My main concern with the Spider’s work project is to provide non-drama people with the tools to use drama effectively as teaching medium for learning about values. I am working on a list of ‘recipes’ which can simplify tricky dramatic elements such as setting, plot, character and tension in a way that makes them user friendly. I have scanned the work of many theorists and artists to come up with a selection of ‘recipes’ that specifically aids the process of talking about values.
Like following a recipe you should be able to gather the ‘ingredients’ and blend them together to produce the desired outcome: a dramatic experience that can teach us about our values. But like a recipe too, you will be able to add your own personal touch and interpret the method and ingredients creatively for your own context and purposes. If you are already a teacher, parent, community worker or leader of sorts, you will have a lot of experience with people and with teaching that you can contribute to dishing up a wonderful life changing learning experience.
What follows is a list of the kinds of recipes I am working on with another list of the main theorists whose ideas I am drawing from.
List of recipes
1. A fictional setting (temenos) wherein value conflict can play out
2. Playable characters that can change and grow
3. Character relationships that can provide value conflict
4. Plotline that can bring value awareness and personal growth
5. The Spider’s work Playshop : a recipe for life change?
Resource material
Campbell, Joseph. 1988a. The Hero with a Thousand Faces. London: Paladin Grafton Books.
Campbell, Joseph. 1988b. The Power of Myth. New York: Doubleday.
Izzo, Gary. 1997. The Art of Play: The New Genre of Interactive Theatre. Portsmouth: Heinemann.
Izzo, Gary. 1998. Acting Interactive Theatre: A Handbook. Portsmouth: Heinemann.
O’Neill, Cecily. 1995. Drama Worlds: a framework for process drama. Portsmouth, Hants: Heinemann.
O’Neill, Cecily and Lambert, A.. 1988. Drama Structures. London: Hutchinson.
Phillips, Melanie Anne and Huntley, Chris. 2004. Dramatica: A New Theory of Story, Special Tenth Anniversary Edition, Write Brothers. Incorporated: Glendale Calefornia
Turner, Victor. 1968. Myth and Symbol. In International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, edited by D. Sills, 576-582. New York: Macmillan & The Free Press.
Turner, Victor. 1982. From Ritual to Theatre: The Human Seriousness of Play. Maryland: PAJ Publications.
Turner, Victor. 1990. “Are There Universals of Performance in Myth, Ritual and Drama?” in Schechner, Richard and Appel, Willa. (eds.) By means of Performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Vogler, Christopher. 1998. The Writer’s Journey: Mythical Structure for Storytellers and Screenwriters. Revised edition. London: Pan Books.
