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FIRST CYCLE
Children
Children was a three-lesson series based on a Bond play described and analysed
in the second chapter. After examining how elements of this play could be made
into DEs there, I decided to explore parts of the narrative in a series of drama
lessons too. I wanted to investigate if the Centre can be utilised by participants
if offered as a scene of the drama in the beginning, and how participants react
to the Extreme as it appears in plays by Bond. I also studied the concept of
Cathexis of objects by working with a few recurring central objects through
the series. The narrative through the lessons was the following:
After a short introduction, the first lesson started with the participants creating
a space that lies by abandoned train tracks where a group of young people from
an estate nearby meet. The participants watched a scene where Joe, a boy in
the group (teacher in role) said goodbye to his teddy bear and then whacked it
with a brick. They met Joe in a whole group improvisation where he told them
that his mother had asked him to burn a house down on the new estate, where
posh houses were being built. Joe asked them to swear not to tell anyone what
he told them. The participants found out that Joe burnt the house down as they
met him at the abandoned railway station, it turned out that a child was also in
the building who died. The next lesson started with Joe bringing in the cuddly
toy of the boy who died in the fire and asking the help of the group in creating a
memorial. Later a policeman came to their space who questioned them about the
fire. As Joe was not there at this point the group decided to warn him and went
to his house but they could only talk to his mother who would not allow them to
talk to him. When they went back they found the father of the dead child in the
place who had recognised his son’s teddy bear in the memorial and demanded to
know how it got there. The group did not tell him anything and he left with his
son’s teddy. In the last lesson, the group
found out that their meeting space had
been cordoned off by the police, but
they received a letter from Joe, who gave
himself up to the police. The group went
to the police station and one of them
was able to meet Joe. Joe gave them his
teddy. Finally, the group decided to give
Joe’s teddy to his mother. The children
confronted her, but she protested against
taking the teddy from them.
I analyse many moments of this
series after giving a short introduction Drawing by a participant of
to the other two series in this cycle. the drama lesson
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