Real Fiction Theatre As Drama Education
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Real Fiction Theatre as Drama Education Scott Stewart Welsh, Doctor of Philosophy 2016 Victoria University i ABSTRACT This research explores the potential for the qualitative practice of ethno-drama to examine social issues in schools, such as social labelling, from a student perspective. I argue that the writing of ‘real fiction’ theatre, which involves observing and recording voices from the authors’ experience of others, can work in the lives of students to understand and express their social situation (Welsh, 2014). Nine students and three teachers from a state government secondary school participated in the research. The thesis utilises an issue-based theatre-making theory to approach social issues in education. Labelling, explored throughout, is characterised as a naming language and this definition is built upon and expanded through the application of practice-led playwriting research methodology. The outcome of the research includes interview data with student and teacher participants exploring the social phenomenon of labelling, both in terms of students being labelled by teachers and peer to peer labelling in the school context. Raw data were collected and presented in the form of original student writings created in a classroom engagement and a dramatic play including conflated versions of student participants’ monologues. This practice-led research impacts arts practice through its pedagogical engagement and education through its creative approach. In the data collection phase of the research, student participants had the opportunity to express themselves through monologue writing and this practice in turn provided vital data about how they view and behave in their social world. Student participants commented, through the practice of monologue writing, that the labels that matter to them are the ones used in their social world, in the schoolyard as opposed to the classroom. By conducting research through the use of a specific, practice-led methodology, based on the writing of theatre applied to a drama classroom, this work makes an original contribution to the field of practice-based and/or practice-led research in education. KEY TERMS: real fiction, practice-led research, social labelling, ethno-drama, qualitative practice. ii STUDENT DECLARATION I, Scott Stewart Welsh, declare that the PhD thesis entitled Real Fiction Theatre as Drama Education: Rethinking Disturbing Labels, is no more than 100,000 words in length including quotes and exclusive of tables, figures, bibliography references and footnotes. This thesis contains no material that has been submitted previously, in whole or in part, for the award of any other academic degree or diploma. Except where otherwise indicated, this thesis is my own work. Signature: Date: 24-12-2015 iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thanks to Dr. Mary-Rose McLaren, Dr. Tim Corcoran and Dr. Marg Malloch for their supervision, support and encouragement. Thanks also to my mother, Catherine O’Shannassy, Melanie Gibson Emma Schmidt, Bec Sahr, Robyn Clancy, and all the student participants to whom I owe a debt of gratitude. With thanks to Dr. Diane Brown for copyediting the thesis according to the Australian Standards for Editing Practice (2013) and the DDOGS/IPED guidelines for editing research theses. iv PUBLICATIONS by Scott Welsh MPhil Published paper, ‘Real Fiction: Theatre as Creative Research ‘, presented at The 2009 Material Inventions: Applying Creative Arts Research. The paper explored playwriting practice as a research methodology. An edited version of the paper was published as a book chapter in September 2014. ‘Fixation & Needle Fixation’ in Language & Psychoanalysis, 3:1 2014, published paper based on a chapter from my Masters thesis. ‘The Trouble with Writing Reality’, published in the refereed Conference Notes: Popcaanz Conference Brisbane 2013. ‘The Outcaste Weakly Poet as Ethno-drama’, published in the refereed Conference Notes: Popcaanz Conference Hobart 2014. ‘Death the Great Leveller’ published in The Society for Socialist Studies Journal’ Facebook page. Geelong Advertiser Short Story Competition winner 2009 with a story on ‘The Newtown Birdman’ from Sydney’s inner-west. Wrote and conceptualized ‘The No Teeth People’, an original poem/real fiction radio documentary, in collaboration with producer Dusk Dundler and ABC Radio National. PRESENTATIONS Presented a paper at the Popcaanz Conference, Australia and New Zealand Popular Culture Association, Hobart, 2014. The paper was titled ‘The Outcaste Weakly Poet Stage Show as Ethno-drama’ and is due for publication in the soon to be released Conference Proceedings. Presented a paper at the Popcaanz Conference, Brisbane, 2013. The paper was titled ‘The Trouble with Writing Reality’. Presented a paper at The Visual Imagination Across Boundaries Conference Assumption University, 2010 in Bangkok. The paper was based on the use of multi-media methods in contemporary performance, including my own work as a practitioner. Presented a paper at the Popcaanz Conference Auckland, 2011. The paper was titled ‘Real Fiction Theatre and the Biography of Voice’. It considered the writing of plays a form of biography. Presented a paper at the Popcaanz Conference, Melbourne, 2012. The paper was titled ‘Real Fiction Research and the Editing Process’. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..ii Student Declaration …………………………………………….....................................................................................iii Acknowledgements ……………................................................................................................................................iv Publications by Scott Welsh……………………………………………………………………………………...................v Table of Contents………………………………………………………………………………………………………………vi Chapter 1. Introducing Real Fiction……………………………………………………………………………………….10 1.1 Introducing real fiction 1.2 Thesis ontology 1.3 Thesis epistemology 1.4 Practice-led research methodology 1.5 Structure of the thesis 1.6 Conclusion Chapter 2. Arts Practice & Education….………………………………………………………………………………….23 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Constructionism 2.3 Drama Education and the practice-based method 2.4 Practice-led Educational Research 2.5 Documentary theatre, real fiction and ethno-drama: creativity in education 2.6 Saldaña and real fiction: crafting participants’ experiences 2.7 Wittgenstein, language games and real fiction vi 2.8 Barcode & the language game 2.9 Barcode as metafiction 2.10 Inexpressible language and real fiction 2.11 Writing speech and everyday language 2.12 Conclusion Chapter 3. Labelling Theory & Schools……………………………………………………………………….................65 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Labels in Society 3.3 Labels in Mental Health 3.4 A practical application of Laing in a drama education context 3.5 Labels in education and radical psychiatry 3.6 Disturbing Labels 3.7 Contemplating labels in criminology and beyond 3.8 Research into disturbing labels in education 3.9 Conclusion Chapter 4. Methodology……………………………….………..…………….…...........................................................91 4.1 Practice as research: introducing real fiction to the classroom 4.2 Rationale 4.3 Research context 4.4 The dramatic play as data storage 4.5 Subjective data 4.6 Research context vii 4.7 Procedure: action-based, practice-led methodology 4.8 Data collected from monologue workshop 4.9 Ethical and methodological concerns 4.10 Conclusion Chapter 5. Survey Data Results………………….………….………………………………........................................108 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Background to Survey Research 5.3 Introduction to the survey 5.4 Research objectives of the qualitative survey 5.5 Labelling and the self 5.6 Labelling and name-calling Chapter 6. Report on Workshop with Participating School & Dramatic Skits by student participants……..118 6.1 Description of a workshop in a contemporary classroom Chapter 7. Dramatic Play…………………………………………………..………………………………………………130 Chapter 8. Research Journey………………………………………………...............................................................168 Chapter 9. Conclusion………………………………………………………................................................................186 References………………………………………………………………………………………........................................195 viii Appendices Appendix I: Completed Survey Data……………………………………………………………………………………..221 Appendix II: The Trouble with Writing Reality ....................................................................................................232 Appendix III: Information for Participating Schools ……………………………………………………...................242 Appendix IV: Rethinking Disturbing Labels Play Uninterrupted…....................................................................247 Endnotes……………………………………………………………………………………….……………………………..275 ix CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.1 Introducing real fiction There have been numerous practice-based and practice-led projects that have engaged secondary school students in artistic practice as a way of reflecting on their social surroundings (Betzian, 2007; Freidman & Holzman, 2011). One example referred to throughout this research is the ‘No Outsiders Project’ (Atkinson & Depalma, 2009), using drama practice as a way of helping school children understand and accept different forms of family structure, sexual equality and social inclusion in education. My thesis describes a writing workshop for students, conducted in a drama classroom at a Victorian state government school. The structure and content of the workshop synthesised contemporary drama education and my own approach