ABSTRACT
Drama and English the relatIonshIp between englIsh and drama has rarely been straightforward. This is partly because the term ‘drama’ has been used in education to mean different things to different people. The study of plays has invariably been part of the English curriculum but the term ‘drama’ was more often used to refer to some form of improvised playmaking. In the early days of child drama this usually meant having the pupils make up plays in groups to perform for each other at the end of the lesson. In the 1970s and 1980s, as the practice of drama in education became more sophisticated with the teacher intervening in the process to elevate the quality of the work, many English teachers saw the potential for a greater level of integration, using drama to increase pupils’ understanding of literature (including scripted plays curiously enough), as a stimulus for writing or to explore a theme in greater depth.
