Theatrical Techniques Research Articles

Does Observation Improve Compliance to Standard Surgical Hand Scrubbing?

Background: Standard surgical hand scrubbing techniques are essential for the prevention of surgical site infections. Overt observation is the gold standard to assess compliance to surgical hand scrubbing techniques but is confounded by the Hawthorne effect. Objective: To compare the compliance of surgical hand scrubbing technique in Orthopaedic operation theatres as observed overtly and covertly by trained independent observers.Materials and Methods: We conducted this cross sectional study in Orthopaedic operation theatres of Lady Reading Hospital, Peshawar, from 15th November 2023 to 15th February 2024. All the participants fulfilling inclusion criteria were overtly and covertly observed by independent trained observers for compliance to WHO surgical hand scrubbing techniques. The difference in the rate of surgical hand scrubbing compliance between overt and covert observations served as a measure of the Hawthorne effect.Results: The total number of participants in our study were 48 including 11 Orthopaedic consultants and 37 Orthopaedic residents. The overt observation revealed that the compliance to the various steps of WHO surgical hand scrubbing ranges from 89.58% to 100% with a weighted mean of 95.76%. The compliance rate ranged from 60.41% to 89.58% with a weighted mean of 68.43% when data was collected through covert observation. The overall increased compliance rate reported through covert observation as compared to overt observation(P=0.007) is attributed to the Hawthorne effect. Conclusion: Compliance of the Orthopaedic consultants and residents to the standard surgical hand scrubbing technique in Orthopaedic operation theatre was significantly high with overt observation than with covert observation.Keywords: Compliance, Covert observation, Hand hygiene, Hawthorne effect, Overt observation, Surgical site infection.

Teaching as a performative art

This paper reports on diagnostic workshops conducted at a teacher training centre in Istanbul focusing on how Applied Theatre methods can support English Language Teacher Education in the areas of self-awareness and self-reflection. The workshops provided 12 participant English Language teachers experience of Applied Theatre methods and techniques to elicit feedback on their pedagogic value and efficacy in teaching. Through dialogue and reflection, participants identified the performative and meta-performative skills they valued from the workshops. While Applied Theatre methods have a proven track record in many contexts, they are rarely utilized in teacher development programmes. Feedback from the workshops revealed that Applied Theatre methods, notably Forum Theatre, provide embodied, participant-led, solution-oriented, multiple voiced opportunities for reflection and dialogue on critical incidents teachers’ face. In addition, participants highlighted performative skills pertaining to developing awareness of self, others and setting that are disregarded in current competence-based teacher education programmes. Participants also uncovered meta-performative skills reflecting on why teachers act in the way that they do. The workshops provide an initial template to create teacher development programmes incorporating Forum Theatre and other Applied Theatre techniques.

Between Representation and Reality: Zhao Chuan’s World Factory as Social Theatre

ABSTRACT Zhao Chuan’s play World Factory continuously introduces reality into the theatre by resorting to the creative techniques of documentary theatre, epic theatre, and theatre of the oppressed in left-wing theatre, thus constituting a blurred boundary between the reality and the representation, and also forming a mode of discussion of social issues in theatre. The tension between reality and representation allows Zhao Chuan’s theatrical production to be understood not only as aesthetic theatre but also as social theatre. With the help of sociological methods, Zhao Chuan’s social theatre creates a “theatrical public sphere,” and the reality of this sphere constitutes a Habermasian place of prudent and equal public opinion. At the same time, the representation of the theatrical public sphere creates the emotional space of physical presence. It imaginatively constructs another reality, and its representation quality can avoid the direct criticism of the reality, which makes the relatively free public sphere speech possible.

Using Forum Theatre techniques in teaching and learning about professionalism and communication in healthcare

Using Forum Theatre techniques in teaching and learning about professionalism and communication in healthcare

Manipulating Time as Abolition Dramaturgy

This article considers theatrical manipulations of time as an abolition dramaturgy, or a theatrical technique that participates in the world-building project of abolition. First grappling with carceral and neoliberal notions of time, this article considers the ways that time is wielded as a weapon in dealing with conflict, resulting in what Ruth Wilson Gilmore refers to as a “premature death” of those deemed disposable within racial and carceral capitalism. Following this investigation of time as a decompositional tool, this article analyzes The Circle Project’s What Fools These Mortals Be, a filmed tableau vivant that contrasts the carceral weaponization of time with abolitionist dramaturgical generation, syncopation, and restart.

Using storytelling to foster the teaching and learning of gravitational waves physics at high-school

Studies in Physics Education Research show that interdisciplinary approaches in education foster students’ motivation, creativity, curiosity, and interest in physics. We discuss their features and potential role in bringing contemporary physics topics to high school and how to use them to integrate formal educational programs. We make an explicit example of the use of storytelling and theatrical techniques to introduce secondary school students to black holes and gravitational wave topics. The Educational Division of the Physics Department at the University of Cagliari designed the activity. Participants were 200 high-school students (17 to 19 years old) from five schools (scientific, humanities) in Sardinia. Through a research questionnaire, we measure the efficacy of using artistic tools to communicate and teach the proposed subjects. We collected 76 answers. Results show that our methodology helps introduce students to contemporary physics themes, fostering their interest and learning of such content. Students from the humanities significantly appreciated the use of poetry and artistic tools more than their scientific peers. Finally, we discuss the potentiality of our approach in orientating students towards a STEAM (STEM and Arts) career.

Radical Hope

In this article, Yizhou Huang considers the transnational transmission of devised theater, focusing on the Shanghai-based performance group Grass Stage (Caotaiban) led by Zhao Chuan. She discusses the group’s devising process from two symbiotic aspects, the corporeal and the political. Attending to Grass Stage’s eclectic inspirations and international collaborations, Huang compares the collective to world renowned ensembles such as Théâtre du Soleil and parses out the unequal transactions between Asian performance traditions and devised theater techniques. She warns against a neo-Orientalism that positions non-Western artists and their works solely into an epistemological framework that applauds liberal democracy and argues for devised theater as a site of minor interventions, world making, as well as radical hope.

What is ISTA (International School of Theatre Anthropology)?

Eugenio Barba first defined ‘theatre anthropology’ as the study of the human being in an organized performance situation in a lecture in Warsaw in May 1980. The first session of ISTA (International School of Theatre Anthropology) was held in October 1980 and the last to date in 2023. This article gives a personal account of ISTA’s history from its origins, rooted in Eugenio Barba’s interest in Asian classical theatre techniques and the founding of Odin Teatret in Denmark, to the most recent experiences, which include the intercultural production of Anastasis/Resurrection at the 2023 Theatre Olympics in Budapest. It identifies masters of given ISTA sessions and their invaluable contribution to the School’s emphasis on, and understanding of, craft, as well as the distinguishing characteristics and points of change and development of selected ISTAs.

THE EFFECT OF DIGITAL DRAMA ON EFL STUDENTS’ SKILLS IN THE INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION COURSE AT THE UNIVERSITY

<p>Intercultural communication is concerned with the sharing of information between different cultures and social groups, including individuals with religious, social, ethnic, and educational backgrounds. Cultural factors have a great impact on how people conduct diplomatic, economic, and educational activities in the era of international integration. The application of innovative methods in teaching Intercultural communication courses at universities is extremely necessary in order to break down cultural barriers and build awareness of cultural norms, as well as to enhance self-awareness, language skills and communication skills in a multicultural environment. At the same time, it helps learners to explore, preserve and promote the national cultural identity. The theatrical (drama) technique has been recognized as one of the powerful means of education and propaganda. One of the proposed methods is integrating drama in the context of digital transformation. This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of applying theatrical integration and online teaching tools via Zoom in teaching the Intercultural module to create a borderless cultural class. The quantitative method was conducted through experimental convention and questionnaires with the participation of students majoring in English at a university in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. Specific steps have been taken to improve intercultural communication skills and intercultural interaction will enhance the ability to communicate and promote personal image as well as showcase national culture. The research has shown that using the digital drama model in the classroom as a teaching method not only helps learners academically but also provides knowledge about socio-cultural development.</p><p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/lit/0057/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

Positive outcomes of implementing applied theatrical improvisation in communication trainings/ workshops for healthcare students in two European countries: a comparative study

IntroductionEffective communication has been shown to improve patients’ health outcomes. This study utilizes medical improvisation techniques to teach communication skills to different groups of health students (nurses, midwives, medical doctors, speech therapists).ObjectivesOur objective was to design and compare an interprofessional workshop that incorporates applied improvisation to train different groups of healthcare students in communication skills, resilience, dealing with failure and empathy. Medical improvisation is an innovative concept to prepare healthcare students to be more effective communicators.MethodsRequired medical improv workshops (using applied improvisational theater techniques) were held for first to third-year students in France and in Hungary. Workshop evaluations were obtained before and following the last session and at 3 months post-workshop for one cohort. The courses incorporated role plays, listening, storytelling and verbal/ nonverbal exercises to help students communicate with empathy and clarity. The two countries used the same questionnaires for assessment (Interpersonal Communication Questionnaire and Intolerance Uncertainty Scale)Results24 medical students participated in the Hungarian improvisation workshops, and 26 speech therapists students in the French improvisation workshops. In the finished Hungarian research over 90% of students rated the workshops as above average or excellent. Students reported a gain in insights regarding their role as a clinician (≥ 90%), an improvement in their ability to demonstrate effective communication (80–87%), and a positive impact on teamwork (91–93%). At 3 months post-workshop, students reported they had used at least 1 improvisation skill on their clinical wards. Both countries can claim promising results so far in their separate studies, our results comparing the French and Hungarian data using synchronized scales and questionnaires is currently in progress, and will be processed by the end of this year.ConclusionsThis study demonstrates that medical improvisation exercises can be scaled to different fields of healthcare students in various years of their studies and that using improv in healthcare education is universal in its short and long-term effects. Further, we found that students felt that it improved their communication. This study also provides new insights regarding specific improvisation exercises that are most useful for the clinical environment.Keywords: Improvisation. Medical improvisation. Applied Improvisation. Medical education. Communication. Uncertainty tolerance. Soft skills trainingDisclosure of InterestNone Declared

An Investigation on the Effectiveness of the Drama Method of English Major Students in Studying Listening Skills at Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry and Trade

This research investigates how incentives might be used to build pedagogical decision-making skills in EFL classroom environments. It examines how the effectiveness of drama methods can revolutionize teaching and learning English as a foreign language in EFL classrooms. The study's data, which involved using a creative theater technique to intervene in required and prescribed EFL curriculum and pedagogy with English major students who struggled with English listening abilities, is used in this report. The four main categories of thematic themes addressed are: enhancing learner-to-learner interaction, motivating students, and introducing new or altering methods. To compare motivation and the traditional methods, data from 60 English major freshman students in two classrooms was gathered through questionnaire surveys. The researcher used a qualitative and quantitative approach to analyze 60 survey subjects in this study. The results show the effectiveness of using the drama method to help students study English listening skills better. Based on the study’s findings, the researcher suggests how lecturers and teachers might use drama to create efficient teaching and learning strategies for English listening skills.

Active Learning on Students 'Interpersonal Skills Impact: An Online Theater Approach

This study aims to examine the improvement of interpersonal skills through the application of active learning in the teaching and learning of art education. The approach used is the theatre-play approach. Theatre games are used as a fresh and appropriate approach to learning art education subjects through various types of games that are applied with various theatre techniques, including improvisation, role playing, physical exercise, and voice acting. The subject of art education is a theoretical and practical one that requires high focus during learning. Therefore, theatre games are applied to encourage active learning and prevent students from getting bored when learning is conducted online. Students play, act, improvise, and sing while learning. This qualitative study involved eight Form 5 students at the Malaysian Art School using observation and interview methods. The study applies social learning theory and constructivist learning theory. The data was thematically analysed using Nvivo software. Findings found that active learning takes place in learning through the application of a theatre game approach and highlights the interpersonal skills of students. Two-way communication occurs in every activity because the activity is carried out in groups. Studies on the learning of art subjects that apply this active learning through theatre games are believed to promote confidence and stimulate students to improve their interpersonal skills without realising it.

Simultaneous interpretation in interpreter-mediated remote legal proceedings: some observations from a forum theatre study

This article concerns the findings of a study into participant responses to remote interpreter-mediated court proceedings using Welsh-English simultaneous interpretation. The study employs the forum theatre techniques of Augusto Boal, to explore how counsel, witnesses, mock-jurors and interpreters participate in hearings conducted remotely. The study was conducted in 2022, when the early difficulties of conducting hearings remotely because of the Covid pandemic had been resolved, and legal systems were considering how remote hearings could operate in the future.

Performing the ‘Invisible’ in <i>Yemoja</i> and ‘Our Family Secret’ through multimedia and virtual theatre

Modern technology has necessitated the digitalisation of stage performances, especially in the 21st century. Although, technology applies to many industries as it enhances productivity and creativity, however, theatre industry seems to benefit from technology more than other industries as the use of digital devices has boosted the industry beyond the physical stage and it has also given stage theatre popularity in the media space. It is on this premise that this study examined the exploration of “Multimedia Theatre and Virtual Theatre” towards making the invisible visible in the performances of Ahmed Yerima’s Yemoja and ‘Biola Adumati’s ‘Our Family Secret.’ The findings from the study revealed that many play directors on the Nigerian stage have experimented with multimedia and virtual theatres in the process of play directing which have enhanced the quality of their works. These production techniques have been employed by some artistic directors to tell flashback stories by projecting them to the audience during live performances, some explored the same technology to create scenes that seemed impossible on stage such as sea or fire scenes. Hence, this paper concludes that the art of play directing can be a lot easier with the use of multimedia theatre technique to tell the hidden stories within the play and making the invisible visible.

Typology of literary script in Russian cinema of the 2000s

The study materials included screenplays by authors who made their debut in the 2000s: M. Kurochkin, I. Ugarov, V. Sigarev, A. Rodionov, A. Novototsky, V. Moiseenko, A. Zvyagintsev, and O. Negin. Since the 1930s Soviet film school had formed a specific type of screenplay, literary script, in which the visual identity of the future film is created through literary means. In the 1990s, a competitive type of script appeared in the Russian film production – it was American screenplay format which implied he abandonment of literary techniques. By the 2000s, Russian film dramaturgy was influenced by three tendencies: the Soviet tradition of the literary screenplay, the new Western American screenplay, and contemporary theatrical dramaturgy of the turn of the century, whose authors began to experiment with cinema during this period. The study of the cinematic language of literary screenplays is conducted using a structural-semiotic method. Elements of cinematic language are analyzed: speech, voice-over, actor's score, character action in the frame, composition. The results of the analysis allow us to conclude the emergence of two new directions in Russian film dramaturgy. The poetics of literary screenplays by authors who transitioned to cinema from theatrical dramaturgy manifest in a quest for documentary realism in characters and their speech, proposed circumstances, setting, and plot, which is reflected in lyrical remarks. The techniques they use, including the theatrical technique of verbatim, have a tremendous impact on contemporary Russian cinema. The concise language of the American format, traditionally associated with the producer model of production, finds its reflection in the authorial film dramaturgy of A. Zvyagintsev and O. Negin, aiming for precision and conciseness in the staging plan. This split marks the actualization of the problem of form, which was acute in Soviet cinema in the 1930s.

Protest through Theatre: Analysing Humour and Fantasy as Resistance Tropes in Badal Sircar’s Scandal in Fairyland and Beyond the Land of Hattamala

Theatre has long served as a powerful medium for registering dissent against injustice and oppression. This paper explores how Badal Sircar, a pioneering figure in modern Indian theatre, utilised humour and fantasy as resistance tropes in his "Third Theatre" concept. Focusing on two of Sircar's notable works, Scandal in Fairyland and Beyond the Land of Hattamala, this study examines how these elements function within the framework of protest theatre. The paper argues that Sircar's innovative approach, blending humour and fantasy with social critique, allowed him to address pressing societal issues while maintaining accessibility to a wide audience. By analysing these plays, we demonstrate how Sircar's theatrical techniques serve as a form of protest, challenging societal norms and power structures. This research contributes to the broader understanding of using art as a tool for social change and highlights Sircar's unique contribution to the tradition of protest theatre in India and globally.

Shadow Theatre in the training of opera singers? Shadow Theatre techniques for educational purposes

The article illustrates the potential of Shadow Theatre for training purposes by describing, from the perspective of artistic creation, a particular experience of collaboration between a Swiss music conservatory and an Italian theatre company. This is an unusual experience because it is linked to an acting course for voice students undergoing further training. In contemporary opera productions, actions and gestures are almost as important as the voices. To give the students as concrete a stage experience as possible, the use of shadow theatre, inspired by the Jungian metaphor of the unconscious and the unspoken, allows a layering of different levels of approach: vocal, emotional, stage and character building. Musically, the choice of combining different repertoires, such as baroque and contemporary, was useful to stimulate reflection on the use of the voice and to explore unexpected sounds and depths. The shadows, together with a scenography function, were the means to represent concepts and sensations such as the double, the forms of the unconscious, the labyrinths of desire and the traces of dreams. The three editions of the project, each consisting of a week of rehearsals and a public performance, took place in 2015, 2016 and 2019.

Performative language in Bertolt Brecht’s Life of Galileo. Didactic reflections on dialogue and interpretation

There are nowadays a whole series of publications on the staging or productive use of theatre, all of which show that the theatrical learning medium has long since been used not only in mother-tongue or foreign language teaching in schools, but also in the field of dialogue interpretation. What is striking, however, is that it is not the drama text but preferably theatrical techniques that are used to initiate a better way of dealing with complex language situations. Theatre has developed into a relational medium par excellence because of its play character and not because of its literary text substrate; in fact, the theatrical genus is form-giving and formable, sometimes so formable that one of its ostensible constituents, i.e. the text, is often perceived as a negligible one. The approach adopted here is different: With its dual focus – on a specific drama text and on the prosodic design –, it adopts a holistic perspective that considers both language and gestural awareness of dialogical interactions.

Legislative Theater and Modern Slavery: Eploring a Hyperlocal Approach to Combatting Human Trafficking

Since 2018, Act for Change (AfC), a Ghanaian applied theater company, has been using Boalian theater techniques to address issues of modern slavery and human trafficking in their community. Here, using the framework of Boal’s Legislative Theater, we discuss the ways in which AfC has developed Boal’s work, innovating it within a specific context to find new and powerful ways of using performance to engage with intractable issues of modern slavery and human trafficking. Focussing on the specific dynamics of a single community, this article explores how employing a ‘hyperlocal’ approach in James Town, Accra, enables a focus on the local stories that highlight how modern slavery and human trafficking operate. More specifically, while using a Marxist-Freiran framework and by engaging with Augusto Boal’s concepts of Legislative and Forum Theater, this article focuses on how performance methodologies can engage with complex international issues by developing intra-local dialogue and partnerships at the local level. The goal here is not to argue that community action can act as a replacement for statutory instruments or state-led initiatives, but that they are a potentially significant and under-developed complementary tool in the fight against modern slavery, as they place the community and the survivor at the center of change. By taking this approach, we aim to reflect on how theories of legislative theater can aid the development of a hyperlocal methodology and how the project in James Town exemplifies modern legislative theater practice. 

The Utilization of Holograms in Modern Theatrical Productions

The production of a theatrical show necessitates the utilization of various materials, artistic elements, and techniques, in addition to the integration of technical and digital advancements. From this perspective, the director, who is responsible for the show's production, endeavors to leverage hologram technology to enhance and advance the show. This is achieved by incorporating fresh perspectives and innovative ideas, enhancing the aesthetic appeal, and captivating the audience with visually stunning elements. To do so, the current study aims to research the potential applications and opportunities for integrating holograms into modern production. Moreover, this study also aims to research three-dimensional holographic images as a modern theatrical technique in contemporary theatre. Additionally, this study explored the potential capabilities of holograms in modern theatrical performances, especially centralizing the theatrical production in the UK (Royal Shakespeare Theater-Stratford) for the preceding year of 2017. For this purpose, the study used the analytical research method and tools to analyze the show “The Strom” directed by Gregory Duran in 2017. A comprehensive set of results was obtained to conclude the study along with particular attention given to holography in the context of theatrical performance.