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SECOND CYCLE
While there was a consensus on the usefulness of the objects in the lesson
in the focus group there was also criticism of the use of space. Ihough some
of the participants enjoyed re-working the former holiday camp into a refugee
camp, others were critical of the whole drama happening in the camp space.
"I found the space very restrictive, that we had to remain in the camp. It was
too small. And it also restricted our thinking”.° This was a conscious choice
of the facilitator, to explore the usefulness of the constraints offered by
the space. Others explained that the buildings were not very useful because
they lacked detail, and “they just remained buildings” so were hard to use.
Others agreed: “Yes. Objects are much better because they are specific.
An apple expresses more than someone standing around on a balcony”.°®
Participants themselves offered thoughts about what could make
the specific site more usable, one girl said “we would need a space that really
defines what we can do in it”, while another participant pointed out that
“if there had been details about the space that we knew then it would have
been easier to work on them"." Instead of designing the full camp it would
have been useful to focus on just one part of the space, designing that in more
detail, giving it more history, would have offered those possibilities that some
participants missed.
The lack ofa problem or contradiction placed as a narrative opened space for
participants to bring in their interests, but I was not able to develop the stories
being invented in the lesson into situations offering opportunities of powerful
improvisations on my feet. This realisation led me to plan the narrative into
the second version of the lesson.
While the objects inspired dramatic action, the space only “gave a sense of
the whole things atmosphere”. Designing elements of space that carry more
profound contradictions or sharper content that can be tested in the situations
could open different opportunities. However, designing a space of this quality
would demand particular skills and understanding that participants would
need to be prepared for. This direction would be worth testing further in
future research. The space and the objects did not hinder the application
of the Bondian devices, though there was very little improvisation involved
because of the lack of the narrative. The lack of a narrative development made
the use of most dramaturgical structures difficult as they rely on the progress
of a story. This led me to develop the second version of this lesson which
included a stronger narrative line. I am going to discuss that together with
other narratives used in the second cycle of the research.
664 Tbid.
665 F 56A.
666 Tbid.
667 Tbid.
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