'B-O-U-R-N-E-M-O-U-T-H! Our Town!' Effects on Male Teenagers of Participation in a Community Play

Abstract

This article shares findings from a larger research study into the effects of participation in a community play. Strong claims have been made for the value of community plays in terms of the personal and social development they foster and the high artistic standards they attain. But community plays have rarely been applied to a specifically educational context. Having been involved with five community plays with schools since 1991, the author was interested to explore the learning outcomes perceived by participants themselves. He set up a qualitative case study into a recent play in Bournemouth in which he was co-director. The cast included over a hundred participants, aged between 6 and 70, portraying scenes from the town's past and present. Undercliff and over Heath was staged in and around a museum in the centre of Bournemouth, with the audience following the action from place to place and scene to scene. The author focuses in this instance on 40 Year 10 male drama students, several of whom had behavioural difficulties, engaged in creating two scenes for the play. He analyses how they were affected by this creative process and the meanings they made within it. He finds that the play was a catalyst for significant growth in the boys, who valued highly the opportunity to share ownership of the content. But many problems also came to light, leading him to conclude that certain elements of the creative process need to be reviewed in future productions, if the plays are to make significant impact in terms of community development.