring how
to reach them in drama can become a highly creative task which builds upon
a complex process of artistic meaning making.
The question providing a framework for my research aiming to use Bond’s
theory in LTD is: how can DEs be created in LTD lessons? So I first look at
how Bond defines DEs and what their role is in his theory. I then contextualise
his theory among other contemporary ideas, heading on to a literature review
related to DEs. I continue by presenting examples of DEs through the analysis
of texts, performances and rehearsal processes of Bond plays.
SHORT INTRODUCTION TO BONDIAN THEORY AND THE DRAMA EVENT
In his essays Bond refers to his own writing as drama rather than theatre and
this differentiation connects with the central aim of his work as a dramatist
and theoretician. He explains that “theatre may help you find yourself in
society, [but] drama requires you to find society in you”.”* Drama Events,
referred to as Theatre Events in Bond’s writing from before this distinction,
are crucial in creating the possibilities for the audience to ‘find society in
themselves’ by understanding how the culture they live in is present in
their thoughts and actions. Bond claims in an interview that “we should be
dramatizing the conflicts within the self and what art and drama should be
doing is increasing human self-consciousness”.*”? These dramatized conflicts
within the self should be “extreme situations which impose choice".
These choices within DEs can be created by enacting “the articulation of
the paradox, the way the self’s need for justice is misused in society”! I will
return to the second part of this quote, but first about the paradox presented
in DEs. A paradox, by definition, places an unresolvable question. This can be
used in drama, because it creates a gap that needs to be filled by the audience
with their own responses to that situation. They try to fill the gap by making
sense of the situation, giving meaning to the action of the actors. While filling
the void in meaning the audience engage in the situation on stage imaginatively
they respond to it in some way. This interaction between the stage and
the audience is central to Bond’s theory, and imagination plays a crucial role
in it. He argues that “it isn’t reason that makes us human, it’s imagination”.
228 Edward Bond: Foreword, in Nicholson, Helen: Theatre & Education, Houndmills, Palgrave
Macmillan, 2009, xii.
Peter Billingham: Drama and the Human: Reflections at the Start of a Millennium Edward
Bond, in conversation with Peter Billingham. PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art 29(3),
2007, 3.
230 Bond: Freedom and Drama, 213.
231 Edward Bond: The Cap, in Plays: 7, London, Methuen, 2003, xxxiii.
232 Edward Bond: Our Story, in The Hidden Plot, London, Methuen, 2000, 3.
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