ABSTRACT
It is not surprising, in the present political and economic climate, that drama teachers feel the need to reappraise the influences that have shaped drama in education. It is time for taking stock of what has been achieved and what might have been achieved. The future shape of drama will depend heavily on how well we cut out irrelevancies and heal rifts because very soon the full impact of the new instrumental government-imposed initiatives will be felt and drama teachers will be under more pressure than ever before to defend what they value. This essay is written to clarify the present state of drama. I will offer a brief historical account of its development and then move forward to offer an essentially symbolic and aesthetic conception of drama, of drama as an arts discipline working, with other arts disciplines, the aesthetic field.
