ABSTRACT
The subject of the research in the following pages is Theatre-in-Education (T.I.E.). Despite the existence of almost forty companies regularly providing a Theatre-in-Education service in Britain, many educationists either remain unaware of this aspect of the arts in education or see it as a means of entertaining, rather than educating, pupils. Thus, in order to create a shared understanding of the research subject, I must first answer the question: what is T.I.E.?
During the course of its comparatively short development, T.I.E. has evolved many models for working with its (predominantly) young audiences, and its practice varies from company to company. However, there are certain identifiable lineaments common for most companies which broadly define the T.I.E. movement.
The work is done by professional actor–teachers, usually in a school context, but also in colleges, youth clubs and other community venues. The foremost characteristic which distinguishes T.I.E. (and the work of most Young People’s Theatre companies) from other theatre practices, is its explicitly educational purpose. Companies aim to provide more than just entertainment and to teach about things other than theatre and theatre skills. As a consequence many companies work with relatively small audiences, perhaps 30 to 40 young people, for considerably longer than the duration of the average play, i.e. for at least half a day and often for a full day or more. Most companies include in their programmes some degree of active participation on the part of the audience as well as a play or pieces of theatre. The degree of participation varies from company to company and programme to programme. The possible forms include large-scale simulation games, extended role-play work, drama workshops, dialogue between the audience and characters from a play, or discussions between the actor-teachers and the audience. But central to the work is the belief that the members of the audience should be active participants in their own learning.
(Vine, 1984)