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FACILITATING ‘BEING’ IN THE SITUATION — STRUCTURES USED IN LTD AND BONDIAN DRAMA
creating spaces with paper location, the use of teacher in role, creating lists,
depictions in small groups, and so on. The following concepts are used in
structuring different forms into a process.
Sequencing: Cooper differentiates between what is visible from the structure
of the tasks in a drama lesson and how the participants experience it. He says
that sequencing is “the step-by-step staging of tasks by the teacher, either pre¬
planned or negotiated with the students, which is externally observable”.’°®
Cooper explains that “teachers often think of sequencing in terms of story
line and can fall into the trap of building external coherence (i.e. logical
for the teacher only) rather than internal coherence (where each step
builds coherently for the student)”.°’ Sequencing needs to go together with
the concept of internal coherence.
Internal Coherence: In the planning of a drama lesson the teacher needs
to change perspectives and look at the structure from the point of view
of participants to be able to assess whether it has the appropriate internal
coherence. Davis offers a detailed explanation:
Internal coherence is achieved by ensuring that the mental dimensions conjured
up in one stage of the work are compatible with the next. It is the internal logic
experienced by the students as they go through a sequence of activities. All the parts
are logically organized, consistent with each other and comprehensible to
the receiver because the internal structure they exist within develops without
dissonant factors for the participants.°!°
Focus: A clear focus for the structure can also help in creating the coherence
of the tasks and situations. Bolton sees finding the focus as a playwright
function of the drama teacher and explains that the focus “should create
the kind of imperative tension likely to appeal to that particular class of pupils
and should provide a vehicle for the themes and images to be explored”.5
Pre-text: Another concept is used by O’Neill who builds her process dramas
on pre-text, which she explains ideally
‘rings up the curtain’ by framing the participants effectively and economically
in a firm relationship to the potential action. It may hint at previous events and
508 Chris Cooper: A Child Without a Story is a Human Shell, Unpublished workshop handouts,
workshop organised by Käva Kulturälis Mühely, Budapest, 25-26 January and 28-19 March,
2013, 1.
5® Ibid.
5 Davis: Imagining the Real, 84.
5H Bolton: New perspectives, 35.
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