LECTURE Part 2

EDAR368 Creative Arts Education 

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DRAMA
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Drama Forms
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 The forms of drama reveal how to engage in the

action of the drama. Forms of drama explored in
primary schools can include improvisation,
movement, mime, storytelling, readers’ theatre,
DRAMA puppetry, mask, video drama and playbuilding. A
variety of other forms, such as clowning and festival
FORMS celebrations can also be included as drama forms
and performances that have different functions in
different cultures.
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Dramatic Forms
 Improvisation

 Playbuilding

 Movement

 Mime

 Storytelling

 Readers’ Theatre

 Mask

 Puppetry

 Scripted Drama

 Video Drama
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Readers’ Theatre
 Readers theatre involves a rehearsed reading for an audience. Through
gesture and language, participants build, sustain and resolve dramatic
tension within the context of the drama.

 Drama conventions include reading aloud, vocal expression, silent pauses

and a direct actor-audience relationship. Reading aloud may be sourced
from various types of texts including novels, plays, poems, stories, big
books, newspapers or adaptations of these.

 Young students can participate in readers theatre using a story they know
well incorporating mime, dialogue and narration.

 The teacher could also take the responsibility of the narrator. Narration may
also be presented by groups of students.
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Scripted Drama
 Scripted Drama may use all of some or all of the script, narrative, picture
story, film or multimedia as a source.

 Stories can be reimagined and explored with endless possibilities to

create dramatic meaning.

 Dramatic elements and structures are explored as well as character

development, plot and themes, and staging directions and requirements.
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Improvisation
 Creating action by spontaneously enacting a fictional situation that is
based on everyday or imagined situations. It is unrehearsed and
unscripted.

 The teacher can take on a role within the improvisation to help establish
the focus and the tension.

 Roles which can be adopted by the teacher include a messenger, the

intruder, someone who is lost, a traveller, a friend or a wise person

 Use of multiple stimulus to start the action- word, sentence, a situation, a

place, an action, characters for example.
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Playbuilding
 Can develop from improvisation

 Sustained exploration over a number of weeks to create and devise a

coherent piece of drama based on a stimulus.

 It involves using stimulus- picture, topic, issue, discussing meaning

embedded in the topic, improvising, identifying roles and ideas,

researching, rehearsing and reflecting.

 Students create a simple outline of the dramatic action, dialogue and

information on any elements of production such as staging and costuming

 Playbuilding process can culminate in a performance. It is a valuable form

of process drama as it incorporates making, performing and appreciating.

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Movement
 Nonverbal communication of themes, ideas, abstract concepts, roles and
scenarios.

 Music and sound may be used to structure the movement and create
dramatic meaning.

 Movement is needed for various dramatic forms such as mime, mask,

clowning.

 Movement is also often used as a warm up and cool down for drama
activities.
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Mask
 The face is covered by a full or half mask to represent a character. Half
mask allows for the performer to speak.

 Mask can have a neutral quality or can represent distinctive character

features, examples include, Greek comedy and tragedy, Japanese Noh
mask, Commedia dell’arte masks.

 Body movement and gestures are significantly exaggerated by a masked

character to convey meaning.

 There can be a mixture of masked and unmasked performers within a

piece of drama and this can create a significant contrast.
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Types of
Mask
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Puppetry
 In Puppetry the performer/s bring to life an inanimate object, creating a
role for the puppet in a dramatic situation

 Puppeteers communicate dramatic meaning by manipulating language

and movement of the puppets

 Glove, shadow, string and rod puppets are commonly used.

 Viewing and experimenting with a diverse range of interactive puppetry

performance, large festival puppets, screen and animated puppetry
provides valuable learning experiences.

 Puppetry requires a unique set of skills where the performer must animate
the puppet effectively.
 Resources and Associations

Drama NSW ORG

https://www.dramansw.org.au
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Drama Australia
z https://dramaaustralia.org.au

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority

https://australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/the-arts/

Textbooks, Scootle, Google