from one of the participant’s reflective diaries (PRD) the images portrayed his
interest loosely connected to the theme, like Star Trek, rather than anything
to do with the narrative we were building.
The reason behind the failure to have a deep impact with this series can
be manifold: problems with sequencing, or finding the angle of connection
to the material for the group, or misjudging group dynamics could all have
played a role in this. Concerns related to all these elements are reflected in my
reflective diary,°* I will not analyse these issues in detail here as they connect
with concepts discussed elsewhere. But it was an incident from another
series of drama lessons which helped in creating some insights regarding
the central question of this section, of how Site A, our contemporary world,
can be brought into the drama.
In Children, the series based on the Bond play, I made no attempt to
connect the drama with any specific contemporary issue. The burning
down of the house gripped the imagination of some of the participants, one
of them kept returning to it in the focus group. At one point he said that
the burning house reminded him of Syria, where “terrorists come and burn
houses down, Putin drops bombs”.°”” When probed further if there are any
other connections between that situation and our drama he responded saying
“I just said it because of the burning house, that is what they do these days,
burn down houses. Blow them up”. The connection between the two worlds
was made through the image of the burning house, even though I had not
aimed for it consciously.
One possible problem with how contemporary issues were brought into
the Out of Space lessons was that the situation remained quite general,
the problem was not reflected, condensed into a powerful image or situation