Articles & Essays Book Reviews Creative Writing
Consciousness, Literature and the Arts
Volume 19 Number 1, April 2018
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Monica Prendergast and Juliana Saxton, Applied Drama: A Facilitator's Handbook for Working in Community. Bristol: Intellect. 241 pp., Price £16, $23. ISBN 978-1-84150-740-8
Reviewed by
Kyambogo University, Uganda
In Applied Drama, Prendergast and Saxton provide a thought provoking package of principles to readers who desire to enhance their skills in applied drama facilitation. The book is intended to be a companion guide to Applied Theatre: International Case Studies and Challenges for Practice, a 2009 publication by the same authors. In the work, the authors draw upon their many years of work as theatre and drama educators at various levels: elementary, secondary, post-secondary and teacher education (p. xii). The aim of the book is to equip applied drama facilitators to develop and enhance varied and specialised skills which can help them empower communities identify and address their needs (p. vii).
The work is coherently structured with the first two chapters devoted to exploring the key concepts underlying applied drama practice. The subsequent chapters are structured in three sections, with section one and two focusing on building dramatic skills, confidence and group dynamics. Section three offers strategies for developing, devising and play building skills. Quite compelling about the book is that it comprises a series of workshops or drama structures which serve as exemplars for readers aiming at improving their art of applied theatre facilitation. The workshops are built around key concepts that serve not only as holders of meaning but also as a kind of short-hand-collective containers of memory to which the whole group can make reference easily and quickly as they progress (p. xiii). Of particular importance about the structure of the book is that each chapter ends with some questions for reflection, a suggested activity for practice and suggestions for further reading. These are vital resources which can help readers in the quest to deepen their practice.
The authors expound on the field of applied drama, setting it apart from mainstream theatre practice. Applied drama is spelt out as ‘a process oriented means of exploring issues of concern to the participants and as a process in which the value of the work lies in what it does for the participants rather than for the audience’ (p.1). The authors make it explicit that an applied drama process is not the same as an acting workshop. While the focus of an acting workshop is to build specific skills that enable participants become proficient performers, in applied drama the goal is to allow participants take self-and /or collectively created social roles for the purpose of shared investigation.
The work is enthralling in as so far as it identifies applied drama as process that engages facilitators and participants in the five Cs: Communication, Cooperation / Collaboration, Concentration, Commitment and Caring (p.2). In effect, the authors posit applied drama as a process in which participants share their experiences, work closely with one another and foster an atmosphere in which they care for the needs of each individual participant. Of paramount importance to group and interpersonal relations, the book cautions facilitators on an important aspect of ethical practice. The authors note that ‘the question of ethics become pressing as participants are invited to share their own lived experiences and their points of view and attitudes toward potentially sensitive and divisive topics’ (p.91).
The publication effectively elucidates on the nature of applied drama facilitation. The authors impress it upon the readers that ‘applied drama involves the physical biological body working in harmony with the mind’ (p.5). This means that applied drama facilitators need to design activities that help the body and the mind to work together; a condition called ‘embodied learning’ (p.5). The authors envision a good applied drama facilitator to be a person endowed with skills acquired through training and experience. He needs to be a person who knows what to do, a good communicator and listener and a person who possesses both social and empathetic intelligence. In Prendergast and Saxton’s view, ‘effective facilitation in applied drama is about fostering a process of situated learning by paying attention to the contexts in which an experience takes place’ (p.6).
Finally, the book offers important insights into the importance of reflection in applied drama projects. Reflection in applied drama facilitation is articulated by the authors as a process which is interwoven throughout the project. It is about looking inward, both individually and collectively to explore the emotional and intellectual impact of the dramatic process (p.7). In the authors’ view, reflection can take the form of reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action and should involve both the facilitator and the participants. Reflection-in -action for the facilitator means ‘being deeply aware of what is happening at any moment and therefore able to sense when and how the work may need to be re-directed to better meet the needs of the group’ (p.7). Reflection-on-action involves guiding a group into richer understanding of the meaning of the work through questions and discussions (p.8). The authors suggest that ‘reflection can take a process-based approach that is collectively negotiated to allow both participants and facilitators maintain ownership of the process and control’ (p. 193).
In general, the strength of Applied Drama as a handbook for applied drama facilitation lies in its candid treatment of vital processes and issues such as embodied learning, ethics, reflection, communication and improvisation. By exploring the key concepts in the field of applied drama and illustrating them through practical drama structures, the work becomes a balanced blend of both theory and practice. Consequently, teachers and students at various levels of learning and young people’s theatre facilitators will find the book enormously useful.