Exploring the potential of the process drama convention of dramatised poetry to enhance anger-management skills in adolescent girls

Abstract

This article investigates the way the methodology of process drama, and specifically the convention of dramatised poetry, can enhance the anger-management skills of adolescent girls. The article presents findings from a recent study that set out to teach anger-management skills to adolescent girls using process drama conventions. The argument explores the notion of process drama propounded by the prominent applied drama scholar Cecily O'Neill (1995) and the applicability of this methodology for stimulating the perception, awareness and identification of various forms of anger as prerequisites to anger management in adolescent girls. As the adolescent girl finds herself at the crossroads of childhood and adulthood, emotions of frustration and anger towards parents and peer groups often surface. It is therefore beneficial for her to be empowered with the insight and skills required to identify and manage her anger. The fictitious world within process drama creates a safe space where sensitive issues can be explored without uncovering personal issues. Poetry is, in many instances, loaded with emotional content and can therefore be used as a vehicle for considering emotional issues that would otherwise not be possible. This article therefore reports on a multidiscipline research project, namely the dramatisation of poetry, as a convention of the methodology of process drama, to enhance anger management, as an emotional competence in the 14- to 15-year-old adolescent girl.

Keywords:

• process drama
• dramatised poetry
• emotional intelligence
• anger-management
• adolescent girls

Notes

1. An interrogation of this claim falls outside the scope of this article.

2. The research project that contained the three case studies was cleared by the Ethics Committee of the University of Pretoria and the DoE. No restrictions were placed on the project. Letters of informed consent containing information about the nature of the project and participant involvement were signed by the parents/guardians and the school principal. Letters of assent were completed by learners after it was explained to them, as they are under 18 years of age. In accordance with ethical requirements, matters such as data storage, voluntary participation, confidentiality and withdrawal without consequence were addressed in the letters. This article includes exemplars of the poetry generated, which is undertaken with full permission from the participants, so long as anonymity is guaranteed.

3. This group consisted of English- and Afrikaans-speaking girls who could operate effectively in both languages and who come from middle-class families in the Pretoria area.

4. The other workshops consisted of a trajectory of sessions addressing the main building blocks of emotional competence, namely the identification, expression and interpretation, understanding and management of the emotion of anger in oneself and in others (Goleman 1998, p. 24). In order to reach these outcomes a combination of process-drama conventions such as role play, writing in role, tableaux, dramatised poetry and ‘mantle of the expert’ was employed.

5. It is important to mention that the authors do not assume that the workshops were necessarily the only aspect that facilitated awareness of emotional competence and associated skills related to anger management. However, as the workshops are aimed at this goal, the discussion that follows demonstrates a direct response in and to the aims and content of the workshops.