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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 + 171 +
