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CHAPTER SIX: CONTEXT AND FURTHER USE OF THE FINDINGS OF MY ACTION RESEARCH
imagined character and situation prior to an ‘authentic’ role play is, in fact,
a mythologised dilution of the working practices of Stanislavski, Michael
Chekov and their followers who constitute the historical and contemporary
face of behavioural realism in acting”.””
I have previously highlighted how this description misrepresents
the theatre background of the practices of living through that I examined.
Here I will only reflect on my lessons in relation to this understanding of LTD.
I incorporated theatre theory and practices of Edward Bond in my drama
lesson and the aim was clearly not ‘authentic role play’, but the exploration of
both the content of the narrative and the theatre form. This was even made
explicit for participants in the second cycle. The inclusion of basic theatre
theory in the lessons was received very positively by participants, as I have
described in the previous chapter, and made them aware of themselves as
creators of art. My research shows that theatre structures and concepts are
compatible with LTD; on the one hand these structures can enrich the living
through exploration, on the other hand their use in the process can deepen
the participants’ understanding of the theatre form. My finding contradicts
a very widely spread misunderstanding of the living through approach.
Concerning the question related to the protection of participants in
the fiction, raised by Fleming in reflection of his experience of Bolton’s Crucible
drama," I reached the conclusion from analysing the data collected in my
research that the extreme-ness of the narrative reinforces the fictional nature
of the drama, making it safer for participants to explore freely. However, this
is just one aspect of the protection of participants, which needs to remain
a central concern of anyone engaging in educational activity. This remains an
interesting territory for further exploration.
The important question raised by Fleming in the afterword to Davis’s
Imagining the Real about the manner of reflection in LTD is useful to re¬
consider: “I think there is more work to be done in distinguishing the reflection
that is acknowledged as being part of metaxis in living through drama from
the reflection that is part of more distanced modes of working”.’”"! Though
I was not able to focus on comparing the two modes of reflection in my
research, the focus on objects in many cases opened interesting possibilities for
reflection in my lessons. The aim in my lessons was to create a reflection from
within the narrative that connects a rational and a felt understanding born
out of imaginative response to the crises in the situation. The investigation
of this issue could perhaps be connected with the further examination of
the use of objects in creating understanding and reflection.
7 Neelands: Mirror, Dynamo or Lens, 146.
750 Fleming: Interview, 2.
751 Fleming: Afterword, 169.
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