Acting together: ensemble as a democratic process in art and life

Abstract

Traditionally drama in schools has been seen either as a learning medium with a wide range of curricular uses or as a subject in its own right. This paper argues that the importance of drama in schools is in the processes of social and artistic engagement and experiencing of drama rather than in its outcomes. The paper contrasts the pro-social emphasis in the ensemble model of drama with the pro-technical and limited range of learning in subject-based approaches which foreground technical knowledge of periods, plays, styles and genres. The ensemble-based approach is positioned in the context of professional theatre understandings of ensemble artistry and in the context of revolutionary shifts from the pro-technical to the pro-social in educational and cultural policy making in England. Using ideas drawn from McGrath and Castoriadis, the paper claims that the ensemble approach provides young people with a model of democratic living.

Keywords:

• ensemble
• process
• social imagination
• democracy and theatre
• citizenship
• community
• political theatre

Notes

1. Taken from the transcripts of the Ensemble Theatre Conference, 23 November 2004, organised by Equity UK and Directors Guild.

2. The Office for Standards in Education (OfSTED) is the English schools inspection agency with powers to judge a school's performance against national standards.

3. Ensemble Theatre Conference, 2004.

4. The Children Act 2004 provides the legal underpinning for the transformation of children's services as set out in the ‘Every Child Matters: Change for Children’ programme. The five common aims are: stay healthy; stay safe; enjoy and achieve; make a positive contribution; achieve economic well-being.

5. The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) is the regulatory body in England for the National Curriculum and all qualifications. The ‘Bigger Picture’ can be viewed at www.qca.org.uk/qca_5856#2630253.

6. Demos is a left-of-centre government think-tank which has significantly influenced New Labour's education, social and cultural policy making.

7. McGrath borrows the term ‘authentic democracy’ from Castoriadis who uses it to distinguish the ideals of direct and participatory forms of democracy from the corrupted actuals of ‘representative democracy’ (Castoriadis 1983).

8. Ensemble Theatre Conference, 2004.

9. See www.innovation-unit.co.u#905D60.

10. Ensemble Theatre Conference, 2004.

11. Provided by a colloquium participant from her own direct experience with a class, Melbourne 2008.