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FURTHER EXAMINATION OF THE BONDIAN ÁPPROACH
of radical innocence when it is confronted by a conflict between itself and
social teaching, which social teaching cannot reconcile or conjure away",
states Bond. Responding to these unresolvable conflicts are acts of creating
the self, according to Bond, ? as the responder creates her stance in relation
to the guestions arising from the conflict. He states that dramas subject is
"society in people".?6
Bond defines the role of drama as dramatizing the human paradox and
creating the possibility for the audience to respond to it.*”” In this way drama
will be offering problems within the individual linked to living in society
in specific situations, and by offering the audience the gap produced by
the unresolvable problems, it will give them space to create their own response
to it, hence a chance to create themselves.
Bond is very specific in his definition of what needs to happen on stage
to make this possible, he developed a set of concepts that can be used in the
artistic process. I discuss these in detail in the following chapter. The central
concept of my research, the Drama Event is linked strongly to the human
paradox discussed above. It is the dramatic expression of the clash produced
within the self between our human need for justice and the elements of
the culture we live in that become ingrained in our selves. | think Bond’s
theory can be used effectively in the analysis of narratives and situations used
in Living Through Drama lessons. This theory can be used in defining central
moments to explore with participants to open up questions concerning
the complex and contradictory relationship of the individual and society.
In the following section I discuss the relationship of drama and the audience
through looking at the differences between one of the most influential theatre
theorists of the twentieth century and Bond’s theory of drama.
Bond and Brecht: the Role of the Audience in Drama
As discussed in the previous chapter Brechtian distancing is a major
influence on contemporary drama in education. In this section I examine
what the differences between Bond’s and Brecht’s approach to drama are,
as this research aims to transfer these differences into the field of drama in
education as well.
Any theory of theatre needs to deal with the role of the audience
in relation to performance as theatre presupposes the existence of
spectators. The contemporary philosopher Jacques Ranciére’s essay titled
324 Edward Bond: Commentary on The War Plays, in The War Plays, Revised edn., London,
Methuen, 1991, 258.
325 Bond: Freedom and Drama, 210.
326 Tbid., 212.
327 Tbid., 211.