Creativity and Drama

Drama has always been something I have associated with creativity. Even when reading a script the actor is creating their interpretation of what is written. I think that drama has many different levels and can have broad educational advantages. Winston and Tandy believe drama can “help children develop group sensitivity, encourage social coherence and enhance speaking and listening skills” (2001, p.1). I would agree with this as drama provides children with the opportunity to really take on the role of someone else and consider how that person may be feeling and what that might look like. The skills learned are transferrable and can be taken into real life without the children even realising.

Drama has endless opportunities to develop creativity: from warm up games, storytelling, mime to acting out plays etc. Curriculum for Excellence Expressive Arts experience and outcomes explain that in drama learners should “have rich opportunities to be creative and to experience inspiration and enjoyment” (2009, p.7). For this to happen I believe that teachers must put aside any anxieties they have of their own, become extrovert and create a safe and sensitive environment where children feel secure enough to take part in activities in their own time and at their level. During the elective, there is not the time to create this environment and as a result, I often feel very anxious about performing. 

The first area we considered was storytelling. Storytelling is one of the few human traits that is truly universal and is evident throughout time. We even communicate our daily experiences to ourselves and to others in story form. This helps us to make sense of others’ behaviour, by inventing stories to explain why people act as they do and in turn help us to make sense of life.

Our task was to create a story using character, place, object and twist cards. We then had to tell our story to the rest of the class without notes. I felt uncomfortable doing this but can see the benefits of it. The prompt cards give children a starting point without dampening their own creativity. I realised that telling a story in this way encouraged the teller to connect with the audience as they could make eye contact and use their body to help tell the story. The barrier of a book was gone and it seemed to open the storytelling allowing it to become more creative. I would definitely use this activity in the classroom but would have smaller activities in the lead up, so that the children would feel comfortable and confident. I think that this would then add to the children’s experience and help them to be as creative as they can. In future I may try to tell more stories in this way as I think it would engage the listeners, who could become actively involved.

We also looked at script writing, which was a good way of thinking about the story and which medium it would be best suited. It was interesting to watch the creative process pull everything together, stage directions, scene, characters and speech.

In the final part of the class, we took a fairy story and had to think of a different way of presenting it. This was just as creative as the story but with a twist. The stories used are familiar but taken out of context, adapted and often viewed from a different perspective. The story could be used in any number of ways such as a talk show, a song, a rap, a play, a radio programme, a television advert... We chose to make a television advert for Trotter Homes using the story of The Three Little Pigs, quite far removed from the original story but it was still obvious what the original story was. I really enjoyed this as it gave us the chance to do something different but it still had a starting point. I think that if this were done with children time would need to be spent on the different ways they could use a story. The more variety of choices they have they the bigger the opportunity is for creative reign.

The different ways of telling a story were all excellent in their own rights. They all had different advantages and I felt, would inspire creativity equally. The important part is creating the right kind of environment and the stimuli for children to become immersed in the activities. If this is done well then the topic could take off, allowing children to have control of where they want to take it.

References

Scottish Government. (2009). Curriculum for Excellence Expressive Arts experiences and outcomes. Edinburgh: Scottish Government

Winston, J. and Tandy, M. (2001). Beginning Drama 4-11 second edition. London: David Fulton Publishers Ltd.