ABSTRACT
The work with the acting students with dyslexia continues out of the Shakespeare unit and into the Voice Story-telling unit. Action research (Cycle Four) involves a newly devised pedagogical strategy (Teaching Strategy Four) comprising aspects of acting methodologies merged with reading comprehension theory. The Micro and Macro technique is introduced as a strategy to identify, anchor and elaborate elements in the text into performance. Describing research trials with the dyslexic acting students, the chapter recounts the development of the teaching method, which supports perception of meaning, significance, and hierarchy within the text, interlinked with an appropriation of physical practice borrowed from Brecht and Stanislavski. The research is underpinned by the Indexical Hypothesis and simulation theory of language. This progresses into a performance of Shakespeare’s Venus and Adonis, employing the strategy to stabilize the text, enhance communication, support memory, and develop innovative performance (Action Research Cycle Five and Teaching Strategy Five). The participants’ individual modalities of interacting with the text, such as PowerPoint, drawing, tableaux vivants, and music, in bypassing their dyslexia are included in their creation of the performance. The participants’ transmediation of the text is formalized as working practice. The outcomes are analyzed, drawing from theories of simulation, embodiment, developing shared communities of learning, and attainment of self-efficacy.
