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Durham E-Theses The development of drama in education 1902-1944: an account of the developing awareness of the educational possibilities of drama with particular reference to English schools Cox, Timothy James How to cite: Cox, Timothy James (1970) The development of drama in education 1902-1944: an account of the developing awareness of the educational possibilities of drama with particular reference to English schools, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/10061/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 TLE DEVELOPMENT OF DRAMA IN Ei)U CATION 1902-1944 An account of the developing awareness of the educational possibilities of drama with particular reference to English schools. A TNESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF EDUCATION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF DURIiAM by Timothy James Cox The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without April, 1970 his prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. TbA PhVALOA-i.L„;_.T D1A1..A If. „;DLCAAfur-, lg02-1^44 An account of the developing awareness of the educational possibilities of drama with particular reference to English ochools Abstract of An A.Ed. Thesis by T. J. COX The thesis attempts to describe some of the main trends in thought ana practice concerning the role of drama in education during the period flanked by the isducation Acts of 1902 ana 1944. Chapter 1 deals with the new movements in education and the theatre which were conducive to the development of drama in English schools di.ring the early decades of the twentieth century. In Chapter II, an account of two con• ferences on dramc. and education held during the twenties gives an indication as to how far thinking had progressed by that time. Chapter III allows for comparisons to be made with developments elsewhere, by giving details of the creative dramatics movement in tne United States of America and the following chapter traces the official attitude towards drama's place inhnglish schools as exemplified in hoard of Education publications ana major Committee Reports. Chapters V-VII discuss the main aspects of dramatic ac• tivity in the schools and Chapter VIII treats in some detail the work of five pioneers in the field of educational drama. CONTENTS Page PREFACE U) CHAPTER I - A CLIMATE POIc DRAMA IN EDUCATION Introduction 1 Part 1 - The New Education 3 Part 2 - The Revival of the Theatre 34 CHAPTER II - TP0 EARLY CONFERENCE^ DEALING P1TL DRAMA AKD EDUCATION Introduction 48 Part 1 ~ National Edxication in and through the Drama .. 50 Part 2 - Drama arid Education . 56 CNAPTEA III - CREATIVE DRAMATICS IN TEE UNITED STATES .. .. .. .• 64 CHAPTER IV - T;,E OFFICIAL VIEWPOINT OF DJRAMA • 3 PLACE IN EDUCATION 94 CHAPTER V - ASPECTS OF SCHOOL DRAMA 113 CAAPTEA VI - Part 1 - The Dramatic Method .. 138 Part 2 - The Dramatic Approach to Literature 150 Part 3 - The Dramatic Method in History 158 Part 4 - Drama and Religious Education 171 CNA.'TER VII - TPE SC1..00L PLAY I83 ClxAP'TER VIII - i/lVM i'loNEERS • « introduction 202 Oarriet Finlay-Johnson 205 Caldwell Cool; ana The Play ,ay 220 Miss Gilpin and The Ball School 244 Peter slade and Child Drama .. 253 A. R. Stone .. 275 CONCLUSION 288 1 Ajri'iilsDIX 0N3 - STitfJCTURji OT iSDUCATlOI.' IK TIAi UNITED STATES .. .. 290 APPENDIX TL'O - A bOHPTING HISTORY PLAY . 291 APPEr.DIX THREE - KATURE-STUDY DliAx^ATIiilii) AT bONPTING 294 APPENEIX POUR - PLAY-MAKING AT TPE PERSE . 296 APPENDIX PTVE - PETER BLADE' S CLTLD DRAi.Jl .. .. 300 LIBLIOGRAPiPY I - OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS 301 II - EDUCATIONAL JOURNALS 303 III - DOORS .. .. .. .. .• .. .. .. 304 (i) P it E F A C E There is no doubt that during; recent years an increasing amount of time has been devoted to dramatic activity in the schools of this country. An obvious indication of the interest shown in this development was the Department of Education and Science's Survey 2 made in 1966 and 1967. Many people would suggest that the real impetus to present-day developments in school drama came after the Second ,,orld l;ar with the wider dissemination of the views ax id ideas of thinkers and practitioners in the field. The spirit of the Butler Education Act was entirely on the side of those who sought "to ensure a fuller measure of education and opportunity for- young- people and to provide means for all of developing the various talents with which they are endowed. One would not deny that great strides have been made in educational drama since the Second uorld War. but what of the less immediate past? Were there any indica• tions of a developing awareness of the educational possibilities of drama during the earlier decades of this century? Introduction to jJoarci of Education Publication, Educational Reconstruction (1943)• (ii) This thesis is an attempt to suggest that there were. The thesis does not purport to be a statistical survey of dramatic activity in schools. iiatner, it is a descriptive account of some of the main trends in both thought and practice concerning the role of drama in schools. Initially, at least, these trends are seen against a general educational and socialbackground. The Education Acts of 1902 and 1944 are used conveniently rather than rigidly to give a framework to the period under review. The first marked the beginning of a genuinely national system of education in this country, while the second heralded a new phase in the development of education during which school drama was to grow and pro sper. I am grateful to many people who have been good enough to take time to talk to me about their own exper• iences in drama. I acknowledge particularly the help and encouragement of my supervisor, Mr. Gavin holton. CHAPTER I A CLIMATE FOR DRAMA IN EDUCATION INTRODUCTION It is a well-known fact that drama had an important part to play in the curricula of many schools during the second half of the sixteenth century. Indeed, the statutes of certain schools deisanded the production of plays.1 Vail Hotter2 has gone so far as to suggest that during the twenty years which preceded the appearance in London of the first adult professional companies the school drama had become in reality the English drama. It was because of its educational possibilities that drama flourished in Elizabethan schools. In the hands of schoolmasters such as Ashton, Mulcaster and Udall it may have reached particular heights of artistry but for all it For instance, Shrewsbury, Sandwich and Westminster. T. Pi. Vail Hotter, The School Drama in England. - 2 - represented a way of familiarizing the student with good authors, training him in speaking both English and Latin, and teaching him poise and stage presence. With the advent of the professional theatre, school drama tended to follow rather than set the pace despite a valiant effort to compete with the professionals at the beginning of the seventeenth century. It suffered with the professional theatre during the Commonwealth, and from the Restoration to the last quarter of the nineteenth century led a fitful existence during which it was largely dependent on the adult theatre for plays and methods in stage production. The twentieth century witnessed a renewal of interest in the educational possibilities of drama and it is the purpose of this section of the present thesis to attempt to give some explanation for the evolving climate which encouraged such a renewal of interest. While it is not the aim of the thesis to argue that a revival of the theatre has always necessarily accompanied an educational revival in this country, this was the case at the turn of the twentieth century. Consequently, the following two chapters will examine some aspects of the new movements in education and the theatre. An account of two educational conferences concerned with drama will, perhaps, demonstrate how far the possible implications of these movements had been realized at the beginning of the twenties. PART 1 THE NEW EDUCATION "The New Education treats the human being not so much as a learner but as a doer and creator. The educator no longer fixes his eyes on the object - the knowledge, but on the subject - the being to be educated. The success of the education is not determined by what the educated know, but by what they do and what they are."-*- It would be a vast over-simplification to consider the New Education movement as one which comprised a group of educationists with unified aims: there were many 2 strands to the movement , and the 1902 viewpoint of R. K. Quick, quoted above, represents just one of those strands. Nor must it be assumed that the New Education movement swept through the classrooms of this country; R. il. Quick, Essays on Educational Reformers, p. 525. In The New Education 1870-1914, R.