Play Group Research Articles

Creative translation pathways for exploring gendered violence against Brazilian migrant women through a feminist translocational lens

ABSTRACT This paper explores how research on gendered violence among Brazilian migrant women in London has been translated through a range of creative engagements. It argues that these can challenge traditional forms of knowledge production, and advance intersectional feminist struggles through a logic of translocation. Yet it also challenges homogenous artistic encounters through developing ‘creative translation pathways’ which delineate different configurations of how researchers, artists, and participants using varied art forms . The paper focuses on two ‘creative translation pathways’ that capture different interpretative framings around the same research project. The first reflects a curatorial perspective through Gaël Le Cornec’s verbatim theatre play, Efêmera, which foregrounds her interpretation of Brazilian women’s stories adding a metatheatrical dimension to strengthen the narrative and connection with the audience. The second is a co-produced collaborative engagement, We Still Fight in the Dark, with community drama group, Migrants in Action, based around experimental workshops to produce an audio-visual film and installation where survivors’ perspectives and well-being are paramount. While both creative translation pathways reflected translocational feminist goals in raising awareness around gendered violence with a view to transform them, each had tensions around the individual, collective, artistic and therapeutic logics in the process of knowledge production.

Using Drama Pedagogy to Enhance Understanding of HIV Transmission, Infection, and Prevention Among Third-Year Student Teachers

Thirty-eight years into the HIV and AIDS pandemic, the world is still striving to reduce global HIV infections towards zero new infections and AIDS-related deaths by 2030. Sub-Saharan Africa continues to carry the burden of global HIV infections as governmental and nongovernmental agencies try out different prevention strategies (UNAIDS, 2024b). Several scholars have argued that comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) is the best preventive strategy to reach youth and key populations with factual information regarding HIV and AIDS. This paper draws from the project, Mentoring as a Method to Promote Women's Health in the Context of HIV-Prevention and Unequal Gender Relations, which employed memory work, photo-voice, drama, drawings, and focus group discussions with third-year student teachers in a life orientation module. Focussing on the data generated through drama, I present an arts-based activity that was used to teach about HIV transmission to student teachers in a bid to equip them with alternative ways of teaching school-learners about HIV and AIDS. The findings highlight student teachers' lived experiences and how they have shaped their perceptions of HIV infections and living with AIDS. I argue from the findings, that arts-based pedagogies allow for enhanced understanding of complex phenomena due to their participatory and in-built intervention nature. Thus, I posit that pedagogies that employ participatory, arts-based, and visual methodologies should be extensively employed in teacher-education towards reducing new HIV infections among the youth.

The use of drama in A Level chemistry: a study into the effects of simulation-role-play on the quality of learning of organic reaction mechanisms

ABSTRACT Background Much of the research into the use of drama in science education has been qualitative, with its primary focus being on its affective value amongst students aged 6–14 years, with a smaller fraction on effectiveness in terms of academic achievement and understanding of chemistry amongst older school students (16–18 years). Purpose This article reports on a study that compared the effectiveness of drama, as a pedagogy, with a didactic practice-examinations-questions-based approach on students’ understanding of chemistry organic reaction mechanisms as measured by examination question scores. Sample Data were collected in seven 11–18 schools and a Further Education (FE) college in England, with a total of 236 students, aged 16–18 years, studying Advanced (A) Level chemistry. Each institution had two different classes studying chemistry concurrently. Design and methods The research was a quasi-experimental intervention with one class of A Level chemistry students in each institution being taught an aspect of organic reaction mechanisms using drama and the second, non-drama, class being taught the same material using practice examination questions. Post-intervention, all students completed previously unseen A Level examination questions and, in one phase of the study, a diagnostic question designed to probe deeper understanding. The responses were subject to statistical analysis. Results In all cases there were no statistically significant differences between the test scores of the two groups for the answers to the examination questions. However, answers to a diagnostic question, probing deep level understanding, showed a statistically significant difference between the two groups in favour of the drama group. Conclusions Whilst drama is at least as effective as the use of practice examination questions in the teaching and learning of organic reaction mechanisms it was statistically significantly more effective in terms of the development of deeper level conceptual understanding.

Театральне виховання та соціальний розвиток учнів з порушеннями інтелектуального розвитку (на прикладі діяльності комплексу спеціальних шкіл у Червйонка-Лещинах, Польща)

The purpose of the article is to substantiate the importance of theatre education in the social development of younger pupils of special schools. The theoretical part presents the theatre education of students with special educational needs, outlines the portrait of students with intellectual disabilities and defines the specifics of the activities of the Complex of Special Schools in Czerwionka-Leszczyny. The practical part of the article presents theatre education in the Complex of these schools based on interviews with the leaders of the drama club and group “Zetki”, on the school's journal and the results of the survey conducted amongst the members of the group. The article proves that theatrical activity promotes integration through the development of interpersonal skills and verbal and non-verbal communication, improvement of visual-hearing-motor coordination, as well as the formation of a sense of empathy and imagination of persons with disabilities. The importance of a friendly atmosphere and mutual acceptance of all participants during theatre activities is emphasised. The authors use the method of theoretical analysis of scientific sources on the research topic; the method of survey, as well as the analysis of the results of empirical research.

Leisure Aspect of the Everyday Life of Factory Workers in Yelysavethrad at the Turn of the 19th–20th centuries

The article highlights the development of the leisure aspect of the everyday life of factory workers in Yelysavethrad at the turn of the 19th–20th centuries, characterizes its forms, qualitative content and specifics. It has been established that the leisure culture of Yelysavethrad workers in the late nineteenth century was dominated by destructive activities and habits typical of the working communities of industrial cities of the Naddniprianshchyna. With the intensification of industrial production at the turn of the century and the attention drawn to the situation of the working community during the events of the Russian Revolution of 1905–1907, the germs of recreational infrastructure began to appear in the city, creating an alternative for workers in the form of constructive, life-affirming forms of recreation — reading periodicals and literature, visiting the circus, enjoying theatre, football, etc. To a large extent, this trend was influenced by the owners of enterprises and their administration, rather than by representatives of the city government. The expansion of enterprises and production teams and their increased economic prosperity in the early twentieth century made it possible to invest in improving the socio-economic and cultural level of the working community. The cultural and leisure sphere was best organised at the largest enterprise in the city, the R. and T. Elworthy’s Plant of Agricultural Machinery. In 1905, the owner created the «People’s House» at the enterprise, which served as a hall for public performances and theatrical performances of the local drama group, dances; there was a bowling alley and a factory library. The company had an amateur orchestra, a cycling club and its own football team. In addition to this, the author has made an attempt to create a periodisation of the development of workers’ leisure in Yelysavethrad, based on the chronology of the quantitative and qualitative expansion of its main elements.

Arts Informed Research: Research on the Relationships between Immigrant/Refugee Children and Children Born in the Host Country

The field of Social Cognitive Psychology has traditionally been the focal point for researching relationships between immigrants and those considered natives in the host countries within social science literature. However, the author considers this paradigm insufficient to comprehend the intricate dynamics. The emotional and unconscious undercurrents in these interactions remain unexplored. Drawing on a background in dance movement therapy, drama therapy, and psychodrama, the researcher introduced clinical arts therapy tools to address this gap. Focusing on girls and boys, drama emerged as the most fitting method. This article provides a glimpse into a novel model of drama groups developed as part of an extensive year-long research program. Initially chosen based on the study’s focus and participants’ age, the approach eventually aligned with the broader framework of Arts Informed Research (AIR).

Then is now: The necessity of exploring cultural context and intergenerational cultural trauma in dramatherapeutic training

Cultural trauma is passed down through generations, influencing interpersonal relations. Avoidance or denial of intergenerational cultural trauma’s (ICT) cumulative effects can impede dramatherapists’ ability to analyse countertransference and develop cultural empathy. Lack of exploration of how personal cultural context intersects with that of clients can hinder self-knowledge and recognition of similarities, differences and tensions within the therapeutic relationship. This article details my retrospective identification of ICT’s influence while working with a refugee and asylum seeker drama group prior to my dramatherapeutic training. I analyse how limited knowledge of ICT hindered productive exploration of the participants’ racialised perspectives. Contrastingly, Thorn’s 2011 case study exemplifies how ICT engagement can increase a dramatherapist’s self-knowledge and understanding of client experiences and perspectives. This article explores how discomfort elicited by racial and ethnic focus can lead to avoidance, diminishing the dramatherapist’s ability to understand clients’ lived experience. It also pinpoints colour-blind racial ideology’s negative impact, alongside the limitations of intellectual understanding alone when engaging with cultural realities. Consequently, this article promotes experiential exploration of cultural context in dramatherapy training. It supports incorporation of Powell’s Embodied Multicultural Assessment model, with additional ICT focus, as this could prove invaluable to trainees’ professional development.

Music, drama, and social development in Portuguese children.

Social competence plays a fundamental role in children's development, and in their functioning at school and in life. Social skills, as learned behaviors that allow children to positively interact with others, are important for success in both academic and peer-group settings. Children's participation in collective music and other arts education has been associated with the development of social skills. However, different measures and diverse programs adopted in various studies make it difficult to contrast study findings. Additionally, research with children from low-income families remains scarce. The aim of this study was to examine the role of music and drama education programs in primary schools on the development of social skills of Portuguese children from disadvantaged communities. Both programs were carefully designed with performing, creating, and listening activities, and were delivered by specialist and experienced teachers/performers, who used active and participatory teaching strategies. In our longitudinal design with pre- and post-evaluations, we used the Social Skills Rating System or SSRS-Teacher Form, adapted for the Portuguese population. Classroom teachers rated their students' social skills on a 3-point scale in three domains: Social skills (Cooperation, Assertion, Self-control), Behavioral problems (Externalizing problems, Internalizing problems, Hyperactivity) and, on a 5-point scale, Academic competence. Our findings suggest that participation in music and drama programs during one school year improved children's assertion and self-control, and cooperation in the drama group. Participation in the music and drama programs also appeared to serve as a protective factor by reducing externalizing, internalizing and behavioral problems. These findings are discussed in light of previous studies along with limitations and directions for future research.

Aging as Adaptation.

In traditional gerontological terms, adaptation is usually understood as the production of physical aids to mitigate the impairment effects caused by age-related disabilities, or as those alterations organizations need to make under the concept of reasonable adjustment to prevent age discrimination (in the UK, e.g., age has been a protected characteristic under the Equality Act since 2010). This article will be the first to examine aging in relation to theories of adaptation within cultural studies and the humanities. It is thus an interdisciplinary intervention within the field of cultural gerontology and cultural theories of adaptation. Adaptation studies in cultural studies and the humanities have moved away from fidelity criticism (the issue of how faithful an adaptation is to its original) toward thinking of adaptation as a creative, improvisational space. We ask if theories of adaptation as understood within cultural studies and the humanities can help us develop a more productive and creative way of conceptualizing the aging process, which reframes aging in terms of transformational and collaborative adaptation. Moreover, for women in particular, this process of adaptation involves engagement with ideas of women's experience that encompass an adaptive, intergenerational understanding of feminism. Our article draws on interviews with the producer and scriptwriter of the Representage theater group's play My Turn Now. The script for the play is adapted from a 1993 coauthored book written by a group of 6 women who were then in their 60s and 70s, who founded a networking group for older women.

Exploring young people’s aspirations through community drama

ABSTRACT This paper explores young people’s aspirations and the influence of community drama in shaping these arts-focussed aspirations. Research was undertaken using creative drama methods with young people who attend a youth drama group. The young people identified career and personal aspirations, recognising the hard work and support that it can take to achieve their goals. Youth drama was discussed as supporting the development of these young people’s aspirations to enter careers in the arts industry, but also in other areas, as well as helping to develop transferable skills that could support the young people in their future and current aspirations.

Rok w „Sokole”. Działalność Towarzystw Gimnastycznych „Sokół” w cyklu rocznym (1867–1914). Zarys problematyki

A year at „The Falcon”. The annual activity of the “Sokół” (“Falcon”) Polish Gymnastic Society In 1867 in Lviv the Polish Gymnastic Society was established, adopting two years later the name “Sokół” (The Falcon). Since 1884, the “Falcon” societies started to be set up outside Lviv, then outside the Austrian partition and in Polish communities in Europe and both Americas. Between the wars there were over 800 of them in the Republic of Poland. Their activity in Poland was only stopped by the outbreak of the Second World War. Despite their name, those societies ran a very diverse activity. Thanks to their broad offer including gymnastics, sports, civil defense training, drama groups, choirs, orchestras, cinemas and libraries, patriotic, social and light entertainment events, as well as extensive infrastructure facilities like The Falcon buildings, playgrounds, shooting ranges, pools etc., the Falcon “nests” used to become local centers of social and cultural life. This article outlines the annual cycle of the Falcon activity, including the seasons of the year, particularly in the first half of the 20th c.

The tour-enlightening activities of the Ukrainian musical and drama groups in the development of ethnocultural relations

The purpose of the article is devoted to the study of the tour-enlightening activities of the Ukrainian musical and drama groups in the development the ethnocultural relations in the multicultural conditions of the Russian empires in the late XIX – beginning of the XX centuries. The research methodology of the study consists in the application of historical-cultural, analytical, systematic, and art-scientific methods, which allows you to analyze the artistic-enlightening, creative aspects of national theatre groups. The scientific novelty of the work is the analysis of the specific features of the tour-enlightening activities of the Ukrainian musical and drama groups in the context development of ethnocultural relations. Conclusions. During the imperial colonization of culture, the activities of prominent Ukrainian theater artists were aimed at promoting the national culture, and traditions of the Ukrainian nation among a wide range of polyethnic audiences. Dedicated to outstanding masters of the Ukrainian scene, numerous reviews in the columns of periodicals show that viewers and reviewers perceived their work as deeply national and culture-forming. The tour-enlightening activity of Ukrainian musical and drama groups was directed the development of ethnocultural relations, contributed to that Ukrainian music and drama theatre became an aesthetic source of national spirit and an important factor in ethnocultural identification.
 Ключові слова: Ukrainian music and drama theatre, nation-building, traditions, tour-enlightening activities, ethnocultural relations, repertoire

Latin America and the Global Cold War

Latin America and the Global Cold War

CULTURAL AND ETHNIC-CONSOLIDATING ROLE OF UKRAINIAN MUSIC AND DRAMA THEATER IN THE SOCIOSPHERE OF UKRAINIAN IN THE LAST THIRD OF THE XIX – BEGINNING OF XX CENTURY

The purpose of the article is devoted to the study of the cultural and ethnic-consolidating role of Ukrainian music and drama theatre in the sociosphere of Ukraine in the multicultural conditions of the Russian and Austro-Hungarian empires in the last third of the XIX – beginning of XX century. The methodology of research consists in the application of historical and cultural, comparative, systematic methods, which provide an opportunity to reveal the specifics of the constitution of music and drama theatre of the sociosphere of society. The scientific novelty of the work lies in the study of culture-forming activities of music and drama groups in the context of nation-building in the system of socio-cultural interactions. Conclusions. At times of total state and censorship bans, Ukrainian music and drama theatre, integrating into the cultural and historical form of a multicultural society, acquired the status of a socio-cultural phenomenon, that performs an ethnic-consolidating role, promoted the preservation of Ukrainian cultural traditions, national self-affirmation, and became an important factor in ethnocultural identification.

Z Factor: Drama as a tool to tackle mental health stigma: study design and protocol for community and public engagement in rural Zimbabwe

Background: Mental health is slowly gaining global significance as a key health issue, yet the stigma attached to psychosis is still a major problem. There has been little in-depth exploration of sustainable, cost-effective, and replicable community engagement strategies that address mental health myths and stigma, which are major barriers to early health-seeking behaviours. In low-income countries such as Zimbabwe, cultural and spiritual beliefs are at the centre of most mental health explanatory models, perpetuating an environment where mental health conversations are a cultural taboo. Mental health interventions should be accompanied by creative, evidence-based community engagement, ensuring that interventions are suitable for local settings and giving communities a voice in directing their health initiatives. Methods: Z Factor aimed to engage young adults and their support networks across a variety of socioeconomic groups in a rural district of Zimbabwe through their participation in an inter-ward five-staged drama competition. The focus was on psychosis, with subcategories of initial presentation/detection, seeking help/pathway to care, and the road to recovery/treatment. Each drama group’s composition included a young adult and a typical support network seeking treatment from the service provider of choice. Dramas were to act as discussion starters, paving the way toward broader and deeper psychosis treatment discussions among rural communities and gaining insight into service user expectations from health research. Conclusions: Outcomes of the pilot community engagement project will be instrumental in improving understanding community perceptions about psychosis treatment and recovery in rural Zimbabwe and increasing community awareness about psychosis, as well as paving the way for initiating service provider collaboration to promote early detection and encouraging early health-seeking behaviours. The above outcomes will also inform the design of models for more responsive community and public engagement initiatives in similar low resource settings in Zimbabwe and beyond.

Z Factor: Drama as a tool to tackle mental health stigma: study design and protocol for community and public engagement in rural Zimbabwe.

Background: Mental health is slowly gaining global significance as a key health issue, yet the stigma attached to psychosis is still a major problem. There has been little in-depth exploration of sustainable, cost-effective, and replicable community engagement strategies that address mental health myths and stigma, which are major barriers to early health-seeking behaviours. In low-income countries such as Zimbabwe, cultural and spiritual beliefs are at the centre of most mental health explanatory models, perpetuating an environment where mental health conversations are a cultural taboo. Mental health interventions should be accompanied by creative, evidence-based community engagement, ensuring that interventions are suitable for local settings and giving communities a voice in directing their health initiatives. Methods: Z Factor aimed to engage young adults and their support networks across a variety of socioeconomic groups in a rural district of Zimbabwe through their participation in an inter-ward five-staged drama competition. The focus was on psychosis, with subcategories of initial presentation/detection, seeking help/pathway to care, and the road to recovery/treatment. Each drama group's composition included a young adult and a typical support network seeking treatment from the service provider of choice. Dramas were to act as discussion starters, paving the way toward broader and deeper psychosis treatment discussions among rural communities and gaining insight into service user expectations from health research. Conclusions: Outcomes of the pilot community engagement project will be instrumental in improving understanding community perceptions about psychosis treatment and recovery in rural Zimbabwe and increasing community awareness about psychosis, as well as paving the way for initiating service provider collaboration to promote early detection and encouraging early health-seeking behaviours. The above outcomes will also inform the design of models for more responsive community and public engagement initiatives in similar low resource settings in Zimbabwe and beyond.

Vulnerable practice – theatre, subjectivity and becoming otherwise in Melodramatics’ Seeing Red

ABSTRACT This article considers Bolton based community drama group, Melodramatics, and the ways in which their practice helps illuminate forms of relational activity that confront the nihilism of the resilient subject. If we accept resilience as a normative force that restricts the ability of the political subject to ‘become otherwise’, we are invited to turn towards methods of political discourse that facilitate subversive thought and activity at an ontological level. Through a consideration of Melodramatics’ careful attention to one another as they devised the play Seeing Red, this article examines the capacity for theatre to resource politically significant practices of relational becoming.

Community Theatre as a Tool for Birth Control in Bekwarra Local Government Area, Cross River State-Nigeria

This study examined the problem of understanding Community Theatre as a tool for controlling outrageous birth rate in Bekwarra Local Government Area, Cross River State, Nigeria. In line with the study problem, Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory served as the frame. The study blended qualitative and quantitative methods of research for data collection and analysis. Because of the enormous population size of the people which was 105,497 according to Federal Republic of Nigeria’s official Gazette 25, a multi-stage cluster sampling technique was used to draw out a sample of 150 respondents for the study. Data generated were analyzed, using simple percentages and thematic analysis of emerging issues during the investigation. Findings reveal that community theatre is a better medium for sensitization to birth control because of its strong influence on personal and social development of the people through drama. This study therefore recommends that Bekwarra Healthcare Management teams should form community drama group and frequently develop interventions, using drama and workshop which are community theatre strategies that embody the capacity to make people understand the importance of using artificial contraceptive methods for births regulation.

Women’s Institutes drama groups and Shakespeare in early twentieth-century England, 1919–1939

ABSTRACT This article examines the use of Shakespeare by the Women’s Institutes drama groups during the interwar period in rural England. The WIs used amateur theatre to emphasise women’s social and cultural value as part of their broader effort to revitalise the countryside. The article asserts that the broad nature of the WIs and its local variances meant that the drama groups not only appealed to a diverse group of women, but their performances also had wide public appeal. Additionally, the malleability and recognisability of Shakespeare’s plays and characters could equally serve either a conservative or progressive ideology, which complicates efforts by historians to fit the drama groups into a feminist paradigm. In order to gauge how these performances—and their messages—were received, the article draws upon newspapers and magazines in conjunction with official records.

Resistance and reproduction: an arts-based investigation into young people’s emotional responses to crime

AbstractThis paper reports on a qualitative study of young people’s emotional responses to crime, underpinned by cultural criminology and interpretive phenomenology. It uses alternative approaches to explore young people’s ‘fears’ of crime via the use of arts-based methods, specifically performative drama and focus groups. The rationale is rooted in young people’s voices being largely absent from fear of crime research and the increased movement towards a more creative and less prescriptive criminology. The findings point towards the value of such approaches and argue that young people’s emotions about crime become highly gendered and age-relevant in youth and have multiple, overlapping spheres that are culturally constructed, resisted and reproduced.