An
Introduction to Theseus and the Minotaur
A series of fifteen graduated drama workshops exploring the themes of this
architypal Greek myth, adapted for use with students with special needs as
well as providing a guaranteed means for teachers to deliver their students'
drama entitlement in mainstream and special needs settings.
In addition to
its relevance in a variety of educational settings, this 'Theseus
and the Minotaur'Drama Pack can be used in the areas of Youth services
and mental Health as a therapeutic resource.
In consideration of the scope and breadth of
its application, I have addressedthe workshop structures to a facilitator who
may be
a teacher or other professional.
The Drama Pack is constructed to provide drama and theatre skills, giving
students and all participants opportunities to experience and enhance their:
- Creative expression
(oral and written)
- Concentration
and focus
- Listening and
responding
- Improvisation
and experimentation
- Role play and
characterisation
- Social inter-action
- Self-confidence
and self-esteem
- Understanding
of themselves and others/empathy
- Spiritual development
- Sense of community
- Awareness of
emotions
- Self-disciplaine
- Sense of enjoyment
In addition, the teaching
of drama skills provides a powerful tool in
structuring elements of the National Literacy Strategy to ensure that
all students have access to:
- A full range
of literary genres
- A range of classical
texts
- A range of suitably
adapted texts and approaches for students with a
variety of learning difficulties where this is appropriate.
This workshop series
provides a structure which employs a facilitator to:
- Set the scene
- Tell the story
- Allow for flexibility
and experimentation
- Provide healthy
boundaries and containment
An additional structure
of a Narrative Verse Drama provides students with the experience of:
- Rhythm, rhyme
and analogy
- Narrative verse
to lead or reflect the workshop sequences
- Verse speaking
(individual or choral)
This also provides
opportunities for teachers to develop and dramatise the
poem in their own way. Furthermore, interest and engagement in the play's
story is maintained throughout the series by the provision of suggestions
for 'follow-up' activities, reinforcing each workshop and providing
resources for subsequent workshops.
These activities relate to other curriculum areas including:
- Speaking and
listening
- Writing
- Design Technology
- IT
- Music
- Art
- P.S.H.E.
- Geography
Sensory elemnts have
been included to enhance the workshop activities for students
with more profound difficulties.
All the workshops contain the following elemnts which provide a reliable structure:
- An Introduction
- Warm-up Activities
- A Group Movement
Activity
- A Paired Activity
- A Group Game
- Story Enactment
- Story Development
- A Conclusion
However, it is not
the author's intention that the detailed structure of the workshops
should be adhered so rigidly as to preclude the high degree of spontaneity, improvisation
and creativity which are such essential elemnts of the drama process.Indeed, the
provision of such a defined framework is intended to supply the clear boundaries
that will safely contain a healthy level of experimentation and adaption with
a
variety of facilitators and participants bringing to the workshops their unique
contributions.
Beverley Rees, Adv.Dip.Sec.Ed.,Grad.Di