104 research outputs found
Theatre in education in Britain: Current practice and future potential
No full textThis article is based on discussions with artistic directors and administrators of British Theatre in Education companies about past and current practice and changing funding resources. Persephone Sextou reviews developments in TiE practice since its beginnings in the 1960s, focusing upon the situation in the 1990s following the enforcement of National Curriculum requirements, the redirection of government funding to partnerships in education, and the availability of funds from the National Lottery. She describes how the remaining TiE companies are struggling not to compromise their artistic autonomy, and considers the relevance of the British TiE experience in relation to the potential for the development of the medium in other countries. © Cambridge University Press
Theatre for children in hospital. The gift of compassion
No full textRecent decades have seen a new appreciation develop for applied theatre and the role of arts-based activities in health care. This book looks specifically at the place of theatre for children who are hospitalized, showing how powerfully it can enhance their social and mental well-being. Child-led performances, for example, can be used as a technique to distract young patients from hospitalization, prepare them for painful procedures, and teach them calming techniques to control their own pre- or post-operative stress. Persephone Sextou details the key theoretical contexts and practical features of theatre for children, in the process offering motivation, guidance and inspiration for practitioners who want to incorporate performance into their treatment regimen
Applied Theatre, Puppetry and Emotional skills in Healthcare: a cross-disciplinary pedagogical framework
No full textArtists such as actors and puppeteers in healthcare face emotional challenges in their work. This article investigates the interpersonal competencies and emotional skills of the artist, who uses puppets in their practice, in healthcare contexts and settings. We present initial findings from phase B of a wider longitudinal study. Phase A focused on actors in hospitals and drama trainees. Phase B uses qualitative research methods with actors, puppeteers and therapists as participants. Content analysis of data reveals that the main competencies the artist needs to deal with emotional incidents in healthcare are empathy, self and social awareness, self-care, self-reflection, emotional resilience and active listening. These skills are needed alongside acting and puppetry skills to develop competent and professional artists in healthcare. The study offers evidence to further develop strategies of receiving, processing and communicating emotions safely and effectively within the protection of the art form. Therefore, this study diverts our attention from traditional training courses that are mainly about learning artistic skills to a cross-disciplinary pedagogical framework that aims to enable artists to observe, reflect and process emotions before, during and after performance with patients as theatre ‘audience’-participants
‘Trapped in the labyrinth’: exploring mental illness through devised theatrical performance
No full textMental health difficulties remain a major source of burden and distress for individuals, families, health and social care providers with stigma a key target for educational campaigns attempting to improve care pathways and access to support. Stigma is a multifaceted concept having a range of drivers including shame and is thought to act as a barrier to successful help seeking and engagement with support services. The current paper explores some of the salient themes that emerged from a British university drama project on the impact of symptoms and behaviours associated with a severe mental health condition on a young couple's relationship and reflects on the opportunities for connection with an audience provided by the medium and experience. It is suggested that enabling the impact of mental ill health to be explored in a protected environment such as theatre can allow for reflection and empathy to develop, with potential for positive impact on awareness understanding and stigma. Elements of the drama setting and narrative are explored, and analogies are made with the emerging literature on post-traumatic growth
Double Persephone
No full textDouble Persephone is a self-published poetry collection written by Canadian author Margaret Atwood in 1961. Atwood handset the book herself with a flat bed press, designed the cover with linoblocks, and only made 220 copies. It was the first publication ever released by Atwood, and comprises seven poems: Formal Garden , Pastoral , Iconic Landscape , Persephone Departing , Chthonic Love , Her Song , and Double Persephone .https://corescholar.libraries.wright.edu/dlpp_all/1662/thumbnail.jp
Persephone
No full textThis thesis is an excerpt from a novel in progress titled Persephone. The main storyline follows the goddess Persephone as she learns about the world around her, falls in love, and strains against her mother’s iron will. Her life aboveground is abruptly halted when Hades, the somber god of the dead, kidnaps her and makes her an offer she cannot refuse. Meanwhile, her mother unleashes her rage upon the world, while her best friend and true love makes a drastic decision. The story explores the themes of love, coming-of-age, grief, personal growth, and anger. The author intends for this thesis to become a novel, which she hopes to eventually publish
Drama is for Life! Recreational Drama Activities for the Elderly in the UK
No full textApplied Theatre is an inclusive term used to host a variety of powerful, community-based participatory processes and educational practices. Historically, Applied Theatre practices include Theatre-in-Education (TiE), Theatre-in-Health Education (THE), Theatre for Development (TfD), prison theatre, community theatre, theatre for conflict resolution/reconciliation, reminiscence theatre with elderly people, theatre in museums, galleries and heritage centres, theatre at historic sites, and more recently, theatre in hospitals. In this paper we are positioning the application of recreational dramatic activities with older adults (55+) under Applied Theatre and we are exploring the benefits they offer to the participants. We are concerned that their health and wellbeing in western societies is not prioritized and it is clear that loneliness in particular is a current and ongoing issue. We will present research results from a drama dissertation study that took place in a community hall in the South East England where drama is placed at the core of their practice with old populations. Data was collected by a mixed method (semi-structured interviews and semi-immersive observations) and was critically discussed amongst the authors to conclude that attending recreational drama classes brings a certain degree of happiness, social belonging and improvement of interaction with others to old people’s lives
A proposal for the establishment of Hellenic theatre-in-education : possibilities and problems in developing aspects of the British TiE experience in Greece towards the provision of professional theatre with an educational purpose in pre-school and primar
No full textEThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo
A robot who could not dance: Generating performative presence among performer, text, and audience through exploring and performing stories by children
No full textA cyclic performance project enabled Australian tertiary drama students and primary school students to connect through stories written by children in hospital in the UK.
Tertiary drama students undertook a semester of puppetry and created performances of children’s stories from Persephone Sextou’s book, Applied Theatre in Paediatrics. Children, Stories and Synergies of Emotions (2023). The tertiary students’ learning process involved exploring form and movement with inanimate objects to collaboratively create puppets which they allocated to the children’s stories they selected. These stories were performed for an audience of children aged between 5 and 8 years of age. This project used participatory action research and applied theatre to facilitate the tertiary students’ exploration of puppetry, story-telling and performance. While the tertiary drama students wanted to apply logic and chronology to the hospitalised children’s stories, they were willing to be vulnerable and to accept that they may not completely understand the stories. The drama students performed their puppet interpretations of the stories for young children. This co-presence of the drama students with the children affected a new understanding of the stories for both groups
A proposal for the establishment of Hellenic Theatre in Education (TiE): possibilities and problems in developing aspects of the British TiE experience in Greece towards the provision of professional theatre with an educational purpose in pre-school and primary education
No full textThis thesis attempts to identify the potential of establishing Theatre in Education, a professional theatre work with an educational purpose, as an effective medium for children in pre-school and primary education in Greece. It examines the possibilities and problems inherent in this potential given the current circumstances in theatre, education and the wider social context of contemporary Greece. Original data was gathered using survey questionnaires, interviews and through observation of Greek children's theatre productions and British TiE programmes. This research study extracts lessons from the British experience towards the introduction of Hellenic TiE by overviewing the political factors that affected the British TiE medium in its short history. It investigates how Theatre Education is practiced in Greek schools; if the current children's theatre practice in Greece is developing aspects of TiE; how these aspects could develop into something closer to TiE; and how Hellenic TiE could contribute to the provision of professional theatre experiences in education. The present research study offers a pragmatic
approach to the emergence of Hellenic TiE. The nature of Hellenic TiE is envisaged and defined as something that borrows elements from the British TiE previous and more recent practice and combines both British and Greek theatre elements. This thesis concludes with a proposal addressed to theatre practitioners and theatre companies in Greece who might want to initiate TiE, where it discusses the politics of introducing TiE to Greece and a series of problematics that the emerging TiE teams would need to cope. It envisages how TiE is happening in Greece by arguing for the learning potential of the TiE medium and proposes solutions to some problems for the establishment of Greek TiE companies. Practical recommendations are finally made for the implementation of a pilot TiE programme within regional public theatres (DHPETHE) and private companies in both the immediate term and the long-term perspective
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