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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. 19 29 + 70 +
