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FACILITATING ‘BEING’ IN THE SITUATION — STRUCTURES USED IN LTD AND BONDIAN DRAMA
one perspective it could mean being able to read actions at different levels and
from another, it means creating drama that can be read at different levels.
In our case there is no need to look at the two processes separately as they are
interrelated.
Fleming argues that “creating different levels of meaning in drama arises
specifically through the use of irony (when the audience’s perception extends
beyond that of the participants) and through the use of framing action (when
the meaning of what follows is changed by the initial actions)”.°'” But for
purposes of my research dramatic irony might not be the appropriate tool
to create layers of meaning as it builds on the spectators being aware of
elements of the situation that those in role do not know. This could work
against enhancing participant’s being engrossed in the situation. However,
Fleming also refers to other drama in education methods of “injecting layers
of meaning”, one of these is discussed in detail by Davis as “five layers of
meaning""" derived from Heathcote’s work. Davis explains that “Heathcote
argued that there were at least five major levels in an action: the action itself;
its motivation; what was invested in the action; from where it was learned; and
its universal dimension or what it revealed about the stance of the participant
or, in a more immediately useable form, how life should or should not be”.°?°
The same in a practical table format, from Davis’s book:
ACTION what is done
MOTIVATION immediate reason
INVESTMENT why it is so important / what’s at stake
MODEL where learned this from (positive/negative model)
LIFE-VIEW how life should or should not be (stance)*”!
Davis offers examples of using this structure in analysing different actions
of roles in situations. He also uses it to enhance the creation of significant
moments in drama and points out that it can also be useful for teachers
to assess their students’ level of thinking. There are other uses as well of
the structure. I was working on the stance of a role in a theatre in education
programme when I met this structure for the first time. I have also seen
Heathcote®” use it with students directly in the analysis of moments, and
517 Fleming: Art of drama teaching, 5.
Fleming: Teaching drama in Primary and Secondary, 33.
Davis: Imagining the Real, 66.
520 Ibid., 67.
521 Ibid.
522 Dorothy Heathcote’s Masterclass in Budapest, organised by Kava Kulturalis Mtihely, 6-9!"
April, 2009
518
519
* 143