A theatre experience for life

"The castaways should pool their belongings and try to come up with a rescue plan," the audience of students suggest to the commentator during a theatre production. Against a backdrop of actors who pause to give time to their young audience to interact with the commentator, other students from among the audience offer similar suggestions.

The performers are drama teachers from the Drama Unit within the Curriculum Management and e-Learning Department who teach drama in state schools and perform theatre in education projects. They are currently staging Krexx, a production based on the popular television series Lost. Krexx is written and directed by Giovann Attard.

A group of five survivors find themselves stranded on an island after a plane crash. They come from different backgrounds and for most of the time they are at odds with each other. Yet somehow they must survive.

What adds to the fun is the fact that the drama teachers are also well-known local actors - Augusto Cardinale, Manuel Cauchi, Daniella Micallef, Michael Tabone, Dominic Said and Giovann Attard, the commentator.

But this production - aimed at Form 2 and Form 3 students who, accompanied by their teachers, visit the Drama Unit at Maria Regina Complex in Blata l-Bajda - is staged with a difference. The students are invited to interact with the actors and commentator during four intervals within the action of the play. During each break, the moderator asks the students about what the protagonists' next step should be. Important themes and topics such as prejudice, sharing one's possessions with others, leadership, peer pressure, waste recycling, gender equality and surviving in difficult circumstances are discussed.

The questions are easily identifiable with everyday situations the students can find themselves in, and their replies therefore mimic what their reactions are most likely to be. Handouts given out to their teachers after the show help generate a discussion back at school, so that the students can think again about their reactions and about alternative solutions. Students are also asked to produce short written works inspired by this theatre in education experience.

"Drama is primarily about learning important life skills, such as the ability to overcome shyness, to ask questions and to speak in front of an audience. But it can also be an aide to learning other subjects, and a way of fostering imagination and creativity. The added benefit is that drama lessons add fun to a student's timetable," said Michael Tabone, one of the drama teachers.

"There are so many things the students can learn through drama. They can learn about different perspectives and points of view, how to interact, and how to work with others."

The teachers, some of whom have as much as 30 years' experience in teaching drama, follow the students' development stages throughout the scholastic year, in most cases noting considerable progress along the way.

"Year 1 students are the most shy of all, especially when they start school in October. Having taught students year after year, I can say that it never takes them much before they start joining in the fun and discover higher levels of self-confidence," said Mr Attard.

"The students also realise that there is more than one way in which they can express themselves. While they often come with the belief that the only correct way is the adult's way, they realise that they can be imaginative and come up with similarly good alternatives. This gives them more space in which they can learn and grow up," Mr Attard said.

Daniella Micallef explained how the group of 15 drama teachers within the Drama Unit stretch their daily schedule and alternate between drama lessons in schools, and participation in theatre in education projects.

"The Drama Unit is often asked to organise in-service courses for teachers to acquire drama techniques which can be used effectively in the classroom. This proves that drama is a very powerful teaching tool not just to make actors out of our students, but a form of teaching all other subjects in the syllabus," Ms Micallef said.